The  Manufacture  and  Properties  of 

IRON  AND  STEEL 


BY 

HARRY    HUSE    CAMPBELL 

GENERAL  MANAGER,  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  STEEL  COMPANY;  S.  B.,  MASSACHUSETTS  INSTITUTE 
OF  TECHNOLOGY  ;  MEMBER  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS  ;  MEMBER  AMERICAN 
SOCIBTV  OF  CIVIL  ENGINEERS  ;  MEMBER  IRON  AND  STEEL  INSTITUTE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN 


SECOND  EDITION— REVISED 


NEW   YORK 
THE  ENGINEERING  AND  MINING  JOURNAL 

*6i    BROADWAY 
LONDON— zo  BUCKLERSBURY 
1904 


Engineering- 
-    Library 


COPYRIGHT,    1896, 
BT 

THE  SCIENTIFIC  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

COPYHIGHT,    1903, 
BY 

THE  ENGINEERING  AND  MINING  JOURNAL 

COPYRIGHT,  1904, 
BY 

THE  ENGINEERING  AND  MINING  JOURNAL 


To 

ALL  THOSE,  FAMOUS  OR  OBSCURE, 

WHO,  BY  THE  FURNACE,  IN  THE  SHOP,  OR  AT  THE  DESK, 

ARE  JOINING  HAND  AND  BRAIN  TO  SOLVE  THE 

PROBLEMS  OF 

THE  METALLURGIC  ART, 

THIS  VOLUME  is  FRATERNALLY  DEDICATED. 


PREFACE  TO  SECOND  EDITION. 

There  are  many  engineers  who  wish  a  brief  statement  of  the  art 
of  making  steel.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  do  this  and  at  the  same 
time  to  discuss  the  metallurgical  details,  for  this  involves  much 
shop  language  that  is  not  understood  by  any  one  except  the  metal- 
lurgist. The  great  electrician  whose  genius  has  been  crowned  with 
the  laurels  of  two  hemispheres  referred  to  the  first  edition  of  this 
book  and  laughingly,  but  earnestly,  declared  that  the  chapter  on 
the  open-hearth  was  too  abstruse  for  his  intellect,  while  an  unedu- 
cated open-hearth  melter  told  me  he  had  learned,  from  that  same 
chapter,  how  to  build  a  furnace,  how  to  run  it,  and  how  to  make  a 
good  livelihood.  The  melter  understood  my  language,  but  to  Edi- 
son it  was  a  foreign  tongue. 

In  this  edition  I  have  tried  to  give  in  Part  I  a  sort  of  Introduc- 
tion for  those  who  are  not  metallurgists.  It  does  not  pretend  to 
give  all  the  qualifying  conditions,  but  simply  the  main  principles. 
Part  II  embraces  the  ground  covered  by  the  first  edition  of  Struc- 
tural Steel,  but  many  chapters  have  been  entirely  rewritten  and  a 
great  deal  of  new  matter  added.  Much  of  the  text  relating  to  the 
chemical  history  of  the  open-hearth  furnace  has  been  condensed 
from  certain  papers  which  I  contributed  to  the  Trans.  Am.  Inst. 
Mining  Engineers,  Vol.  XIX,  pp.  128  to  187;  Vol.  XX,  pp.  227 
to  232,  and  Vol.  XXII,  pp.  345  to  511,  and  679  to  696,  while  por- 
tions of  Chapters  XVI,  XVII  and  XVIII  appeared  in  the  Trans. 
Am.  Soc.  Civil  Engineers,  April,  1895.  In  many  cases  the  present 
book  is  an  amplification  of  previous  work.  The  experiments  and 
investigations  have  been  conducted  at  the  works  of  The  Pennsyl- 
vania Steel  Company,  of  Steelton,  Pa.,  and  all  the  details  of  manu- 
facture and  treatment  have  been  under  my  direct  observation. 

In  Part  III  I  have  entered  into  a  more  comprehensive  compari- 
son of  the  industrial  situation  and  have  compared  the  salient  points 
of  foreign  and  American  practice.  Each  country  has  something 
to  learn  from  every  other.  There  are  still  many  small  economies 


VI  PREFACE   TO    SECOND    EDITION. 

to  effect  in  the  art;  there  will  be  a  constant  cheapening  as  the 
cost  of  all  supplies  and  of  transportation  is  lowered  by  the  natural 
progress  in  engineering  skill ;  there  are  certain  important  improve- 
ments that  are  in  plain  view;  and  there  may  be  still  more  radical 
changes  not  yet  foreseen.  Every  dollar  taken  from  the  cost  of  a 
ton  of  steel  increases  the  consumption  by  opening  new  markets; 
by  rendering  possible,  for  instance,  the  extension  of  railways  and 
telegraphs  to  the  uttermost  corners  of  the  earth,  and  in  this  way 
the  metallurgist  becomes  not  only  a  giver  of  dividends  to  his  em- 
ployer, but  a  philanthropist  whose  benefactions  reach  to  the  valleys 
of  the  Himalayas  and  to  the  sources  of  the  Nile. 

I  have  compared  at  some  length  the  condition  of  the  industry 
in  each  separate  country.  These  descriptions  of  the  various  dis- 
tricts or  provinces  are  not  intended  as  complete  investigations.  It 
would  be  impossible  for  instance  to  describe  the  American  districts 
so  fully  that  every  engineer  and  metallurgist  of  our  country  would 
find  all  the  information  he  might  wish,  or  even  find  a  record  of  all 
that  he  already  knows.  It  would  also  be  impossible  to  tell  an  Eng- 
lish engineer  much  about  those  parts  of  his  own  country  with  which 
he  is  acquainted.  It  may  be  possible,  however,  to  give  some  facts 
for  the  benefit  of  travelers;  to  clear  the  way  for  a  foreigner  visit- 
ing America,  or  an  American  visiting  other  lands.  It  is  for  this 
purpose  only  that  these  articles  have  been  written  and  their  end 
will  be  accomplished  if  they  furnish  certain  fundamental  facts  on 
which  to  base  such  a  journey. 

Some  readers  might  prefer  that  less  space  should  be  devoted  to 
theoretical  matter  and  more  to  descriptions  and  drawings  of  fur- 
naces and  apparatus,  but  in  my  opinion  the  place  for  such  informa- 
tion is  in  the  trade  periodicals.  It  takes  so  long  to  print  a  book 
like  this  that  the  drawings  are  antiquated  when  the  issue  appears, 
and  every  year  that  it  stands  upon  the  shelf  it  becomes  more  and 
more  a  catalogue  of  discarded  devices,  while  on  the  other  hand  the 
fundamental  principles  of  metallurgy  remain  the  same  from  year 
to  year,  and  their  value  knows  no  depreciation. 

A  book  just  issued  in  England  refers  very  courteously  to  the 
former  edition  of  this  work,  but  states  that  little  information  is 
given  concerning  the  practical  details  of  operation.  That  same 
book  sets  forth  that  an  open-hearth  furnace  is  charged  by  putting 
the  pig-iron  in  first ;  that  in  a  twenty-five-ton  furnace  not  over  nine 
men  can  be  employed,  even  when  there  are  doors  on  both  sides,  and 


PREFACE    TO    SECOND    EDITION.  VU 

that  with  rapid  work  it  takes  two  hours  to  charge  a  heat.  Now 
those  figures  are  true  for  the  district  with  which  that  writer  was 
familiar,  but  in  America  the  pig-iron  is  put  in  last,  while  at  Steel- 
ton  on  a  furnace  of  the  size  mentioned  we  use  twice  the  number 
of  men  and  with  good  scrap  finish  the  work  by  charging,  by  hand 
labor  only,  in  a  period  ranging  from  thirty  minutes  down  to  eleven 
minutes.  Of  equal  value  is  much  of  the  so-called  practical  infor- 
mation given  in  metallurgical  treatises. 

In  many  places  in  these  pages  I  have  tried  to  give  credit  to  the 
many  friends  who  have  rendered  assistance  in  divers  ways.  It 
only  remains  to  thank  them  as  a  whole,  both  those  at  home  and 
abroad,  for  aiding  in  this  work  which  has  been  accomplished  in  the 
intervals  of  what  I  trust  is  not  otherwise  an  entirely  idle  life. 

H.  H.  CAMPBELL. 

Steelton,  Pa.,  December,  1902. 


PREFACE  TO  THIRD  EDITION. 

It  is  only  a  few  months  since  the  second  edition  was  issued,  and 
it -is  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  find  that  the  supply  is  so  soon 
exhausted.  It  is  also  a  source  of  regret  since  any  such  book  must 
contain  mistakes,  and  some  time  must  elapse  before  they  are  all 
discovered.  Every  attempt  has  been  made  to  corroborate  the  ac- 
counts given  of  the  iron  industry  in  foreign  countries  and  copies 
of  the  book  have  been  sent  to  many  foreign  metallurgists  with 
duplicate  sheets  for  alterations.  The  replies  indicate  that  the  de- 
scriptions were  correct;  in  the  case  of  Germany  there  were  certain 
errors  in  statistics,  but  a  personal  visit  to  Westphalia  gave  an 
opportunity  to  get  more  accurate  information,  and  the  chapter  on 
that  country  has  been  revised  accordingly.  This  visit  also  gave  a 
chance  for  a  further  study  of  the  practical  details  of  the  basic 
Bessemer  process  and  furnished  material  for  some  changes  in  the 
treatment  of  that  subject. 

Some  late  statistics  have  been  added,  but  as  a  rule  no  attempt 
has  been  made  to  bring  all  the  records  of  production  down  to  date. 
No  other  book  has  ever  published  in  detail  the  output  of  each 
producing  district,  and  the  only  object  in  doing  so  was  to  com- 
pare the  relative  importance  of  the  different  parts  of  each  country. 
Much  of  the  information  was  collected  with  great  difficulty,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  get  later  figures  in  each  case.  I  have,  however, 
looked  over  various  statistics  from  different  sources,  but  fail  to 
find  any  change  in  the  relative  conditions  of  the  different  countries 
or  the  separate  districts.  For  purposes  of  comparison,  therefore, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  get  the  very  latest  data. 

H.  H.  CAMPBELL. 

STEELTON,  PA.,  October,  1903. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PART  I. 
The  Main  Principles  of  Iron  Metallurgy. 

PAGE 

The  making  of  pig-iron 3 

The  making  of  wrought-iron 5 

A  definition  of  steel •••  Q 

The  making  of  crucible  steel 7 

The  acid  Bessemer  process 7 

The  basic  Bessemer  process    . 9 

The  open-hearth  furnace H 

The  acid  open-hearth  process 12 

The  basic  open-hearth  process 15 

Segregation 17 

The  influence  of  hot  working  on  steel 18 

The  effect  caused  by  changes  in  the  shape  of  the  test-piece  .....  19 

The  influence  of  certain  elements  upon  steel 21 

Specifications  on  structural  material 24 

Welding         ,  26 

Steel  castings .    .  26 

Inspection s  28 

PART  II. 

The  Metallurgy  of  Iron  and  Steel. 
CHAPTER  I. — THE  ERRANCY  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KECORDS. 

SECTION  la.     Difficulties  in  obtaining  comparative  data 37 

Ib.     Errors  in  chemical  methods 39 

Ic.     Necessity  of  uniformity  in  chemical  work  .    .    .    .    •  42 
Id.     Variations  in  the  parallel  determinations  of  practicing 

chemists ,y=  .'    ,J    .    * 44 

Ie.     Methods  of  deducing  metallurgical  laws  ......  46 

CHAPTER  II. — THE  BLAST  FURNACE. 

SECTION  Ha.    Iron  ores  used  for  smelting .  48 

lib.     Fuel  used  for  smelting 51 

lie.     Flux 52 

lid.    Construction  and  operation  of  furnaces 5ft 

lie.     Chemical  history 64 

Ilf.     Utilization  and  waste  of  heat 7ft 

ix 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

SECTION  Ilg.    Metallurgical  conditions  affecting  the  nature  of  the 

iron 82 

Hh.    Blast       85 

a — the  amount  of  air  required 

b — the  heating  of  the  blast 

c — the  water  vapor  in  the  atmosphere 

Hi.    Tunnel  head  gases 90 

IIj.    Utilization  of  tunnel  head  gases 103 

a — use  of  potential  heat  in 'stoves  and  boilers 
b— use  of  sensible  heat  in  stoves  and  boilers 
c— use  in  gas  engines 
d — preheating  the  air  going  to  the  stoves 

Ilk.    Relation  between  the  chemical  and  physical  qualities 

of  cast-iron  .    .   ...    .    ..... 124 

CHAPTER  III. — WROUGHT-!RON. 

SECTION  Ilia.    General  description  of  the  puddling  process    ....  129 

Illb.    Effect  of  silicon,  manganese  and  carbon 130 

IIIc.     History  of  sulphur  and  phosphorus 132 

Hid.     Effect  of  the  temperature  of  the  furnace  .    ...»   V  133 

Hie.     Effect  of  work  upon  wrought-iron 135 

Illf.     Heterogeneity  of  wrought-iron 136 

Illg.    Conditions  affecting  the  welding  properties  ....  139 

CHAPTER  IV. — STEEL. 

SECTION  IVa.    Definition  of  steel  . 140 

IVb.     Cause  of  failure  of  certain  proposed  definitions  .     .     .  142 

FVc.     The  American  nomenclature  of  iron  products  ....  146 

CHAPTER  Y. — HIGH-CARBON  STEEL. 

SECTION  Va.    Manufacture  of  cement  and  crucible  steel 147 

Vb.    Chemical  reactions  in  the  steel-melting  crucible  .     .     .  148 

Vc.     Chemical  specifications  on  high  steel  .......  149 

Vd.    Manufacture  of  high  steel  in  an  open-hearth  furnace    .  151 

CHAPTER  VI. — THE  ACID-BESSEMER  PROCESS. 

SECTION  Via.     Construction  of  a  Bessemer  converter 155 

VIb.     Chemical  history  of  an  acid- Bessemer  charge  ....  158 
Vic.    Variations  in  the  chemical  history  due  to  different 

contents  of  silicon 160 

VId.     Swedish  Bessemer  practice 161 

Vie.     History  of  the  slag  in  the  converter  ....    ;'  .    .  162 

Vlf.     Calorific  history  of  the  acid- Bessemer  converter  .     .     .  164 

VIg.    Use  of  direct  metal  .    ....  .,    ;. 168 

Vlh.     Use  of  cupola  metal  .    .    .    ....    .....         ....  170 

Vli.      Certain  factors  affecting  the  calorific  history  .    \2^'.  .  171 

VIj.     Kecarburization .  174 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VII. — THE  BASIC-BESSEMER  PROCESS. 

SECTION  Vila. — General  outline  of  the  basic-Bessemer  process    .    .    .  175 

Vllb.     Elimination  of  phosphorus iff 

VIIc.     Amount  of  lime  required 173 

Vlld.    Chemical  reactions  in  the  basic  converter 179 

Vile.     Elimination  of  sulphur  in  the  basic  converter    .    .    .  180 

Vllf.      Calorific  equation  of  the  basic  converter 183 

VEIg.     Recarburization lg^ 

CHAPTER  VIII. — THE  OPEN-HEARTH  FURNACE. 

SECTION  VEIIa.    General  description  of  a  regenerative  furnace  .    .    .  186 

Vlllb.     Quality  of  the  gas  required 187 

VIIIc.     Construction  of  an  open-hearth  furnace 188 

Vllld.    Tilting  open-hearth  furnace 205 

Vllle.     Method  of  charging 211 

VIIH.      Ports 213 

Vlllg.     Valves 214 

Vlllh.     Regulation  of  the  temperature 217 

VHIi.     Calorific  equation  of  an  open-hearth  furnace    .    .    .  218 

CHAPTER  IX. — FUEL. 

SECTION  IXa.    The  combustion  of  fuel 233 

IXb.     Producers       •••••  237 

a — bituminous  coal 

b — hard  coal 

IXc.     Miscellaneous  fuels 245 

a — natural  gas 

b — petroleum 

c — water  gas 

IXd.    Heating  furnaces        ••••••  249 

a — soaking  pits 

b — regenerative  furnaces 

c — reverberatory  furnaces 

d — continuous  furnaces 

IXe.     Coke  ovens 256 

IXf.      Coal  washing 263 

IXg.    General  remarks  on  fuel  utilization 267 

CHAPTER  X. — THE  ACID  OPEN-HEARTH  PROCESS. 

SECTION  Xa.— Nature  of  the  charge  in  a  steel  melting  furnace  ...  269 

Xb.     Chemical  history  of  a  charge  during  melting  ....  270 

Xc.     Chemical  history  of  a  charge  after  melting 272 

Xd.     Quantitative  calculations  on  slags 273 

Xe.     Reduction  of  iron  ore  when  added  to  a  charge  .....  274 

Xf.      Pig  and  ore  process 275 

Xg.    Conditions  modifying  the  product 277 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 


SECTION  Xh.    History  of  sulphur  and  phosphorus    .......  278 

Xi.     Method  of  taking  tests  ............  279 

Xj.     Recarburization  ............    «    •    •  279 

Xk.    Advantages  of  the  process  in  securing  homogeneity  .    .  281  . 

CHAPTER  XI.  —  THE  BASIC  OPEN-HEARTH  PROCESS. 

SECTION  XIa.     Construction  of  a  basic  open-hearth  bottom  ....  282 

Xlb.    Functions  of  the  basic  additions  ........  283 

XIc.     Use  of  ore  mixed  with  the  initial  charge  .....  284 

Xld.    Chemical  history  of  basic  open-hearth  charges  when 

no  ore  is  mixed  with  the  stock  ........  285 

Xle.     Elimination  of  phosphorus  during  melting  .....  286 

Xlf.      Composition  of  the  slag  after  melting    .     .    .    *":  *    •  286 

Xlg.     Relative  value  of  different  limes  ........  287 

Xlh.     History  of  basic  open-hearth  slags    .......  288 

Xii.      Automatic  regulation  of  fluidity  in  slags    .....  290 

XI  j.     Determining  chemical  conditions  in  slags  .....  292 

Xlk.    Elimination  of  sulphur  ..........  ',  £    .  294 

XII.      Removal  of  the  slag  after  melting  .....    ;«•  **    .  297 

Xlm.    Automatic  formation  of  a  slag  of  a  given  composition  298 

XIn.     Recarburization  and  rephosphorization  ......  299 

CHAPTER  XII.  —  SPECIAL  METHODS  OF  MANUFACTURE  AND  SOME 
ITEMS-  AFFECTING  THE  COSTS. 

SECTION  XHa.  —  The  manufacture  of  low  phosphorus  acid  open-hearth 

steel  at  Steelton     .....    ../.''.    .    .    .  302 

XHb.    The  pig  and  ore  basic  process  ...    ......  806 

XIIc.     The  Talbot  process  .     .    .    .  V  ........  310 

XHd.    The  Bertrand  Thiel  process  ..........  315 

XHe.     The  heat  absorbed  by  the  reduction  of  iron  ore  .     .    .  319 
Xllf.     The  amount  of  ore  needed  to  reduce  a  bath  of  pig- 

iron       .............    ....  324 

XHg.    The  gain  in  weight  by  reduction  of  iron  ore  .    .    .    .  329 

XHh.    The  increment  in  cost  due  to  waste  in  the  Bessemer 

process      ................  333 

XHi.     The  increment  in  the  open-hearth  process  .....  335 

XII  j.     The  increment  in  the  rolling  mills  .......  336 

XHk.    The  duplex  process  .............  337 

CHAPTER  XIII.  —  SEGREGATION  AND  HOMOGENEITY. 

SECTION  XIHa.    Cause  of  segregation  ............  34Q 

XIHb.    Examples  of  segregation  in  steel  castings    ....  344 

XIIIc.     Examples  of  segregation  in  plate  ingots  .....  345 

XHId.    Attainment  of  homogeneity  in  plates  ......  347 

Xllle.     Homogeneity  of  acid  rivet  and  angle  steel  ....  354 

XIHf.     Homogeneity  of  high-carbon  steel  .....   ...  357 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 


Xiii 


PAGE 

SECTION  XJIIg.    Homogeneity  of  acid  open-hearth  nickel  steel  .    .    .  359 

XHIh.     Investigations  on  Swedish  steel 362 

CHAPTER  XIV. — INFLUENCE  OF  HOT  WORKING  ON  STEEL. 

SECTION  XlVa.    Effect  of  thickness  upon  the  physical  properties  .    .  364 

XlVb.     Discussion  of  Riley's  investigations  on  plates  .     .    .  365 

XIVc.     Amount  of  work  necessary  to  obtain  good  results   .  366 

XIYd.     Experiments  on  forgings 370 

XlVe.     Tests  on  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  angles  .     .    .  371 
XlVf.      Comparison  of  the  strength  of  angles  with  that  of 

the  preliminary  test-piece 373 

XlVg.     Physical  properties  of  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Com- 
pany steels  of  various  compositions  ......  374 

XlVh.     Properties  of  hand  and  guide  rounds 375 

XI Vi.      Effect  of  variations  in  the  details  of  plate  rolling   .  376 

XIVj.      Physical  properties  of  plates  and  angles 378 

XlVk.     Effect  of  thickness  on  the  properties  of  plates  .    .    .  379 

CHAPTER  XV. — HEAT  TREATMENT. 

SECTION  XVa.    Effect  of  annealing  on  rolled  bars 381 

XVb.     Annealing  bars  rolled  at  different  temperatures    .    .  385 
XVc.     Effect   of  annealing  on  bars  rolled  under   different 

conditions  of  work  and  temperature 386 

XVd.     Effect   of  annealing  on  plates   of  the   same  charge 

which  showed  different  physical  properties  .     .    .  387 

XVe.     Effect  of  annealing  eye-bar  flats 389 

XVf.      Methods  of  annealing 389 

XVg.     Further  experiments  on  annealing  rolled  bars  .     .    .  391 

XVh.     General  remarks  on  the  determination  of  temperature  392 

XVi.      Definition  of  the  term  "critical  point" 394 

XVj.      Definition  of  the  different  structures  seen  under  the 

microscope 403 

XVk.     Effect  of  work  on  the  structure  of  soft  steel  and 

forging  steel 409 

XVI.      Effect  of  work  upon  the  structure  of  rails 410 

XVm.    Effect  of  heat  treatment  upon  the  structure  of  cast- 
ings         412 

XVn.     Effect  of  heat  treatment  upon  the  structure  of  rolled 

material 416 

XVo.     Theories  regarding  the  structure  of  steel 417 

CHAPTER  XVI.— THE  HISTORY  AND  SHAPE  OF  THE  TEST-PIECE. 

SECTION  XVIa.     Difference  in  physical  properties  between  the  surface 

and  the  interior  of  worked  steel '  420 

XVIb.     Physical  properties  of  strips  cut  from  eye-bar  flats  .  421 

XVIc.     Comparison  of  longitudinal  and  transverse  tests  .    .  422 


xiv 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

424 
424 
426 
427 
431 
434 


SECTION  XVId.  Comparison  of  parallel  and  grooved  tests  .  .  . 
XVIe.  Effect  of  shoulders  at  the  ends  of  test-pieces  .  . 
XVIf.  Use  of  the  preliminary  test-piece  as  a  standard  . 
XVIg.  Comparative  properties  of  rounds  and  flats  .  .  . 
XVIh.  Effect  of  diameter  upon  the  physical  properties  . 
XVIi.  Influence  of  the  width  of  the  test-piece  .... 

XVIj.     Influence  of  the  length  of  the  test-piece 435 

XVIk.    Tests  on  eye-bars 440 

XVII.     Effect  of  rest  after  rolling 448 

XVIm.    Errors  in  determining  the  physical  properties  .    .    .  448 

XVIn.    Effect  of  variation  in  the  pulling  speed 452 

CHAPTER  XVII. — THE  INFLUENCE  OF  CERTAIN  ELEMENTS  ON  THE 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES  OF  STEEL. 

SECTION  XVIIa.    The  quantitative  valuation  of  alloyed  elements  .    .  455 

PART  I. — EFFECT  OF  CERTAIN  ELEMENTS  AS  DETERMINED  BY 

GENERAL  EXPERIENCE  AND  BY  THE  USUAL  METHODS 

OF  INVESTIGATIONS. 

SECTION  XVIIb.     Influence  of  carbon 456 

XVIIc.     Influence  of  silicon 456 

XVIId.    Influence  of  manganese 463 

XVIIe.     Influence  of  sulphur 467 

XVIIf.     Influence  of  phosphorus 469 

XVIIg.    Influence  of  copper 472 

XVIIh.    Influence  of  aluminum 475 

XVIIi.     Influence  of  arsenic 478 

XVIIj.     Influence  of  nickel,  tungsten  and  chromium  .     .    .  479 

XVIIk.    Influence  of  oxide  of  iron 480 

PART  II. — EFFECT  OF  CERTAIN  ELEMENTS  AS  DETERMINED  BY 
SPECIAL  MATHEMATICAL  INVESTIGATIONS. 

SECTION  XVIII.     Investigations  by  Webster 482 

XVIIm.    Investigations  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  486 
XVIIn.     Quantitative    valuation    of   the    elements    by    the 

method  of  least  squares 487 

XVIIo.     Application  of  the  method  of  least  squares  ....  496 

XVIIp.     Effect  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus  and  iron  .  497 

XVIIq.     Values  of  carbon  and  phosphorus 500 

PART  III. — EFFECT  OF  CARBON,  MANGANESE  AND  PHOSPHORUS 

UPON  THE;  TENSILE  STRENGTH  OF  IRON,  AS  DETERMINED  BY 

SPECIAL  MATHEMATICAL  INVESTIGATIONS. 

SECTION  XVIIr.     Values  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus  and  iron 

in  a  new  series  of  acid  steels 505 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


XV 


PACK 

SECTION  XVIIs.  Values  of  carbon,  phosphorus  and  iron  in  acid  steel 

when  manganese  is  neglected 507 

XVIIt.  Values  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus  and  iron 

in  a  new  series  of  basic  steels 51g 

XVIIu.  Values  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus  and  iron 
in  basic  steel,  as  determined  from  the  old  and 

the  new  series  combined 517 

XVIIv.     Meaning  of  the  term  "pure  iron" 523 

XVIIw.    Synopsis  of  the  argument  and  conclusions  ....  524 

CHAPTER  XVIII. — CLASSIFICATION  OF  STRUCTURAL  STEEL. 

SECTION  XVIIIa.     Influence  of  the  method  of  manufacture  ....  529 

XVIIIb.     Chemical   specifications 532 

XVIIIc.     Use  of  soft  steel  in  structural  work 535 

XVIIId.    Tests  on  plates 537 

XVIIIe.     Standard  size  of  test  pieces 538 

XVIIIf.      The  quench  test 540 

XVIIIg.     Classes  of  steel  proposed 541 

CHAPTER  XIX. — WELDING. 

SECTION  XlXa.    Influence  of  structure  on  the  welding  properties  .    .  583 

XlXb.     Tensile  tests  on  welded  bars  of  steel  and  iron  .     .    .  584 

XIXc.     Influence  of  metalloids  upon  welding 588 

CHAPTER  XX. — STEEL  CASTINGS. 

SECTION  XXa.     Definition  of  a  steel  casting 591 

XXb.     Methods  of  manufacture .  592 

XXc.     Blow-holes .  594 

XXd.     Phosphorus  and  sulphur  in  steel  castings 595 

XXe.     Effect  of  silicon,  manganese  and  aluminum  ....  595 

XXf.      Physical  tests  on  soft  steel  castings 596 

XXg.     Physical  tests  on  medium  hard  steel  castings  .     .    .  600 

PART  III. 
The  Iron  Industry  of  the  Leading  Nations. 

CHAPTER  XXI. — FACTORS  IN  INDUSTRIAL  COMPETITION. 

SECTION  XXIa.    The  question  of  management 603 

XXIb.     The  question  of  employer  and  employed 614 

XXIc.     The  question  of  tariffs 623 

CHAPTER  XXII.— THE  UNITED  STATES. 

SECTION  XXIIa.    General  view 629 

XXIIb.    Coal       639 

XXIIc.     Lake  Superior 647 


XVI 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


SECTION  XXIId.     Pittsburg 657 

XXIIe.     Chicago .    .  664 

XXIIf.      Alabama .  668 

XXIIg.    Johnstown 675 

XXIIh.    Steelton 675 

XXIIi.      Sparrow's  Point 679 

XXIIj.     Cleveland       684 

XXIIk.    Colorado 687 

XXIII.      Eastern  Pennsylvania 688 

XXIIm.    New  Jersey,  New  York  and  New  England  ....  689 

CHAPTER  XXIII. — GREAT  BRITAIN. 

SECTION  XXIIIa.    General  view 692 

XXIIIb.     Northeast  Coast 700 

XXIIIc.     Scotland 710 

XXIIId.    South  Wales 714 

XXIIIe.     Lancashire  and  Cumberland 717 

XXHIf.     South  Yorkshire 721 

XXIIIg.     Staffordshire 722 

XXIIIh.     North   Wales 723 

XXIIIi.     The  Eastern  Central  District:  Lincoln,  Leicester 

and  Northampton 723 

CHAPTER  XXIV. — GERMANY. 

'SECTION  XXIVa.    General  view 727 

XXIVb.     Lothringen  and  Luxemburg 730 

XXIVc.     The  Ruhr 742 

XXIVd.     Silesia       751 

XXIVe.     The  Saar 755 

XXIVf.     Aachen 756 

XXIVg.    Ilsede  and  Peine 757 

XXIVh.    Saxony     .    . 758 

XXIVi.      Siegen  .    .    . 758 

XXIVj.     Osnabruck    .    ,    « 759 

XXIVk.     Bavaria 760 

XXIVI.     The  Lahn     .    ...    ....-;.    .......  760 

XXIVm.    Pommerania 760 

XXI Vn.     Other  districts 760 

CHAPTER  XXV.— FRANCE. 

SECTION  XXVa.     General  view 762 

XXVb.     The  East  .     .     ...    . 764 

XXVc.     The  North 767 

XXVd.     The  Centre 769 

XXVe.     The  (South 770 

XX Vf.     The  Northwest  and  the  Southwest      ......  771 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. — KUSSIA. 

PAGE 

SECTION  XXVIa.     General  view 772 

XXVIb.     The   South 773 

XXVIc.     The  Urals     ....". 779 

XXVId.    Poland 782 

XXVIe.     The  Centre 733 

XXVIf.     The  North 734 

•         CHAPTER  XXVII. — AUSTRIA. 

SECTION  XXVIIa.     General  view 785 

XXVIIb.     Bohemia 788 

XXVIIc.     Moravia  and  Silesia 789 

XXVIId.     Styria - 791 

XXVIIe.     Hungary 794 

CHAPTER  XXVIII.— BELGIUM.  796 

CHAPTER  XXIX. — SWEDEN.  803 

CHAPTER  XXX.— SPAIN.  812 

CHAPTER  XXXI.— ITALY.  816 

CHAPTER  XXXII.— CANADA.  818 

CHAPTER  XXXIII.— STATISTICS.  821 

APPENDIX. 

Value  of  certain  factors  used  in  iron  metallurgy  . 838 

Content  of  metallic  iron  in  pure  compounds  of  iron 838 

Reactions  in   open-hearth   furnaces 838 

Properties  of  air 838 

Comparison  of  English  and  metric  systems 839 

Gravimetric  and  calorific  values 839 


INDEX  TO  TABLES. 


ERRANCY  OF  SCIENTIFIC  RECORDS. 

HO.  PAGE 

I- A    Variations  in  pieces  of  the  same  rolled  bar 38 

I-B     Errors  in  the  work  of  different  national  committees 40 

I-C     Variations  in  determinations  of  Carbon  and  Phosphorus  ...  40 
I-D    Results  on  the  same  steels  by  The  Pottstown  Iron  Co.  and  The 

Pennsylvania  Steel  Co ;    ,  44 

*     •  % 

BLAST  FURNACE. 

II-A    Slags  made  by  smelting  ores  without  lime 52 

II-B     Comparison  of  furnace  practice  at  Middlesborough  and  Pitts- 
burg      76 

II-C     Distribution  of  calorific  energy 77 

II-D    General  equation  of  the  blast  furnace 79 

II-E     Blast  furnace  slags 85 

II-F     Specific  heat  of  CO,  0,  H  and  N 90 

II-G     Temperatures  produced  by  burning 91 

II-H    Vapor  in  the  atmosphere  as  affecting  the  blast  furnace    ...  95 

II-I      Volume  and  composition  of  tunnel  head  gases 99 

II-J     Percentages  of  CO2  and  O  in  products  of  combustion    ....  104 

II-K    Loss  of  heat  by  CO  in  products  of  combustion 106 

II-L     Data  on  products  of  combustion 108 

II-M    List  of  gas  engines  on  blast  furnace  gas 115 

II-N    Composition  of  pig-iron  and  spiegel 127 

WROUGHT-IRON. 

III-A    Elimination  of  the  metalloids  in  the  puddling  process  ....  133 

III-B    Analyses  of  puddle  or  mill  cinder 135 

III-C     Wrought-iron  plates  from  shear  and  universal  mills    ....  136 

III-D    Requirements  on  wrought-iron  in  the  United  States    ....  137 

III-E    Irregularity  of  wrought-iron .    .  138 

DEFINITION    OF  STEEL. 

IV-A    Effect  of  quenching  different  soft  steels 144 

IV-B    Effect  of  quenching  at  different  temperatures  .......  145 

HIGH  STEEL. 

V-A    High  steels  not  in  accordance  with  specifications 150 

V-B    Composition  of  clippings  taken  from  the  top  and  bottom  blooms 

of  each  ingot  of  a  high-carbon  heat 152 

xix 


XX  INDEX    TO   TABLES. 

MO. 

V-C     Variations  in  Swedish  steel 153 

V-D    Variations  in  one  lot  of  crucible  steel  rounds  .......  154 

ACID  BESSEMER. 

VI-A    Chemical  history  of  an  acid  Bessemer  charge 157 

VI-B    Calculations  on  weights  of  Bessemer  slags 158 

VI-C     Manganiferous  Bessemer  pig-irons  and  slags 161 

VI-D    Bessemer  steel  made  from  high-manganese  pig-iron 162 

VI-E     Composition  of  American  Bessemer  slags 163 

VI-F     Calorific  history  of  the  acid  Bessemer  converter 167 

VI-G    Loss  of  combined  iron  in  cupola  slag 170 

BASIC    BESSEMER. 

VII-A    Metal,  slag  and  gases  from  the  basic  converter 180 

VII-B     Reduction  of  manganese  from  slag 181 

VII-C     High  sulphur  iron  in  basic  converter 182 

VII-D    Calorific  equation  of  the  basic  Bessemer  process 184 

OPEN-HEARTH  FURNACE. 

VIII-A    Distribution  of  heat  in  the  producer 228 

VIII-B    Distribution  of  heat  in  the  furnace 230 

VIII-C     Distribution  of  heat  in  producer  and  furnace  combined  .    .    .  232 

FUEL. 

IX- A    Products  of  combustion  of  hard  and  soft  coal 23  i 

IX-B    Loss  of  heat  in  products  of  combustion 236 

IX-C     Heat  lost  in  producer  ash 241 

IX-D    Heat  lost  by  CO2  in  gas 243 

IX-E     Waste  gases  from  reverberatory  furnaces    . 253 

IX-F     Calculations  on  waste  gases  from  reverberatory  furnaces  .    .    .  254 

IX-G    Coke  ovens  in  England 263 

IX-H    Otto  Hoffman  and  Semet  Solvay  ovens  in  the  United  States    .  263 

ACID  OPEN-HEARTH. 

X-A    Elimination  of  metalloids  in  an  open-hearth  charge 271 

X-B    History  of  metal  and  slag  in  an  acid  furnace 273 

X-C     Reduction  of  iron  ore 274 

X-D    Data  on  open-hearth  slag  and  metal  at  different  periods  ...  275 

BASIC  OPEN-HEARTH. 

XI-A    Composition  of  slag  and  metal  from  seventeen  heats  ....  285 

XI-B    Elimination  of  phosphorus  and  carbon  during  melting  ....  286 

XI-C     Relative  value  of  limes  with  3.0  and  7.0  per  cent,  of  SiO,    .    .  287 

XI-D    Relation  between  Si02  and  FeO  in  basic  slags 291 

XI-E     Maxima  and  minima  in  the  heats  composing  Table  XI-D  .    .    .  291 

XI-F     Unstable  basic  open-hearth  slags .  293 


INDEX   TO   TABLES.  XXI 


NO. 

XI-G    Normal  basic  open-  hearth  slags  ............  293 

XI-H    Basic  open-hearth  slags  after  melting     ...    ......  295 

XI-I     Basic  open-hearth  slags  before  adding  recarburizer  .....  295 

XI-J     Elimination  of  sulphur  by  calcium1  chloride  ........  296 

XI-K    Detailed  data  on  the  use  of  calcium  chloride  .......  296 

XI-L    Average  slag  analyses  of  twenty-  seven  basic  heats  .....  299 

CONSIDERATION  OF  CERTAIN  SPECIAL  METHODS  AND  SOME  ITEMS 
AFFECTING  THE  COST  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

XII-A    Composition  of  metal  and  slag  in  making  transfer  steel  .     .     .  305 

XII-B     Comparison  of  data  in  Tables  X-B  and  XII-A  ......    ..  306 

XII-C     Record  of  "all  pig"  basic  open-hearth  heats  at  Steelton  .     .     .  309 

XII-D    Reactions  in  the  Talbot  process  ............  312 

XII-E    Rate  of  production  and  elimination  of  sulphur  in  the  Talbot 

furnace       ...................  314 

XII-F     Representative  heats  under  present  practice  at  Kladno  .     .     .  318 

XII-G     Oxygen  needed  for  a  pig-iron  charge  ......     ....  325 

XII-H    Oxygen  used  in  the  Talbot  furnace  ...     .......  326 

XII-I      Silica  in  the  Talbot  furnace  .............  327 

XII-J      Oxygen  in  the  Talbot  furnace  ............  327 

XII-K    Distribution  of  the  metallic  iron  in  the  Talbot  furnace  .    .    .  330 

SEGREGATION. 

XIII-A    Example  of  extreme  segregation  in  pipe  cavity  ......  344 

XIII-B    Composition  of  a  twenty-inch  steel  roll  cast  in  sand  ....  344 

XIII-C     Examples  of  segregation  in  plate  ingots  ........  345 

XIII-D    Examples  of  segregation  in  large  ingots  ........  346 

XIII-E     Results  on  plates  rolled  from  ordinary  plate  ingots  ....  348 

XIII-F     Results  on  universal  mill  plates  rolled  from  slabs  .....  349 

XIII-G  Physical  and  chemical  properties  of  annealed  bars  cut  from 

plates  rolled  from  basic  open-hearth  slabs  .......  350-3 

XIII-H  Showing  that  variations  in  the  carbon  of  the  test-pieces 

given  in  Table  XIII-G  are  due  to  analytical  errors    .    .     .  354 

XIII-I     Tests  on  rounds  from  different  parts  of  the  same  heats  .    .     .  355-6 

XIII-J     Composition  of  rods  from  heat  10,168  .........  357 

XIII-K  Chemical  composition  of  angles  rolled  from  26"x24"  ingots  of 

acid  open-hearth  steel  ..............  358 

XIII-L     Distribution  of  elements  in  high  carbon  ingot  ......  359 

XIII-M    Distribution  of  elements  in  high  carbon  blooms  .....  360 

XIII-N    Composition  of  the  liquid  interior  of  an  ingot  ......  360 

XIII-O     Homogeneity  of  acid  open-hearth  nickel  steel  ......  361 

XIII-P  Segregation  in  Swedish  ingots  ............  362 

HOT    WORKING. 


XIV-A    Results  on  different  thicknesses  of  steel  plates  .    .    . 
XIV-B    Physical  results  on  plates  from  different  sized  ingots 


XX11  INDEX    TO   TABLES. 

NO.  PAGK 

XIV-C     Influence  of  thickness  on  the  physical  properties,  the  per- 
centage of  reduction  in  rolling  being  constant 368 

XIV-D    Influence  of  thickness  upon  the  physical  properties,  all  pieces 

being  rolled  from  billets  of  one  size 369 

XIV-E     Effect  of  hammering  rolled  acid  open-hearth  steel 369 

XIV-F     Physical  properties  of  thick  and  thin  angles 371 

XIV-G    Comparison  of  angles  and  preliminary  test 372 

XIV-H    Physical  properties  of  steel  angles 373 

XIV-I      Effect  of  flats  finished  at  different  temperatures 375 

XIV-J     Comparison  of  hand  rounds  and  guide  rounds 375 

XIV-K    Changes  in   the   properties  of   plates  by   variations  .in  the 

methods  of  rolling;  classified  by  preliminary  test  ....  376 
XIV-L     Changes   in   the  properties   of  plates   by  variations  in   the 

methods  of  rolling;  classified  by  finished  plate 377 

XIV-M.    Comparison  of  angles  and  sheared  plates 378 

HEAT  TREATMENT. 

XV-A  Effect  of  annealing  on  rounds  and  flats 382 

XV-B  Comparison  of  the  Bessemer  bars  in  Table  XV-A 383 

XV-C  Comparison  of  the  open- hearth  bars  in  Table  XV-A  ....  384 

XV- D  Effect  of  annealing  acid  open-hearth  rolled  steel  bars  ....  385 
XV-E  Effect  of  annealing  bars  of  different  thickness,  the  percentage 

of  reduction  in  rolling  being  constant 386 

XV-F  Effect  of  annealing  bars  of  different  thickness,  all  pieces  being 

rolled  from  billets  of  one  size 387 

XV-G  Rolled  plates  which  show  wide  variations  in  their  physical 

properties  are  made  alike  by  annealing 388 

XV-H  Comparative  tests  of  eye-bar  steel 389 

XV-I  Comparison  of  natural  and  annealed  flat  bars 390 

XV- J  Effect  of  annealing  at  about  800°  C 391 

XV-K  Comparison  of  natural  and  annealed  bars  in  Table  XV-J  .  .  392 

XV-L  Theoretical  microstructure  of  carbon  steels •  .  .  407 

XV-M  Microstructural  composition  of  some  quenched  carbon  steels  .  407 

HISTORY   OF   TEST-PIECE. 

XVI-A    Comparison  of  three-quarters-inch  rolled  rounds  in  their  nat- 
ural state,  and  seven-eighths-inch  rounds  of  the  same  heats 

turned  down  to  three-quarters-inch 421 

XVI-B    Properties  of  test-pieces  cut  from  forged  rounds 421 

XVI-C     Properties  of  test-pieces  cut  from  rolled  flats 422 

XVI-D    Comparison  of  eye-bar  flats  with  the  preliminary  test  .     .     .  423 

XVI-E     Comparison  of  longitudinal  and  transverse  tests 424 

XVI-F     Comparison  of  parallel  and  grooved  tests 424 

XVI-G    Comparison  of  the  ultimate  strength  of  two-inch  tests  with 

shoulders  and  eight-inch  parallel  sided  tests 425 

XVI-H    Comparison  of  angles  with  the  preliminary  test 426 


INDEX   TO   TABLES. 


XX111 


NO.    v.  PACK 

XVI-I  Comparative  physical  properties  of  rounds  and  flats  ....  428 
XVI-J  Comparative  physical  properties  of  round  and  flat  bars  in  the 

natural  and  annealed  state 429 

XVI-K    Physical  properties  of  rounds  of  different  diameters  ....  431 

XVI-L     Effect  of  changes  in  the  width  of  the  test-piece 433 

XVI-M    Influence  of  the  width  upon  the  elongation  (Barba)  ....  435 

XVI-N    Effect  of  width  upon  the  elongation  (Custer) 435 

XVI-0     Influence  of  the  length  of  the  test-piece 436 

XVI-P  Influence  of  the  length  upon  the  elongation  (Barba)  .  .  .  438 
XVI-Q  Physical  properties  of  eye-bars,  classified  according  to  method 

of  manufacture,  thickness  and  width 441 

XVI-R    Physical  properties  of  eye-bars,  classified  according  to  length, 

width  and  thickness 443 

XVI-S  Properties  of  eye-bars,  classified  according  to  length  ....  444 
XVI-T  Proportion  of  rejections  caused  by  applying  a  sliding  scale  of 

elongation  to  the  eye-bar  records  in  Table  XVI-Q  ....  446 

XVI-U    Physical  changes  in  steel  by  rest  after  rolling 447 

XVI-V    Physical  properties  of  the  same  bars  of  steel,  as  determined 

by  different  laboratories 449 

XVI-W  Parallel   determinations   of   the   elastic   limit   by   the  auto- 
graphic device  and  by  the  drop  of  the  beam 451 

XVI-X    Effect  of  the  pulling  speed  of  testing  machine 453 

INFLUENCE    OF   ELEMENTS. 

^VII-A  Physical  properties  of  silicon  steels 457 

XVII-B  Influence  of  silicon  upon  tensile  strength 458 

XVII-C  Physical  properties  of  steels  containing  from  .01  to  .50  per 

cent,  of  silicon 459 

XVII-D  Comparison  of  low-silicon  and  high-silicon  steels 460 

XVII-E  Effect  of  manganese  upon  the  physical  properties  ....  465 

XVII-F  Properties  of  steel  with  1.00  per  cent,  of  manganese  ....  466 

XVII-G  Physical  properties  of  forged  steel  with  high  manganese  .  .  468 

XVII-H  Effect  of  phosphorus  upon  the  physical  properties  ....  471 

XVII-I  Effect  of  copper  upon  the  physical  properties 475 

XVII- J  Physical  properties  of  aluminum  steel 476 

XVII-K  Effect  of  aluminum  upon  the  physical  properties 477 

XVII-L  The  physical  qualities  of  nickel  steef 479 

XVII-M  Records  of  heats  composing  Group  63  in  Table  XVII-N  .  .  481 
XVII-N  List  of  groups  used  in  determining  the  effect  of  certain 

elements  upon  the  tensile  strength  of  steel 488-90 

XVII-O  Effect  of  certain  elements  upon  the  strength  of  steel  ...  495 

XVII-P  Effect  of  carbon,  manganese  and  phosphorus 499 

XVII-Q  Values  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus  and  iron  obtained 

by  arbitrarily  dividing  the  list  in  Table  XVII-N  ...  501 

XVII-R  Effect  of  carbon  and  phosphorus  ....  503 

XVII-S  Ultimate  strength  of  the  steels  given  in  Table  XVII-N  as 

compared  with  the  results  from  certain  formulae  ....  504 


X.X1V 


INDEX    TO   TABLES. 


XVII-T     Values  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus  and  iron  from  the 

normal  acid  steels  in  Table  XVII-U 506 

XVII-U    List  of  groups  of  acid  steels  of  old  and  new  series  ....  510-2 

XVII-V    Average  error  of  groups  in  Table  XVII-U 512 

XVII-W  Values  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus  and  iron  from  the 

basic  steels  in  Divisions  I  and  II  of  Table  XVII-X  ...  ,516 
XVII-X    List  of  groups  of  basic  steels  of  old  and  new  series  .     .    .     .518-20 

XVII-Y    Average  error  of  groups  in  Table  XVII-X 522 

CLASSIFICATION    OF    STEEL. 

XVIII-A    Rise  in  elastic  ratio  with  fall  in  ultimate  strength  .    .    .  536 

XVIII-B     Calculation  of  12  yTfor  different  diameters 539 

WELDING. 

XIX-A    Tensile  tests  on  welded  bars  of  steel  and  wrought-iron  .    .     .  585-6 

XIX-B    Welding  tests  by  The  Royal  Prussian  Testing  Institute  .     .    .  587 

CASTINGS. 

£X-A      Comparison  of  castings  and  rolled  bars 598 

XX-B      Physical  properties  of  castings  of  medium  hard  steel     .    .    .  599 

AMERICAN  VS.  EUROPEAN  PRACTICE. 

XXI- A    Miles  of  railway  in  operation  in  1899 609 

UNITED,  STATES. 

XXII-A    Production  of  pig-iron  and  steel  in  1900  by  districts  .    .     .  631-2 

XXII-B    Production  of  steel  from  1867 633 

XXII-C     Annual  production  of  Bessemer,  open-hearth  and  rail  steel 

in  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 634 

XXII-D    Percentage  of  various  kinds  of  steel  made  in  the  United 

States  and  Great  Britain 634 

XXII-E     Imports  of  iron  ore 636 

XXII-F     Productions  of  coal  and  coke  in  1900 644 

XXII-G     Output  of  coal  from  the  principal  coal  fields  in  1900  .     .    .  645 
XXII-H    Production  of  soft  coal  in  Pennsylvania  in  1900  and  amount 

'                         used  for  coke 645 

XXII-I     Coke  statistics  for  Pennsylvania  and  West  Virginia  in  1900  646 

XXII-J     Sources  of  American  ore  supply 649 

XXII-K    Movement  of  lake  ore 652 

XXII-L     Production  of  pig-iron  and  steel  in  Pennsylvania  in  1901     .  658 

XXII-M   Distribution  of  works  in  the  Pittsburg  district 663 

XXII-N    Production  of  pig-iron  in  Alabama 673 

XXII-O     Production  of  ore  in  Cuba 683 

XXII-P     Distribution  of  works  in  New  Jersey,  New  York  and  New 

England      .'.-..    .^/v''.    .../.    ......  691 

GREAT    BRITAIN.    . 

XXIII-A    Imports  of  iron  ore  from  different  countries 696 

XXIII-B     Production  of  coal,  ore,  iron  and  steel  in  1900 698 

XXIII-C     Production  of  pig-iron 699 


INDEX   TO   TABLES. 


N0-  PAQB 

XXIII-D    Production  of  iron  ore  ....  OQQ 

'••••••  Vt7u 

XXIII-E     Imports  of  iron  ore  at  different  ports 700 

XXIII-F     Iron  and  steel  plants  on  the  Northeast  Coast 799 

XXIII-G     Production  of  ore  and  pig-iron  and  imports  of  ore  on  th« 

Northeast  Coast 709 

XXIII-H    Imports  of  ore  on  the  Northeast  Coast 710 

XXIII-I      Production  of  pig-iron  in  Scotland 712 

XXIII-J     Iron  and  steel  plants  in  Scotland 712 

XXIII-K    Production  of  ore  and  pig-iron  and  imports  of  ore  in  Scot- 
land   713 

XXIII-L     Imports  of  ore  into  Scotland 713 

XXIII-M    Iron  and  steel  plants  in  South  Wales 716 

XXIII-N    Production  of  pig-iron  and  imports  of  ore  on  the  Bristol 

Channel 71g 

XXIII- 0     Imports  of  ore  on  the  Bristol  Channel »717 

XXIII-P     Iron  and  steel  plants  on  the  West  Coast 719 

XXIII-Q    Production  of  ore  and  pig-iron  and  imports  of  ore  on  the 

West  Coast 720 

XXIII-R    Imports  of  ore  on  the  West  Coast 720 

XXIII-S     Iron  and  steel  plants  in  South  Yorkshire 721 

XXIII-T     Production  of  pig-iron  in  South  Yorkshire 721 

XXIII-U    Production  of  ore  and  pig-iron  in  Staffordshire  .....  723 

XXIII-V    Production  of  ore  and  pig-iron  in  Eastern  Central  England  725 

XXIII-W   Production  of  pig-iron  in  Central  England       , 725 

GERMANY. 

XXIV-A    Production  of  coal,  coke,  ore  and  iron 729 

XXIV-B    Movement  of  ore 729 

XXIV-C     Production  of  steel 730 

XXIV-D    Composition  of  minette  ores 733-4 

XXI V-E     List  of  works  in  Lothringen  and  Luxemburg 741-2 

XXIV-F     Production  of  coke  in  Germany 743 

XXIV-G    List  of  works  in  Westphalia 750 

XXIV-H    Composition  of  Silesian  ores 753 

XXIV-I      List  of  works  in  Silesia 754 

XXIV-J     List  of  works  in  Saar  District 755 

XXI V-K    Composition  of  Ilsede  ores 757 

FRANCE. 

XXV-A    Production  of  fuel,  ore,  iron  and  steel  in  France  in  1899    .  764 

XXV-B    List  of  works  in  the  East  of  France 767 

XXV-C     List  of  works  in  the  North  of  France 768 

XXV-D     List  of  works  in  the  Centre  of  France 769 

XXV-E     List  of  works  in  the  South  of  France 770 

XXV-F     List  of  works  in  the  Northwest  and  Southwest  of  France    .  771 


XXVI 


INDEX    TO    TABLES. 


HO. 

XXVI-A 
XXVI-B 
XXVI-C 
XXVI-D 

XXVII-A 

XXVII-B 
XXVII-C 
XXVII-D 
XXVII-E 
XXVII-F 
XXVII-G 
XXVII-H 


RUSSIA. 

Imports  of  iron,  steel  and  fuel 

Production  of  coal,  ore,  iron  and  steel 

List  of  works  in  South  Russia     V    •  ••..     .  ^    .    .     .     .     . 
Imports  of  iron  and  fuel  at  St.  Petersburg  . 

AUSTRIA. 

Production  of  coal,  ore  and  pig-iron  in  Austria  and  Hun- 
gary in  1900 .    .    r    .,„ 

Production  of  steel  in  Austria 

List  of  works  in  Bohemia 

Output  of  the  Silesian  coal  fields •    •    « 

List  of  works  in  Moravia  and  Silesia 

List  of  works  in  Styria  . 

Production  of  coal,  ore  and  pig-iron  in  Hungary  in  1899     . 
Production  of  steel  in  Hungary 


BELGIUM. 

XXVIII-A  Production  of  coal,  coke,  iron  and  steel  in  Belgium 
XXVIII-B  List  of  important  blast  furnace  plants  in  Belgium 


PAGE 

773 

776 
779 

784 


787 
787 
789 
790 
791 
793 
795 
795 

79,7 
798 


SWEDEN. 

XXIX-A      Production  of  coal,  ore,  iron  and  steel  in  Sweden     .    .    .  803 

XXIX-B       List  of  works  in  Sweden     .    .    .    ......   v'V.  810 

SPAIN. 

XXX-A        Spanish  ore  production  and  exports 814 

ITALY. 

XXXI-A      Exports  of  ore  from  Elba  in  1899 817 

CANADA. 

XXXII-A    Composition  of  fuel  and  ore  at  Cape  Breton 819 

XXXII-B    Canadian  bounty  on  iron  and  steel 820 

THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

XXXIII-A      Discordant  Data  in  Steel  Output  in  Germany    ....  822 

XXXIII- B    Key  to  numbers  denoting  source  of  statistical  information  823 

XXXIII- C     Production  of  pig-iron  per  capita 824 

XXXIII-D    Pig-iron  producing  districts  of  the  world 832 

XXXIII-E     Steel  producing  districts  of  the  world 833 

XXXIII-T?     Production  of  coal,  ore,  pig-iron  and  steel  in  1900  .     .     .  834 

XXXIII-G     Production  of  coal  by  the  leading  nations 834 

XXXIII-H    Production  of  iron  ore  by  the  leading  nations  ....  835 

XXXIII-I      Production  of  pig-iron  by  the  leading  nations 835 

XXXIII- J      Production  of  steel  by  the  leading  nations 836 

XXXIII-.K     Production  of  wrought-iron  by  the  leading  nations  .     .    .  836 

XXXIII-L     Imports  and  exports  of  fuel  and  iron 837 

XXXIII-M    Import  duties  on  iron  staples 838 


INDEX  TO  FIGURES. 


NO. 

II-A         Blast  furnace  at  Jones  &  Laughlin's,  Pittsburg 60 

II-B         Bosh  construction  at  Steelton,  Pa 61 

II-C         Bertrand  blast  furnace  top 63 

II-D         Blast  furnace  reactions  as  determined  by  the  temperature  .  65 

II-E          Chemical  reactions  in  blast  furnace c    .    .    .    .  71 

II-F          Indicator  cards  gas  and  steam  engines 119 

II-G         Oechelhauser  gas  engine .  121 

II-H         Koerting  gas  engine 123 

VI-A        Section  of  18- ton  converter,  two  views 156 

VIII-A    Bad  type  of  open-hearth  furnace 189 

VIII-B    40-ton  acid  furnace  at  Steelton,  Pa.,  two  views 191-2 

VIII-C     50-ton  Campbell  basic  furnace  at  Steelton,  Pa.,  three  views    .  194-7 
VIII-D    30-ton  basic  furnace  at  Donnawitz,  Austria,  six  views  .     .    198-203 

VIII-E     50-ton  basic  furnace  at  Duquesne,  Pa.,  two  views 204 

VIII-F     50-ton  basic  furnace  at  Sharon,  Pa.,  two  views 204 

VIII-G    50-ton  Wellman  furnace  at  Ensley,  Ala 209 

VIII-H    Method  of  charging  a  tilting  furnace 211 

VIII-I     Wellman  charging  machine,  two  views 212 

VIII-K    Valves  used  at  Steelton,  two  views 214-5 

VIII-L     Forter  valve 216 

IX-A      Water  seal  producer,  two  views 237 

IX-B      Frazer  Talbot  producer 238 

IX-C      Semet  Solvay  coke  oven,  two  views 260 

IX-D      Otto  Hoffman  coke  oven 261 

XV-A    Variations  in  the  critical  points  in  different  steels 395 

XV-B    Micro-photographs  Nos.  1  to  9 397 

XV-C     Micro-photographs  Nos.  10  to  18 398 

XV-D    Micro-photographs  Nos.  19  to  24 399 

XV-E     Micro-photographs  Nos.  25  to  30 400 

XV-F     Micro-photographs  Nos.  31  to  36 401 

XV-G    Micro-photographs  Nos.  37  to  45 402 

XV-H    Graphical  representation  of  the  phase  doctrine 419 

XVI-A    Curves  showing  elongation  with  varying  length 437 

XVI-B    Expansion  of  curves  in  Fig.  XVI-A 439 

XVI-C     Curves  showing  law  of  elongation  of  eye-bars 445 

ixvii 


XXV111 


INDEX   TO   FIGURES. 


NO.  PAGE. 

XVII-A  Curves  showing  relation  of  the  chemical  composition  of  acid 
open-hearth  steel  to  the  ultimate  strength,  as  shown  in 

Table  XVII-N 491 

XVII-B  Curves  showing  relation  of  the  chemical  composition  of  basic 
open-hearth  steel  to  the  ultimate  strength  as  shown  in 

Table  XVII-N 492 

XVII-C  Curves  showing  relation  between  the  composition  of  acid 
open-hearth  steel  and  its  ultimate  strength  as  shown  in 

Table  XVII-U 508 

XVII-D  Curves  showing  the  relation  between  the  composition  of 
basic  open-hearth  steel  and  its  ultimate  strength  as 

shown  in  Table  XVII-X 521 

XVIII-A    Eight-inch  test  specimen 552 

XVIII-B    Two-inch  test  specimen 570 

XXII-A    Map  of  United  States,  eastern  half .  637 

XXII- A    Map  of  United  States,  western  half 63& 

XXII-B    Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Ohio,  etc.,  eastern  half  .    .    .  641 

XXII-B    Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Ohio,  etc.,  western  half  .    .    .  642 

XXII-C     Map  of  lake  region 653 

XXII-D    Mesabi,  Vermilion  and  Gogebic  ranges 654 

XXII-E     Marquette  and  Menominee  ranges 655 

XXII-F     Map  of  Allegheny  County,  Pa 656 

XXII-G    Bessemer  plant  at  Edgar  Thomson  . 664 

XXII-H    Bessemer  plant  at  South  Chicago 666 

XXII-I     Rail  mill  at  South  Chicago .    .    .    .  667 

XXII-J      Birmingham  ore  deposit .......  670 

XXII-K    Bessemer  plant  at  Steelton »    .    .  680 

XXII-L     Open-hearth  plant  at  Steelton 681 

XXII-M    Rail  mill  at  Sparrow's  Point 685 

XXIII-A    Map  of  Great  Britain 69S 

XXIII-B    Coal  fields  of  Great  Britain 694 

XXIII-C     Durham  coal  field 701 

XXIII-D    Cleveland  ore  deposit 702 

XXIII-E     Rolling  mill  of  Northeastern  Steel  Company 708 

XXIII-F     Works  at  Cardiff 715 

XXIV-A    Map  of  Germany 728 

XXIV-B    Minette  District 732 

XXIV-C     Rombach  Steel  Works 73& 

XXV-A      Map  of  France „    .    .    .    .  763 

XXV-B      Coal  and  ore  fields  of  France 765 

XXVI-A    Map  of  Russia  .    .,..,.    .    .   >. 775 

XXVII-A    Map  of  Austria 78ft 


INDEX   TO   FIGURES. 


XXIX 


NO.  PAGE 

XXVTII- A  Map  of  Belgium 799 

XXIX-A  Map  of  Sweden 804 

XXIX-B  Swedish  blast  furnace 806 

XXX-A  Map  of  Spain 813 

XXXIII-A  Production  of  coal  in  the  leading  nations 828 

XXXIII-B  Production  of  ore  in  the  leading  nations 829 

XXXIII-C  Production  of  pig-iron  in  the  leading  nations 830 

XXXIII-D  Production  of  steel  in  the  leading  nations 831 


INDEX  TO  ABBKEYIATIONS. 

A.  I.  M.  J7.— American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers. 
Am.  Soc.  Civil  Eng. — American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers. 
A.  S.  Mech.  Eng.  or  Am.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng.— American  Society 

of  Mechanical  Engineers. 

Journal  Frank.  Inst. — Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute. 
Journal  I.  and  S.  /.,  or  I.  and  S.  I.  Journal. — Journal  of  the 

Iron  and  Steel  Institute  of  Great  Britain. 
Proc.  Inst.   Civil  Eng. — Proceedings  of  the  Institute  of  Civil 

Engineers  (England). 
Proc.  English  Inst.  Mech.  Eng. — Proceedings  of  the  English 

Institute  of  Mechanical  Engineers. 
Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E. — Transactions  of  the  American  Institute  of 

Mining  Engineers. 
Trans.  A.   S.  Mech.  Eng.,  or  Trans.  Am.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng.— 

Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi* 

neers. 
Trans.  Am.  Soc.  Civil  Eng.— Transactions  of  the  American  So* 

ciety  of  Civil  Engineers. 

C  by  comb. — carbon  as  determined  gravimetrically. 
C  by  color. — carbon  as  determined  by  the  color  method. 
Graph. — graphite. 
Tr.— trace. 
Und.  or  undet. — undetermined. 


PART    I. 

INTRODUCTION. 
The  Main  Principles  of  Iron  Metallurgy. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE  MAKING  OF  PIG-IRON. 

The  process  of  making  steel  begins  by  making  pig-iron  from 
iron  ore.  This  iron  ore  is  natural  iron  rust.  It  is  a  combination 
of  iron  and  oxygen,  and  if  we  take  away  the  oxygen  the  iron  is 
left  alone.  Charcoal  or  coke  or  carbon  in  any  form  will  rob  iron 
ore  of  its  oxygen,  and  it  will  do  this  at  a  very  moderate  tempera- 
ture, the  action  taking  place  if  the  ore  and  coke  are  mixed  and 
heated  red  hot.  But  it  is  necessary  to  do  more  than  this.  The 
iron  must  be  melted  and  the  earthy  parts  of  the  ore  and  coke  must 
be  separated  from  the  iron.  The  operation  is  conducted  in  a  fur- 
nace about  one  hundred  feet  high,  filled  with  a  mixture  of  coke, 
iron  ore  and  limestone,  and  superheated  air  is.  blown  in  at  the  bot- 
tom. A  portion  of  the  coke  is  burned  by  the  oxygen  of  the  air  and 
serves  to  maintain  the  furnace  at  a  high  temperature,  while  another 
portion  is  employed  in  robbing  the  iron  ore  of  its  oxygen. 

The  air  that  is  blown  into  the  furnace  is  first  heated  to  a  dull 
red  heat  by  passing  it  through  "stoves."  These  stoves  are  in  turn 
heated  by  burning  in  them  the  gases  escaping  from  the  top  of  the 
furnace.  In  ancient  days  these  gases  were  allowed  to  escape  freely, 
but  now  the  tops  are  closed  tight  and  all  the  gas  is  taken  down  to 
the  level  of  the  ground,  part  being  used  under  boilers  to  generate 
steam  to  run  the  blowing  engines,  and  part  in  the  stoves  to  preheat 
the  blast. 

As  the  air  is  red  hot  when  it  enters  the  tuyeres,  and  as  it  imme- 
diately meets  glowing  coke  which  has  been  heated  by  its  downward 
passage  through  the  furnace,  it  follows  that  a  very  high  tempera- 
ture must  be  caused  at  this  point.  This  region,  therefore,  imme- 
diately about  the  tuyeres  is  called  the  "zone  of  fusion."  It  is  here 
that  the  real  melting  occurs,  but  a  great  deal  of  the  work  is  done 
higher  up  in  the  furnace,  for  the  gases  from  this  hot  zone  of  fusion 
ascend  through  the  overlying  70  or  80  feet  of  stock  and  heat  it  to 
a  high  temperature,  and  under  these  conditions  there  is  a  reaction 

3 


4  -  INTRODUCTION. 

between  the  carbon  of  the  gas  and  the  iron  ore,  whereby  the  oxygen 
of  the  ore  unites  with  the  carbon  and  leaves  the  iron  in  the  finely 
divided  metallic  state  known  as  "spongy  iron."  The  reaction  is  not 
complete  and  a  great  deal  of  ore  reaches  the  zone  of  fusion  in  a 
nearly  raw  state,  but  in  this  zone  the  extremely  high  temperature 
quickly  completes  all  reactions ;  the  raw  ore  is  rapidly  reduced,  the 
earthy  impurities  unite  with  the  limestone  and  are  fused  into  slag, 
while  the  metallic  iron  melts  and  is  collected  in  the  hearth  below 
the  tuyeres. 

The  metal  so  produced  is  not  pure  iron,  for  while  it  is  in  contact 
with  white-hot  coke  in  the  furnace,  it  absorbs  a  certain  amount  of 
carbon.  This  amount  is  quite  constant,  and  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that  any  piece  of  ordinary  pig-iron,  no  matter  what  its  appearance 
may  be,  contains  from  3.5  to  4.0  per  cent,  of  carbon.  Some  of  this 
carbon  is  chemically  combined  with  the  iron,  and  some  is  held  in 
suspension  as  graphite.  If  a  large  proportion  is  combined,  the 
fracture  of  the  iron  looks  white  and  the  metal  is  hard  and  brittle. 
If  a  large  proportion  is  in  the  free  state,  the  fracture  will  be  gray 
or  black,  with  loose  scales  of  graphite,  and  the  iron  is  soft  and 
tough.  Very  slow  cooling  tends  to  put  the  carbon  into  the  con- 
dition of  graphite,  while  sudden  chilling  from  the  liquid  state 
tends  to  keep  it  in  combination  and  give  a  hard  and  white  iron. 

The  iron  also  contains  silicon,  which  is  absorbed  in  the  furnace 
from  the  ash  of  the  coke.  Sometimes  this  silicon  will  amount  to 
only  one-half  of  1  per  cent,  and  sometimes  it  will  be  3  per  cent. 
Usually  there  will  be  from  1  to  2  per  cent. 

A  certain  small  proportion  of  sulphur  will  also  be  present.  It  is 
not  wanted  at  all,  but  there  is  seldom  less  than  two-hundredths  of 
one  per  cent.,  while  there  may  be  one-quarter  of  one  per  cent.,  and 
even  more.  When  there  is  over  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent,  the  iron 
is  apt  to  be  hard  and  brittle  and  to  have  a  close  and  white  fracture. 
In  such  iron,  the  silicon  is  usually  low  and  this  contributes  to  the 
closeness  of  the  grain. 

The  percentages  of  silicon  and  sulphur  that  are  present  in  the 
iron  depend  in  great  measure  upon  the  conditions  in  the  blast  fur- 
nace, and  hence  may  be  controlled  by  the  furnaceman.  But  there 
is  one  element  which  is  universally  present,  over  which  he  has  no 
control.  This  element  is  phosphorus.  Whatever  quantity  is  pres- 
ent in  the  ore  and  fuel  will  be  found  in  the  pig-iron,  so  that  the 
only  way  to  get  an  iron  low  in  phosphorus  is  to  get  ore  and  coke 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

which  contain  only  a  small  percentage.  In  irons  used  for  making 
steel  by  the  usual  Bessemer  process,  the  iron  is  not  allowed  to  con- 
tain over  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent,  of  phosphorus.  For  basic  steel 
and  for  foundry  work  no  fixed  limit  can  be  given. 

Where  great  toughness  is  required  in  iron  castings  it  is  well 
to  use  what  is  called  "Bessemer  pig-iron/5  by  which  term  is  meant 
an  iron  containing  not  over  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent,  of  phos- 
phorus. Such  an  iron  costs  very  little  more  than  ordinary  foundry 
grades.  In  other  cases  a  high  percentage  is  desired  to  confer  great 
fluidity,  and  irons  carrying  3  per  cent,  of  phosphorus  are  in  demand, 
a  certain  proportion  of  such  metal  being  used  in  making  intricate 
castings  where  the  metal  must  accurately  fill  every  corner  of  the 
mold. 

Pure  iron  itself  is  very  difficult  to  melt;  it  is  soft,  tough  and 
malleable  both  hot  and  cold,  but  the  elements  above  described, 
preeminently  the  presence  of  nearly  4  per  cent,  of  carbon,  change 
its  character  completely  in  the  following  ways : 

(1)   It  is  more  fusible. 

(t)   It  is  brittle. 

(3)   It  cannot  be  forged  either  hot  or  cold. 

Thus  we  have  what  the  general  public  calls  cast-iron.  In  the 
trade,  however,  this  term  is  applied  to  it  only  after  it  has  been 
melted  again  and  cast  into  some  finished  form.  The  product  of 
the  blast-furnace  is  always  spoken  of  as  pig-iron.  It  is  the  founda- 
tion stone  of  all  the  iron  industry;  it  is  one  of  the  great  staples  in 
the  commerce  of  the  world.  The  foundryman  makes  from  it  his 
kettles  and  stoves;  the  puddler  refines  it  and  supplies  the  village 
blacksmith  with  bars  for  chains  and  horseshoes;  the  steel  maker 
transmutes  it  into  watch-springs  and  cannon. 

THE  MAKING  OF  WKOUGHT-IROK 

When  the  Bessemer  process  of  steel  making  was  invented  it  was 
confidently  predicted  that  it  sounded  the  death-knell  of  the 
puddling  furnace,  but  although  there  have  been  several  announce- 
ments of  the  funeral,  the  great  event  has  never  actually  occurred. 
There  seem  to  be  a  few  places  where  wrought-iron-  is  needed,  and 
there  are  many  more  places  where  the  blacksmith  and  the  machinist 
find  steel  unsatisfactory,  because  they  do  not  know  anything  about 
the  metal  and  refuse  to  learn,  usually  stating  that  they  have  been 
"working  long  enough  to  know." 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

Wrought-iron  is  made  by  melting  pig-iron  in  contact  with  iron 
ore  and  burning  out  the  silicon,  carbon  and  phosphorus,,  leaving 
metallic  iron.  This  iron  is  not  in  a  melted  state  when  finished,  for 
the  temperature  of  the  furnace  is  not  sufficiently  high  to  keep  it 
fluid  after  the  carbon  has  burned.  It  is  in  a  pasty  condition  and 
is  mixed  with  slag  and  when  taken  out  of  the  furnace  is  a  honey- 
comb of  iron,  with  each  cell  full  of  melted  lava,  and  this  honey- 
comb is  squeezed  and  rolled  until  most  of  the  slag  is  worked  out  and 
the  iron  framework  is  welded  together  into  a  compact  mass.  The 
bars  are  rough  and  full  of  flaws  and  are  regarded  as  an  intermedi- 
ate product.  This  "muck  bar"  is  then  cut  up  and  "piled"  and 
heated  to  a  welding  heat  and  rolled  again,  and  this  time  the  bar  is 
clean  and  becomes  the  "merchant  iron"  of  commerce. 

The  previous  description  refers  to  the  use  of  pig-iron  only,  but 
in  many  works  this  practice  is  modified  by  using  scrap  of  various 
kinds,  especially  steel  turnings  from  machine  shops.  Oftentimes 
almost  the  entire  charge  is  made  of  cast-iron  borings  and  steel 
turnings,  although  a  certain  amount  of  larger  steel  scrap  is  gener- 
ally used  to  make  the  ball  hold  together.  In  making  the  pile  for 
the  second  rolling  a  certain  proportion  of  soft  steel  scrap  is  often 
used,  as  this  welds  up  with  the  rest,  so  as  to  be  practically  the  same, 
and  this  increases  the  tensile  strength  of  the  bar.  The  main 
principles  of  the  process,  however,  remain  the  same  in  all  its  forms. 

A  DEFINITION  OF  STEEL. 

In  the  olden  time  all  kinds  of  steel,  whether  made  in  the  crucible, 
in  the  cementation  chamber,  or  in  the  puddle  furnace,  contained 
carbon  enough  to  make  them  suitable  for  cutting  tools  when  hard- 
ened in  water,  and  the  steels  that  were  made  in  the  Bessemer  con- 
verter during  the  early  days  of  its  history  were  all  more  or  less 
hard,  much  of  it  being  used  for  tools ;  consequently  the  metal  made 
in  the  converter  was  rightly  called  Bessemer  steel. 

As  time  went  on  and  the  cost  of  the  operation  was  reduced  below 
that  of  making  wrought-iron,  a  great  deal  of  very  soft  metal  was 
made  in  the  converter  and  in  the  open-hearth  furnace.  This  new 
metal  did  not  fill  the  old  definition  of  steel,  but  it  was  impossible  to 
draw  any  line  between  the  steel  used  for  rails  and  that  used  for 
forgings,  and  it  was  impossible  to  draw  a  line  between  the  metal 
used  for  forgings  and  that  used  for  boiler  plate,  and  as  it  was 
impossible  to  do  this,  practical  men  in  America  and  England  did 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

not  try  to  do  it,  but  called  everything  that  was  made  in  the 
Bessemer  converter,  or  in  the  open-hearth  furnace,  or  in  the 
crucible,  by  the  name  "steel/* 

A  few  scientific  committees  tried  to  make  new  names,  but  their 
labors  came  to  naught  in  England  and  America.  In  Germany  the 
committees  had  their  way  for  many  years,  and  the  soft  metals  of 
the  converter  and  the  open-hearth  were  called  ingot-iron.  This 
term  still  survives  in  metallurgical  literature,  but  in  the  German 
works  where  the  metal  is  made,  it  is  called  steel,  and  the  plant  itself 
is  called  a  stahl  werke  (steel  works),  so  that  we  have  the  peculiar 
anomaly  of  a  steel  works  making  what  is  called  steel  by  the  work- 
men, while  the  official  reports  declare  that  it  makes  no  steel  at  all. 
It  seems  inevitable  that  Germany  must  soon  give  up  this  outgrown 
system. 

The  current  usage  in  our  country  and  in  England  in  regard  to 
wrought-iron  and  steel  may  be  summarized  in  the  following  defini- 
tions : 

(1)  By  the  term  wrought-iron  is  meant  the  product   of  the 
puddling  furnace  or  the  sinking  fire. 

(2)  By  the  term  steel  is  meant  the  product  of  the  cementation 
process,  or  the  malleable  compounds  of  iron  made  in  the  crucible, 
the  converter  or  the  open-hearth  furnace. 

THE  MAKING  OF  CEUCIBLE  STEEL. 

Most  of  the  hard  steel  in  the  market  to-day  is  made  in  the  open- 
hearth  furnace.  Enormous  quantities  are  used  for  car  springs  and 
agricultural  machinery,  and  both  the  acid  and  basic  furnaces  fur- 
nish a  share.  There  are  some  purposes,  however,  which  call  for  a 
steel  entirely  free  from  the  minute  imperfections  often  present  in 
open-hearth  metal.  Such  is  the  case  in  watch-springs,  needles  and 
razors;  and  it  is  found  that  the  old  crucible  process  gives  in  the 
long  run  the  most  satisfactory  metal  for  such  work. 

This  process  consists  in  putting  into  a  crucible  a  proper  mixture 
of  scrap,  pig-iron,  or  charcoal  and  heating  it  until  everything  is 
thoroughly  melted,  the  crucible  being  kept  tightly  closed  to  prevent 
the  admittance  of  air.  This  process  is  a  century  old,  but  bids  fair 
to  round  out  another  with  little  change. 

THE  ACID  BESSEMEE  PROCESS. 
The  Bessemer  process  consists  in  blowing  cold  air  through  liquid 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

pig-iron.  Sometimes  the  pig-iron  is  brought  directly  from  the 
blast-furnace  while  fluid,  and  sometimes  it  is  remelted  in  cupolas. 
In  the  early  plants  in  England  and  America  the  lining  of  the  vessel 
which  held  the  iron  was  of  ordinary  silicious  rock  and  clay,  and  this 
is  still  the  universal  practice  in  America.  In  other  countries  it  has 
been  necessary  to  develop  a  modification  of  the  process,  the  linings 
being  made  of  basic  material,  whereby  the  chemistry  of  the  opera- 
tion is  greatly  changed. 

The  growth  of  the  basic  Bessemer  practice  made  it  necessary  to 
have  a  distinguishing  name  for  the  old  way,  and  it  is  therefore 
called  the  acid  process,  the  word  being  used  in  a  chemical  sense 
rather  difficult  to  explain  to  any  one  not  versed  in  chemistry. 

In  the  acid  process,  the  air  passing  through  the  iron  burns  the 
silicon  and  carbon,  while  the  heat  caused  by  their  combustion  fur- 
nishes sufficient  heat  to  not  only  sustain  the  bath  in  a  liquid  state, 
but  to  increase  its  temperature,  and  to  oftentimes  necessitate  the 
addition  of  scrap  or  steam  as  a  cooling  agent. 

This  increase  in  temperature  is  due  principally  to  the  silicon, 
which  is  of  great  calorific  power,  while  the  burning  of  the  carbon 
gives  barely  sufficient  heat  for  the  bath  to  hold  its  own.  It  is 
necessary,  therefore,  that  the  iron  contain  sufficient  silicon  to  raise 
the  temperature  to  the  point  where  steel  will  remain  perfectly  fluid. 
In  the  old  days  when  operations  in  a  steel  works  were  slow  and 
converters  were  allowed  to  cool  off  between  charges,  it  was  neces- 
sary for  the  pig-iron  to  have  about  2  per  cent,  of  silicon  to  get 
sufficient  heat,  but  with  the  rapid  methods  of  to-day,  it  is  found 
that  1  per  cent,  is  enough. 

When  the  silicon  and  carbon  are  all  burned,  a  certain  amount  of 
manganese  is  added  in  order  that  the  steel  shall  be  tough  while  hot, 
and  be  able  to  stand  the  distortions  it  is  subjected  to  in  the  rolling 
mills.  If  soft  steel  is  wanted,  this  manganese  is  obtained  by  using 
a  rich  alloy  called  ferromanganese,  containing  80  per  cent,  of  man- 
ganese, while  if  rail  steel  is  being  made,  the  usual  method  is  to 
make  a  liquid  addition  of  spiegel  iron — a  pig-iron  containing  about 
12  per  cent,  of  manganese. 

For  every  ten  tons  of  steel  about  one  ton  of  this  spiegel  will  be 
added,  and  this  at  the  same  time  gives  enough  manganese  to  make 
it  roll  well,  and  enough  carbon  to  confer  the  necessary  hardness. 
When  the  rich  alloy  is  used  to  make  soft  steel,  as  before  explained, 


INTRODUCTION.  9> 

tne  amount  added  is  very  small  and  the  carbon  thus  carried  into  the 
bath  is  trifling. 

The  resulting  steel  is  poured  into  a  ladle,  and  the  slag,  being  very 
light,  floats  on  the  top.  The  steel  is  then  tapped  from  the  bottom,, 
the  separation  of  metal  and  slag  being  perfect.  Minute  cavities  of 
slag  are  often  found  in  steel,  but  these  come  from  internal  chemical 
reactions,  or  sometimes  from  dirt  in  the  mold.  They  do  not  arise 
from  mixture  of  the  metal  and  slag  when  poured  in  the  way  that  is, 
almost  universally  used  in  Bessemer  and  open-hearth  works. 

In  this  acid  process  there  can  be  no  removal  of  phosphorus  or  sul- 
phur, and  as  no  steel  is  allowed  to  contain  over  one-tenth  of  one  per 
cent,  of  either,  it  is  plain  that  the  pig-iron  must  not  contain  more 
than  this  allowable  amount.  It  has  been  shown,  in  the  discussion 
of  the  manufacture  of  pig-iron,  that  the  phosphorus  in  the  ore  will 
appear  in  the  metal.  Consequently  if  the  ores  of  any  district  con- 
tain more  than  one-twentieth  of  one  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  which 
will  give  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent,  in  the  iron,  that  district  cannot 
possibly  use  the  acid  Bessemer  process.  If  they  do  contain  as  little 
as  this,  then  this  process  is  the  cheapest  method  of  making  steel 
that  has  ever  been  discovered  or  probably  ever  will  be. 

THE  BASIC  BESSEMER  PROCESS. 

The  basic  Bessemer  process  is  similar  to  the  acid  Bessemer,  both 
being  founded  upon  the  general  truth  that  if  cold  air  be  blown 
through  pig-iron,  the  combustion  of  the  impurities  in  the  iron  will 
furnish  sufficient  heat. to  keep  the  metal  in  a  fluid  state.  In  the 
acid  process  it  has  been  shown  that  only  two  elements  are  thus 
burned,  viz.,  silicon  and  carbon,  and  that  the  silicon  supplies  most 
of  the  heat. 

In  the  basic  process  the  lining  is  made  of  basic  material,  usually 
of  hard  burned  dolomite,  which  is  a  limestone  containing  from  30 
to  40  per  cent,  of  magnesia.  When  the  linings  are  basic,  it  is  a 
bad  thing  to  have  much  silicon  in  the  iron,  because  when  silicon  is 
oxidized  it  forms  silica  (Si02),  and  this  attacks  the  lime  lining. 
The  percentage  of  silicon  is  therefore  kept  as  low  as  possible,  and 
this  makes  it  necessary  that  some  other  source  of  heat  be  provided. 
This  is  the  more  necessary  because  more  heat  is  needed  in  the  basic 
process  than  in  the  acid,  on  account  of  the  lime  which  is  added 
in  the  converter  and  which  must  be  melted  during  the  operation. 

The  element  used  to. take  the  place  of  silicon  and  supply  heat  is 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

phosphorus.  In  the  acid  process  phosphorus  is  not  eliminated  at 
all,  but  when  the  linings  are  basic  it  is  possible  to  add  lime  and 
make  a  basic  slag  in  which  phosphorus  can  exist  as  phosphate  of 
lime  or  phosphate  of  iron.  In  the  acid  process  it  is  not  feasible  to 
add  lime,  because  the  lining  of  the  converter  would  be  eaten  away 
and  the  slag  could  not  remain  basic  enough  to  hold  the  phosphorus. 

As  already  stated,  the  basic  Bessemer  process  requires  more  heat 
than  the  acid  process,  because  considerable  time  must  be  added  to 
give  a  basic  slag,  and  because  the  lining  of  the  vessel  is  eaten  away 
much  faster.  It  has  also  been  explained  that  silicon  is  not  allowed 
in  the  iron  to  any  extent,  because  the  more  silicon  there  is  present, 
the  more  lime  must  be  added  to  counteract  it. 

Inasmuch  as  silicon  is  the  principal  source  of  heat  in  the  acid 
process,  and  as  still  more  heat  is  required  in  the  basic  converter 
where  silicon  is  not  allowed,  it  is  evident  that  phosphorus,  which 
replaces  silicon  as  a  heat  producing  agent,  must  be  present  in  con- 
siderable quantity.  In  most  basic  Bessemer  works  the  iron  con- 
tains about  2  per  cent,  of  this  element.  If  it  falls  below  2  per 
cent,  the  heat  produced  is  not  sufficient  to  give  the  proper  tempera- 
ture to  the  fluid  metal  at  the  end  of  the  blow.  With  very  fast  work 
and  a  short  time  between  charges  this  percentage  could  doubtless 
be  reduced  considerably. 

Thus  it  happens  that  the  Bessemer  process  is  applicable  to  only 
two  kinds  of  ores : 

(1)  Those  containing  only  a  trace  of  phosphorus,  giving  an  iron 
suitable  for  the  acid  process. 

(2)  Those  containing  a  high  percentage  giving  an  iron  contain- 
ing 2  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  suitable  for  the  basic  process. 

There  are  many  deposits  of  ore  in  different  parts  of  the  world 
which  are  intermediate  between  these  classes,  and  which  give  a  pig- 
iron  ranging  from  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent,  up  to  one  and  one- 
half  per  cent.  These  irons  are  not  suitable  for  either  form  of  the 
Bessemer  process,  although  it  often  happens  that  an  iron  which 
contains  too  little  phosphorus  for  the  basic  vessel  can  be  used  in 
admixture  with  an  iron  that  contains  a  surplus.  When  this  is 
impracticable,  such  irons  can  be  used  for  steel  only  in  the  basic 
open-hearth  furnace. 

When  the  air  is  blown  through  the  melted  iron  in  a  basic  con- 
verter the  silicon  is  first  oxidized,  and  the  carbon  next.  Thus  far 
the  operation  is  the  same  in  both  the  acid  and  the  basic  vessel. 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

At  that  point  the  acid  process  ceases,  but  in  the  basic  process  the 
blast  of  air  is  continued  and  the  phosphorus  is  oxidized  and  passes 
into  the  slag.  The  slag  therefore  contains  a  considerable  per- 
centage of  phosphorus  and  this  makes  it  valuable  as  a  fertilizer. 
The  demand  for  it  is  unlimited  and  the  revenue  derived  from  it  is 
a  very  important  matter  to  all  plants  using  this  process.  The  cost 
of  labor,  however,  and  the  greater  waste  and  diminished  output 
of  a  basic  Bessemer  render  this  process  out  of  the  question  except 
where  suitable  pig-iron  can  be  had  at  a  much  lower  price  than  iron 
fit  for  the  acid  process.  In  the  United  States  this  condition  does 
not  exist  and  there  is  no  plant  in  operation  in  this  country. 

The  final  operation  of  adding  spiegel  iron  or  ferromanganese  is 
conducted  in  practically  the  same  way  in  the  basic  Bessemer  vessel, 
as  has  already  been  described  in  the  account  of  the  acid  process. 

THE  OPEN-HEARTH  FURNACE. 

An  open-hearth  furnace  really  means  a  furnace  having  a  hearth 
exposed  to  the  flame,  so  that  any  piece  of  steel  or  other  material 
placed  upon  the  hearth  is  exposed  openly  to  the  action  of  the 
burning  gases.  The  term  has  been  narrowed  by  custom  to  denote 
such  a  furnace  where  steel  is  melted.  A  furnace  for  this  purpose 
must  be  regenerative  in  order  to  get  the  requisite  intense  tempera- 
ture. Regenerative  furnaces  are  also  used  very  generally  for  heat- 
ing steel  in  rolling  mills,  but  they  are  not  called  open-hearth  fur- 
naces except  when  the  steel  is  actually  melted. 

By  a  regenerative  furnace  is  meant  one  in  which  the  heat  carried 
away  in  the  stack  gases  is  used  to  warm  the  air  and  gas  before  they 
enter  the  furnace.  Strictly  speaking,  a  furnace  would  be  regen- 
erative if  air  pipes  were  put  into  the  stack  and  the  air  blast  were 
passed  through  these  pipes.  But  by  custom  the  term  means  only  a 
furnace  which  is  heated  by  gas,  and  where  both  gas  and  air  are 
heated  before  they  enter  the  furnace  by  being  passed  through 
chambers  filled  with  bricks  loosely  laid,  these  bricks  having  pre- 
viously been  heated  by  the  waste  gases.  By  having  two  sets  of 
chambers,  one  set  can  be  used  to  absorb  the  heat  in  the  waste  pro- 
ducts and  the  other  set  to  warm  the  incoming  gases.  By  proper 
systems  of  reversing  valves  these  two  sets  of  chambers  can  be  used 
alternately  for  uicii  purpose,  and  in  this  way  the  gas  and  air  are 
heated  to  a  yellow  heat  before  they  unite,  and  it  is  quite  evident 
that  yellow-hot  air  and  yellow-hot  gas  will  give  a  very  intense  heat. 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

The  problem  in  an  open-hearth  melting  furnace  is  not  to  reach  the- 
desired  temperature,  but  to  control  the  temperature  and  preyent 
the  roof  and  walls  from  melting  down. 

THE  ACID  OPEN-HEARTH  PROCESS. 

The  term  acid  open-hearth  furnace  means  a  regenerative  gas 
furnace  used  for  melting  steel,  and  lined  with  silicious  material 
(sand).  It  has  been  shown  that  the  Bessemer  process  can  be  con- 
ducted in  a  vessel  lined  with  silicious  material,  or  in  a  vessel  lined 
with  basic,  material,  and  it  has  been  shown  that  this  difference  in 
lining  makes  a  radical  difference  in  the  process.  In  the  same  way 
the  manner  in  which  a  steel  melting  furnace  is  lined  profoundly 
influences  the  subsequent  operations.  Contrary  to  popular  belief, 
the  bottom  in  itself  plays  very  little  part  and  has  very  little  influ- 
ence, but  the  character  of  the  bottom  determines  the  character  of 
the  elag  that  can  be  carried,  and  the  character  of  the  slag  deter- 
mines the  chemistry  of  the  process. 

In  the  acid  open-hearth  process  a  mixture  of  pig-iron  and  scrap 
is  charged  into  the  furnace  and  melted.  Nothing  is  added  to  form 
a  slag,  as  the  combustion  of  the  silicon  and  manganese,  together 
with  some  iron  that  is  oxidized,  and  some  sand  from  the  bottom, 
affords  a  sufficient  supply.  The  slag  is  about  half  silica  (Si02), 
while  the  other  half  is  composed  of  oxides  of  iron  and  manganese. 
When  the  mass  is  melted  it  is  fed  with  iron  ore,  and  the  oxygen 
in  the  ore  oxidizes  the  excess  of  carbon  until  the  required  com- 
position is  attained,  whereupon  the  steel  is  tapped,  the  proper  addi- 
tions of  manganese  being  made  at  the  time  of  tapping.  Melted 
spiegel  iron,  so  generally  used  in  Bessemer  practice,  is  not  used  in 
open-hearth  work,  but  the  manganese  is  added  in  the  form  of  a 
rich  ferromanganese,  which  is  generally  thrown  into  the  ladle  as  the 
heat  is  tapped.  Sometimes  a  spiegel  iron  is  used,  but  this  is  put 
into  the  furnace  a  little  while  before  tapping  and  allowed  to  melt. 

It  is  necessary  for  the  highest  success  of  the  operation  that  the 
slag  should  be  kept  within  certain  limits  in  regard  to  its  chemical 
composition,  for  if  it  contains  too  much  silica  it  is  thick  and 
gummy,  and  the  operation  will  be  much  retarded,  while  if  it  con- 
tains too  much  oxide  of  iron  it  will  be  sloppy  and  the  metal  will 
be  frothy  and  over-oxidized.  It  would  seem  at  first  sight  that  there 
would  be  considerable  difficulty  in  regulating  the  composition  of  a 
slag  that  is  constantly  receiving  iron  ore  and  constantly  absorbing- 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

silica  from  the  bottom.  Moreover,  the  amount  of  ore  is  not  con- 
.stant  nor  the  rate  at  which  it  is  added,  for  on  some  heats  scarcely 
any  ore  is  thrown  in,  on  others  there  may  be  500  pounds  added  in 
three  or  four  hours,  and  on  others  there  may  be  3,000  pounds  used 
in  the  same  period  of  time. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  very  little  difficulty  in  maintaining 
a  very  regular  chemical  composition  if  moderate  judgment  be  exer- 
cised and  the  additions  of  ore  are  regulated  by  the  temperature 
of  the  furnace  and  the  condition  of  the  metal.  Many  an  open- 
hearth  melter  has  never  heard  of  silica,  and  yet  can  keep  a  constant 
percentage  of  it  in  his  slag.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  slag 
regulates  itself  to  a  great  extent.  The  pig-iron  used  in  the  charge 
always  contains  silicon  and  this  furnishes  silica.  If  the  amount  is 
not  sufficient,  there  will  be  a  cutting  away  of  the  sand  bottom  to 
supply  more.  We  thus  have  by  the  wearing  of  the  bottom  an 
inexhaustible  source  of  supply  of  silica.  In  the  same  way  we  have 
a  similar  supply  of  iron  oxide  by  the  oxidation  of  the  iron  of  the 
bath.  If  iron  ore  is  added,  this  is  the  easiest  way  for  the  slag  to 
get  the  oxide,  since  it  simply  appropriates  it  to  its  own  use.  Iron 
ore  is  a  compound  of  two  atoms  of  iron  with  three  atoms  of  oxygen, 
expressed  in  chemistry  thus — Fe20:i— , wherein  Fe  is  iron  and  0 
is  oxygen,  and  the  figures  represent  the  proportions.  .  If  the  slag 
contains  too  high  a  percentage  of  silica,  and  needs  more  iron  oxide, 
and  if  under  these  conditions  iron  ore  is  added,  then  only  one  of 
these  atoms  of  oxygen  goes  toward  oxidizing  the  silicon  and  carbon 
of  the  bath.  This  leaves  two  atoms  of  iron  and  two  atoms  of 
oxygen,  and  these  unite  together  to  form  two  parts  of  a  different 
oxide,  FeO,  or  since  there  are  two  atoms  of  each,  thus — 2FeO. 

The  extra  atom  of  oxygen  has  united  with  carbon  and  formed  a 
-gas  in  which  one  atom  of  carbon  unites  with  one  atom  of  oxygen. 
In  chemistry  this  action  is  expressed  thus:  C+0=CO.  The 
symbol  C  stands  for  carbon,  and  0  for  oxygen,  and  when  united 
in  equal  proportions,  they  form  CO,  which  is  the  chemical  symbol 
for  carbonic  oxide. 

The  whole  operation  of  adding  iron  ore  to  an  open-hearth  bath, 
when  only  the  extra  atom  of  oxygen  is  given  to  the  carbon,  and  the 
rest  of  the  oxide  stays  with  the  slag,  may  be  expressed  by  the  fol- 
lowing simple  chemical  formula: 

Fe203+C=2FeO+CO. 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

This  concentrates  in  one  line  all  the  explanation  we  have  just  gone 
through. 

Sometimes  the  slag  has  a  sufficient  supply  of  oxide  of  iron  and 
needs  no  more.  In  this  case,  when  ore  is  added,  all  the  oxygen 
goes  to  the  carbon  of  the  bath  so  that  there  are  three  atoms  of 
oxygen  calling  for  three  atoms  of  carbon.  This  leaves  the  iron, 
alone  in  its  metallic  state  and  it  is  instantly  dissolved  in  the  bath,, 
and  the  weight  of  the  charge  is  increased  by  just  so  much.  The 
chemical  symbol  expressing  this  is  as  follows: 

Fe203-f-3C=2Fe+3CO. 

Generally  it  will  happen  that  the  truth  lies  between  these  two  con- 
ditions; that  the  slag  keeps  part  of  the -oxide  and  the  rest  is  re- 
duced, part  of  the  oxygen  uniting  with  carbon  and  part  of  the  iron 
being  dissolved  in  the  bath,  the  remainder  of  the  oxide  of  iron 
entering  the  slag. 

Still  another  condition  exists  whenever  iron  ore  is  not  added  to 
the  bath.  Under  this  state  of  affairs,  it  may  be  necessary  for  the 
slag  to  have  more  oxide  of  iron,  and  there  is  no  place  for  this  to 
come  from  except  the  bath.  Therefore,  when  there  is  need  of  oxide 
of  iron,  the  iron  of  the  bath  unites  with  the  oxygen  of  the  flame 
and  goes  into  the  slag. 

Thus  it  is  clear  that  if  no  iron  ore  is  used,  a  certain  equivalent 
amount  of  good  stock  must  be  oxidized,  and  that  if  iron  ore  is  used 
the  weight  of  metal  tapped  will  be  greater  than  if  it  had  not  been 
added. 

The  amount  of  carbon  in  the  steel,  and  therefore  the  tensile 
strength,  depends  entirely  on  the  conduct  of  the  operation,  but  the 
amounts  of  phosphorus  and  sulphur  depend  upon  the  kind  of 
stock  which  is  put  into  the  furnace.  If  a  superior  quality  of  steel 
is  required  the  original  stock  should  contain  only  small  percentages 
of  these  elements.  Such  stock,  however,  costs  more  money  than 
common  scrap.  If  an  ordinary  quality  is  required  then  ordinary 
pig-iron  and  scrap  are  used. 

It  is  a  common  belief  that  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  distinguish 
between  open-hearth  steel  and  Bessemer  steel.  It  is  usually  very 
easy  to  tell  basic  open-hearth  steel  from  acid  Bessemer,  or  acid 
open-hearth  from  basic  Bessemer,  but  it  is  impossible  by  any  ordi- 
nary means  to  tell  acid  Bessemer  from  acid  open-hearth  or  basic 
Bessemer  from  basic  open-hearth.  Most  American  metallurgists 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


and  engineers,  however,  agree  that  open-hearth  steel  of  a  given 
composition  is  more  reliable,  more  uniform,  and  less  liable  to  break 
in  service  than  Bessemer  steel  of  the  same  composition.  And  there 
are  many  metallurgists  and  engineers  both  in  this  country  and 
abroad  who  believe  that  acid  open-hearth  steel  is  more  reliable  than 
basic  open-hearth  steel  of  similar  composition.  In  Chapter  XVII 
it  will  be  shown  that  there  is  mathematical  evidence  to  support  this 
opinion. 

There  are  many  who  disagree  with  this  proposition,  but  almost 
every  American  who  disputes  it  will  confidently  assert  that  open- 
hearth  steel  is  superior  to  Bessemer  steel,  and  he  will  just  as  un- 
qualifiedly put  basic  Bessemer  steel  in  a  lower  place,  yet  his  opinion 
on  these  two  steels  is  no  more  capable  of  complete  logical  demon- 
stration than  my  opinion  in  favor  of  acid  steel.  The  reasons  for 
this  opinion,  founded  on  an  experience  extending  over  a  score  of 
years,  may  not  be  written  in  the  compass  of  this  chapter  or  this 
book. 

THE  BASIC  OPEN-HEARTH  PROCESS. 

The  term  basic  open-hearth  furnace  means  a  regenerative  gas 
furnace,  used  for  melting  steel  and  lined  with  basic  material,  usu- 
ally either  magnesite  or  burned  dolomite. 

It  has  been  stated  in  discussing  the  acid  open-hearth  that  the 
bottom  itself  takes  very  little  part  in  the  operation,  but  that  it 
determines  the  character  of  the  slag  that  can  be  carried.  When 
the  bottom  of  the  furnace  is  made  of  silica  (sand)  the  slag  must  be 
silicious ;  but  when  the  bottom  is  basic  the  slag  must  be  basic.  Con- 
sequently in  the  basic  open-hearth  furnace  the  charge  is  composed 
of  pig-iron  and  scrap,  just  as  in  the  acid  furnace,  but,  in  addition 
to  this,  a  certain  amount  of  lime  or  limestone  is  added.  The  whole 
mass  of  iron,  scrap  and  lime  is  melted  down  by  the  action  of  the 
flame.  The  silicon  and  carbon  of  the  pig-iron  are  oxidized,  just  as 
in  the  acid  process;  the  manganese  of  the  scrap  and  some  of  the 
iron  are  both  oxidized  just  as  on  the  sand  bottom;  but  the  silica 
and  the  oxides  of  iron  and  manganese  do  not  make  a  slag  by  them- 
selves, for  they  unite  with  the  lime  that  has  been  added.  This 
gives  a  basic  slag  and  when  the  slag  is  basic  the  phosphorus  in  the 
pig-iron  and  scrap  will  be  oxidized  and  enter  the  slag  as  phosphate 
of  lime  or  iron,  just  as  it  does  in  the  basic  Bessemer  vessel.  Thus 
the  basic  open-hearth  furnace  will  allow  the  purification  of  iron  con- 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

taining  phosphorus,  and  for  the  same  reason,  but  in  very  much  less 
measure,  sulphur  can  be  eliminated. 

After  the  charge  of  pig-iron  and  scrap  is  melted,  iron  ore  is 
added  as  fast  as  necessary  to  oxidize  the  excess  of  carbon,  and 
when  the  metal  has  reached  the  desired  composition  it  is  tapped 
into  the  ladle,  the  additions  of  manganese  being  made  in  the  same 
manner  as  in  the  acid  furnace. 

The  principles  underlying  the  reactions  in  a  basic  furnace  may 
briefly  and  incompletely  be  stated  as  follows: 

(1)  Silicon  oxidizes  readily  at  a  high  heat  under  almost  all 
conditions.     Its  oxide  is  sand  (Si02),  which  acts  as  an  acid,  by 
which  is  meant  that  it  will  combine  if  it  has  a  chance  with  one  of 
the  bases  or  earths,  like  lime,  iron  or  manganese. 

(2)  Phosphorus  oxidizes  readily,  but  it  will  not  stay  in  the  form 
«f  oxide  unless  the  conditions  are  favorable.     Its  oxide  is  phos- 
phoric anhydride   (P205),  which  acts  as  an  acid  like  silica;  but 
silica  when  formed  is  stable  and  will  stay  where  it  is  put,  but  the 
oxide  of  phosphorus  must  have  something  to  unite  with,  and  this 
something  must  be  one  of  the  bases  or  earths  like  lime,  iron  or 
manganese.     If  oxide  of  phosphorus  is  formed  and  there  is  no 
base  for  it  to  unite  with,  the  metallic  iron  robs  it  of  its  oxygen, 
and  then  we  have  oxide  of  iron,  while  the  phosphorus  is  left  alone, 
dissolved  in  the  bath. 

(3)  The  oxide  of  phosphorus  requires  a  considerable  quantity  of 
bases  to  unite  with.     If  the  quantity  is  limited,  the  phosphorus 
may  stay  for  a  time,  but  will  then  leave.     If  a  slag  contains  all  the 
phosphorus  it  can  hold  at  a  certain  temperature  and  the  furnace 
gets  hotter,  some  of  the  phosphorus  will  go  back  into  the  metal. 
If,  with  the  same  slag  the  carbon  begins  to  burn  faster  from  any 
<?ause,  the  phosphorus  will  go  back  into  the  metal  on  account  of 
the  reducing  action  being  stronger. 

(4)  The  oxide  of  phosphorus  does  not  hold  on  with  equal  force 
to  all  bases.     If  it  is  combined  with  lime  it  is  much  harder  to  pull 
it  back  than  if  it  is  combined  with  iron. 

(5)  Since  oxide  of  phosphorus  acts  as  an  acid  and  combines 
with  a  base,  it  is  evident  that  a  slag  which  is  absorbing  phosphorus 
becomes  every  moment  more  acid,  and  thus  becomes  every  moment 
less  capable  of  further  absorption. 

(6)  It  is  the  rule  in  slags  that  a  mixture  of  several  different 
acids  and  bases  will  be  more  active  than  a  slag  made  of  one  acid 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

and  one  base.     Such  a  complex  slag,  all  other  things  being  equal, 
will  be  more  fluid  in  the  furnace  than  a  simple  slag. 

(7)  In  all  furnaces,  whether  acid  or  basic,  there  is  more  or  less 
of  an  automatic  regulation.     In  the  acid  furnace  the  percentage  of 
silica  will  be  constant,  for  if  there  is  not  enough  silicon  in  the 
charge  to  supply  the  necessary  silica,  the  slag  will  eat  away  the 
bottom  until  it  is  satisfied.     The  total  content  of  the  oxides  of  iron 
and  manganese  will  be  constant,  for  if  there  is  no  ore  added,  the 
iron  of  the  bath  will  be  oxidized.     If  ore  is  added,  the  silicon  and 
carbon  of  the  bath  unite  with  the  oxygen  of  the  ore  and  the  iron 
goes  into  the  bath.     Thus  the  slag  takes  care  of  itself  on  an  acid 
hearth. 

(8)  In  the  basic  furnace  the  slag  takes  care  of  itself  to  some 
extent,  but  the  cutting  away  of  the  hearth  must  not  be  allowed,  and 
if  phosphorus  is  to  be  eliminated,  a  sufficient  quantity  of  lime  must 
be  added.     Given  the  right  amount  of  lime,  there  is  then  a  consid- 
erable self-adjustment  of  the  slag  by  the  oxidation  of  the  iron  of 
the  bath  or  by  the  reduction  of  the  iron  from  the  slag.     If  much 
lime  be  added,  it  will  tend  to  drive  the  iron  back  into  the  bath, 
although  it  can  never  do  it  completely,  while  if  little  lime  be  added, 
there  will  be  a  greater  proportion  of  iron  in  the  slag. 

(9)  It  is  necessary  that  the  slag  shall  be  so  basic  that  it  will  not 
attack  the  bottom.     If  it  is  so,  it  is  basic  enough  to  hold  all  the 
phosphorus  that  will  be  present  if  the  stock  contained  only  a  mod- 
erate amount — say  not  over  one-half  of  one  per  cent.     If  the  stock 
contained  far  in  excess  of  this,  as  often  happens,  special  attention 
must  be  paid  that  phosphorus  does  not  pass  back  into  the  steel  when 
a  high  temperature  is  combined  with  violent  agitation  and  perhaps 
a  reducing  action,  these  conditions  being  often  present  when  the 
heat  is  tapped. 

SEGREGATION. 

Every  engineer  knows  that  steel  is  not  homogeneous.  Manufac- 
turers have  always  known  it,  but  they  have  usually  said  very  little 
about  it.  It  is  a  much  safer  plan  to  state  the  facts  and  let 
proper  allowance  be  made  in  the  proper  place.  The  tendency 
among  structural  engineers  is  continually  toward  heavier  work. 
The  size  of  beams  and  angles  and  girders  is  greater  now  than  it 
was  some  years  ago,  and  the  percentage  of  the  heavy  sections 
is  greater.  These  heavy  pieces  necessarily  mean  heavy  ingots  in 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

order  that  there  shall  be  sufficient  work  upon  the  steel  to  give  it 
a  proper  physical  structure,  and  these  heavy  ingots  mean  a  larger 
cross-section,  and  this  means  that  it  takes  a  longer  time  for  the 
ingot  to  cool  from  the  liquid  to  the  solid  state. 

During  all  the  time  the  ingot  is  liquid  there  is  a  process  going 
on  by  which  the  carbon,  the  phosphorus,  and  the  sulphur  are 
becoming  concentrated  in  the  central  portion  of  the  mass  and  rising 
to  the  upper  portion.  During  the  operation  of  rolling  and  shearing 
off  the  ends,  the  worst  of  the  ingot  is  discarded,  but  the  central 
portion  of  what  is  left  is  not  uniform  with  the  outside  portions. 
It  is  evident  that  in  most  sections  this  impure  portion  will  con- 
stitute the  neutral  axis  and  thus  its  influence  be  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. In  certain  cases,  however,  as  in  armor  plate  and  ordnance, 
great  care  is  taken  to  reject  all  contaminated  portions.  This  could 
be  done  in  structural  material,  but  it  would  involve  much  expense, 
and  no  engineer  would  be  justified  in  insisting  upon  such  a  course, 
since  contracts  are  founded  upon  ordinary  commercial  practice,  and 
this  ordinary  practice  allows  a  certain  measure  of  segregation  to 
exist.  Mr.  A.  C.  Cunningham,  one  of  our  best  inspectors,  states 
explicitly  in  his  printed  specification  that  in  tests  cut  from  the 
finished  material  an  increase  of  25  per  cent,  will  be  permitted  in 
the  allowable  content  of  impurities.  This  is  simply  stating  clearly 
what  other  inspectors  tacitly  accept  as  a  fact. 

Perhaps  the  most  troublesome  instances  of  segregation  occur  in 
plates  rolled  directly  from  ingots.  It  usually  happens  that  the  top 
surface  of  the  ingot  is  solid  and  that  a  cavity  exists  beneath.  When 
this  is  rolled  into  a  plate,  it  is  possible  to  shear  the  plate  so  that 
this  inner  cavity  is  not  opened,  and  we  then  have  a  finished  plate 
which  has  an  area  of  lamination  and  an  area  of  segregation,  and 
these  are  not  in  the  center  of  the  plate,  but  near  one  edge.  The 
test  pieces  are  almost  always  taken  from  the  corners,  so  that  they 
never  reach  the  segregated  portion,  and  there  is  nothing  to  mark 
the  dangerous  condition  of  the  plate.  In  plates  rolled  from  slabs 
there  is  often  a  streak  of  segregation  running  through  the  central 
axis,  but  there  is  not  the  centralization  of  impurities  that  occurs 
in  the  older  method  of  manufacture. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  HOT  WORKING  UPON  STEEL. 

When  an  ingot  of  steel  is  cast  in  a  mold  and  allowed  to  cool  it 
is  not  a  homogeneous  mass  of  uniform  strength  throughout.  Its 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

structure  is  coarsely  crystalline  and  these  crystals  do  not  always 
have  a  firm  hold  on  each  other.  Moreover,  there  are  many  small 
cavities,  called  blowholes,  distributed  unevenly  but  mainly  very 
near  the  surface,  and  oftentimes  a  much  larger  cavity  in  the  center 
of  the  upper  portion.  There  are  also  shrinkage  cracks  extending 
inward  from  the  surface,  these  cracks  being  very  numerous  in  the 
case  of  steel  that  is  poured  at  a  very  high  temperature. 

When  the  ingot  is  heated  and  rolled  all  these  disturbing  factors 
tend  to  disappear.  The  crystals  are  forced  together  and  come  into 
more  intimate  contact ;  the  blowholes  are  crushed  out  of  existence, 
and  although  their  sides  are  not  always  perfectly  welded  together 
they  at  the  worst  become  mere  lengthwise  seams,  which  have  no 
influence  on  the  longitudinal  strength  and  scarcely  any  on  the  bend- 
ing.or  torsional  stiffness;  the  central  cavity  is  cut  off  when  the  top 
is  cropped  at  the  hot  shears;  the  cracks  are  at  first  opened  up  by 
the  rolls  and  are  then  either  worked  out  into  a  perfect  surface  or 
show  themselves  in  open  and  staring  flaws  that  condemn  the  bar  and 
so  prevent  its  use  in  structural  work. 

Tt  will  be  evident  that  the  more  work  that  is  put  upon  the  piece 
the  greater  will  be  the  tendency  to  remove  flaws  and  to  secure  homo- 
geneity. Of  course,  if  an  ingot  is  not  alike  at  the  top  and  bottom 
no  amount  of  work  will  make  the  bar  from  the  upper  end  like  the 
bar  from  the  lower  end,  but  the  effect  of  the  continual  working  in 
the  rolls  will  be  toward  doing  away  with  local  irregularities  in  both 
physical  and  chemical  condition.  For  these  reasons  and  particu- 
larly on  account  of  the  elimination  of  surface  imperfections,  the 
tendency  of  modern  rolling-mill  practice  is  toward  the  use  of  larger 
ingots.  In  cases  where  the  ingot  is  rolled  into  the  finished  bar  at 
one  heat  it  will  be  evident  that  with  a  large  ingot  the  bar  will  be 
finished  at  a  lower  temperature  on  account  of  the  greater  time 
necessary  to  do  more  work,  and  this  lower  finishing  temperature  is 
beneficial.  In  cases  where  the  ingot  is  not  finished  at  one  heat  the 
use  of  a  large  ingot  renders  it  possible  to  get  a  clean  bloom  of 
large  size,  and  this  again  makes  it  probable  that  the  bar  will  be 
finished  at  a  low  temperature. 

THE  EFFECT  CAUSED  BY  CHANGES  IN  THE  SHAPE  OF 

THE  TEST  PIECE. 

It  is  the  custom  for  engineers  to  specify  that  steel  shall  give  a 
certain  percentage  of  elongation,  but  it  is  seldom  that  anything  is 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

said  as  to  how  and  where  the  test  shall  be  taken.  This  omission  is 
covered  by  a  general  understanding  in  the  trade  so  that  there  is  sel- 
dom any  trouble  in  the  case  of  standard  structural  shapes.  Where- 
ever  it  is  possible  the  test  piece  is  taken  so  as  to  leave  two  parallel 
rolled  surfaces  on  the  test  bar,  the  other  two  sides  being  machined. 
This  can  readily  be  done  with  plates,  beams,,  channels,  angles  and 
similar  shapes.  In  small  rounds  the  whole  piece  'is  taken  as  it 
comes  from  the  rolls.  In  the  case  of  plates  it  is  understood  that  the 
test  piece  is  to  be  taken  lengthwise  of  the  plate  unless  stated  other- 
wise in  the  specifications.  In  forgings,  however,  no  absolute  stand- 
ard can  be  given,  but  it  is  usual  to  cut  a  test  from  a  prolongation  of 
the  piece  at  a  short  distance  below  the  surface.  In  many'cases  this  is 
unnecessary,  and  it  will  suffice  to  forge  a  small  bar  from  the  heat 
and  finish  this  either  at  a  small  hammer  or  at  a  rolling-mill.  In 
other  cases,  like  armor  plate  and  cannon,  stringent  provisions  are 
incorporated  in  the  specifications. 

The  results  obtained  from  test  pieces  of  different  shape  are  not 
the  same.  The  general  section,  whether  round  or  rectangular, 
makes  a  difference,  and  in  a  rectangular  piece  the  relation  of  the 
width  to  the  thickness  influences  the  result.  It  will  be  seen  that 
this  latter  fact  is  important  in  cutting  strips  from  angles  or  flat's 
of  varying  thickness.  Needless  to  say  that  the  length  is  the  one 
predominant  factor.  Just  before  breaking  there  is  a  drawing  out 
of  the  bar  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  place  where  it  is 
going  to  break,  and  this  local  stretch  will  be  a  greater  proportion 
of  the  total  in  the  case  of  a  bar  two  inches  long  than  with  a  bar 
ten  inches  long.  In  order  that  records  shall  be  comparative,  the 
length  of  eight  inches  is  used  throughout  England  and  America, 
except  for  forgings  and  castings,  in  which  cases  a  2-inch  test  is 
often  used,  as  itas  both  inconvenient  and  expensive  to  get  the  longer 
piece.  In  foreign  countries  the  standard  length  is  200  millimeters 
=7.87  inches,  so  that  the  results  are  fairly  comparable  with  our 
8-inch  test. 

The  general  laws  may  be  thus  summarized,  the  data  from  which 
the  conclusions  are  drawn  being  given  in  Chapter  XVI. 

(1)  A  rolled  round  will  give  the  best  results  if  tested  in  the 
shape  in  which  it  leaves  the  rolls.     If  the  outside  surface  is  removed 
by  machining  the  elongation  will  be  reduced. 

(2)  The   tensile    strength    of    a    plate   as    determined   by   the 
grooved   (marine)    section  will  be  from  6500  pounds  to   12,500 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

pounds  per  square  inch  higher  than  if  determined  by  the  parallel- 
sided  test. 

(3)  Flat  bars  differ  from  rounds  in  having  less  tensile  strength, 
lower  elastic  limit,  lower  elastic  ratio,  greater  elongation,  and  a 
slightly  lower  reduction  of  area. 

(4)  In  testing  flats  the  elongation  increases  regularly  as  the 
width  increases,  while  the  reduction  of  area  regularly  decreases. 

(5)  The  percentage  of  elongation  decreases  as  the  length  of  the 
test  piece  increases.     The  law  of  change  is  such  that  if  a  piece  8 
inches  long  gives  30  per  cent,  elongation,  a  piece  of  infinite  length 
would  give  about  24  per  cent. 

I  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  CEBTAIN  ELEMENTS  UPON 

STEEL. 

Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  state  accurately  the  effect  of 
different  elements  upon  the  strength  and  ductility  of  steel.  Those 
who  have  studied  and  worked  over  the  problem  differ  among  them- 
selves and  differ  widely.  Yet  it  is  a  common  thing  for  engineers 
to  write  a  specification  calling  for  a  steel  of  a  certain  tensile 
strength,  and  limiting  the  content  of  carbon,  phosphorus,  man- 
ganese and  sulphur.  It  often  happens  that  such  specifications  are 
impracticable,  if  not  impossible.  For  instance,  the  tensile  strength 
is  allowed  to  vary  between  60,000  pounds  and  70,000  pounds  per 
square  inch,  but  it  may  be  that  the  highest  allowable  contents  of 
carbon,  phosphorus  and  manganese  will  actually  give  a  strength 
of  only  65,000  pounds.  Now  it  will  be  evident  that  the  true  allow- 
ance of  tensile  strength  is  not  10,000  pounds,  but  5000  pounds. 
It  is  also  evident  that  the  manufacturer  must  keep  his  phosphorus 
and  manganese  at  the  highest  point,  a  thing  the  engineer  is  very 
far  from  wishing,  but  which  he  has  ignorantly  made  necessary. 

The  slightest  consideration  will  show  that  it  is  a  mathematical 
impossibility  for  the  engineer  to  put  both  chemical  and  physical 
limits  and  have  them  coincide,  unless  he  knows  absolutely  the  effect 
of  each  element  upon  the  strength  of  steel,  and  no  man  in  the 
world  claims  to  know  that  to-day.  It  is  right  for  the  engineer  to. 
specify  certain  parts  of  the  chemical  formula,  but  he  must  leave 
room  for  the  manufacturer  to  attain  the  physical  results.  If  he 
specifies  the  phosphorus  limit,  he  should  leave  the  carbon  open,  and 
if  he  specifies  the  carbon  he  should  leave  the  phosphorus  and  man- 
ganese to  the  manufacturer. 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

Following  are  the  elements  usually  found  in  steel  and  the  gen- 
eral influence  they  have  upon  the  physical  properties.  In  each  case 
the  statements  are  my  own  opinions.  In  a  general  way  they  will 
be  agreed  to  by  almost  all  metallurgists,,  as  far  as  structural  steel 
is  concerned. 

Silicon:  This  element  is  seldom  present  in  structural  steel  in 
quantities  greater  than  a  trace,  and  the  effect  of  these  minute 
quantities  may  be  ignored.  It  is  present  in  steel  castings  in 
amounts  up  to  four-tenths  of  one  per  cent.,  but  its  influence  is  not 
great  for  better  or  for  worse. 

Copper:  This  element  has  some  influence  on  the  hot  properties, 
but  not  as  much  as  generally  supposed,  as  its  effect  is  often  masked 
by  sulphur,  with  which  it  is  generally  associated.  It  has  no  effect 
on  the  cold  properties  as  far  as  known. 

Manganese:  The  most  important  function  of  this  element  is  to 
give  ductility  while  the  steel  is  hot,  so  that  the  piece  can  be  rolled 
into  finished  form  without  tearing.  Ordinary  structural  steels 
contain  from  .30  to  .60  per  cent,  and  within  these  limits  it  has  very 
little  influence  upon  either  the  tensile  strength  or  the  ductility. 
Above  this  amount  it  adds  to  the  tensile  strength,  but  does  not 
materially  decrease  the  ductility.  It  would  seem,  however,  to 
slightly  increase  its  liability  to  break  under  shock,  although  this  is 
not  proven. 

Sulphur:  This  element  has  just  the  opposite  effect  from  man- 
ganese and  makes  the  steel  crack  while  it  is  being  hot  rolled. 
After  the  metal  is  cold  it  seems  to  have  no  appreciable  effect  upon 
the  physical  properties. 

Phosphorus:  This  element  has  little  effect  upon  the  hot  prop- 
erties, but  in  the  cold  state  it  makes  the  steel  brittle  and  adds  to  the 
tensile  strength  in  about  the  same  degree  as  carbon.  In  ether 
words  an  increase  of  one-hundredth  of  one  per  cent.  (.01  per  cent.) 
of  phosphorus  increases  the  tensile  strength  about  one  thousand 
pounds  per  square  inch.  In  ordinary  steels  the  phosphorus  is 
always  limited  to  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent.  In  special  steels 
much  lower  limits  are  given. 

Carbon:  This  is  the  one  element  used  above  all  others  by  manu- 
facturers in  getting  required  physical  properties.  An  increase  of 
one-hundredth  of  one  per  cent.  (.01  per  cent.)  gives  an  increase  in 
tensile  strength  of  about  1000  pounds  per  square  inch.  It  de- 
creases the  ductility  slightly  and  regularly.  When  steel  is  heated 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

red  hot  and  plunged  in  water  the  carbon  in  the  metal  unites  with 
the  iron  in  some  peculiar  way  so  as  to  produce  a  compound  of 
extreme  hardness.  If  the  steel  contain  one-third  of  one  per  cent, 
of  carbon  a  sharp  point  so  quenched  will  scratch  glass.  With  two- 
thirds  of  one  per  cent,  the  steel  is  hard  enough  to  make  common 
cutting  tools.  With  one  per  cent,  it  reaches  nearly  its  limit  of 
hardness.  This  percentage  is  used  for  the  harder  tools,  but  with 
higher  carbons  the  brittleness  increases  so  fast  that  the  usefulness 
of  the  metal  is  limited. 

Nickel:  This  element  in  alloy  with  steel  gives  a  metal  with  a 
high  elastic  limit  and  having  great  toughness  under  shock.  Its 
principal  uses  are  for  armor  plate  and  special  forgings. 

In  Chapter  XVII,  I  have  given  the  results  of  a  mathematical 
investigation  into  the  influence  of  carbon,  phosphorus  and  man- 
ganese. The  method  of  Least  Squares  was  used  to  find  the  most 
probable  values  assignable  to  the  factors,  and  the  result  will  be  found 
in  the  following  formulae: 

FORMULA  FOR  ACID  STEEL. 

38600+mC+89P+K=ultimate  strength. 

FORMULA  FOR  BASIC  STEEL. 

37430+95C-i-8.5Mn+105P+B==ultimate  strength. 

In  these  equations  the  contents  of  carbon,  manganese  and  phos- 
phorus are  to  be  given  in  units  of  .001  per  cent.,  while  R  is  a  factor 
depending  upon  the  finishing  temperature, .  and  it  may  be  plus 
or  minus.  The  results  would  indicate  that  the  metalloids  have 
slightly  different  quantitative  effects  upon  acid  and  basic  steels. 
The  figures  have  been  applied  to  many  thousand  heats  of  steel 
since  these  calculations  were  made,  and  all  the  results  seem  to 
show  the  correctness  of  the  conclusions. 

Now  if  acid  steel  does  not  follow  exactly  the  same  law  as  basic 
steel,  then  it  is  certain  that  they  are  not  the  same,  and  if  they  are 
not  the  same,  then  it  is  quite  possible  that  one  is  better  than  the 
other,  a  possibility  that  is  vigorously  denied  by  some  people. 

I  have  found  that  it  takes  more  carbon  to  give  a  certain  tensil 
strength  in  basic  steel  than  in  acid  steel,  and  I  make  the  argumei 
that  this  is  a  bad  thing  because  every  increase  in  carbon  gives 
better  chance  for  segregation  and  lack  of  uniformity. 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

say  that  this  in  itself  proves  basic  steel  to  be  unreliable,  for  nothing 
could  be  farther  from  the  truth,  but  it  does  seem  to  indicate  that 
acid  steel  may  be  preferable  in  some  cases. 

SPECIFICATIONS  ON  STEUCTUEAL  MATEEIAL. 

It  is  the  custom  for  engineers  to  specify  just  what  kind  of  steel 
they  wish,  and  just  what  the  physical  requirements  shall  be. 
Needless  to  say  that  it  sometimes  happens  that  the  engineer  does 
not  fully  understand  all  about  the  different  kinds  of  steel  and  does 
not  know  just  what  elongation  and  reduction  of  area  should  be 
obtained  in  each  case.  In  such  a  dilemma  he  often  takes  the  first 
specification  he  finds  and  perhaps  adds  to  it  some  special  idea  which 
has  been  impressed  upon  his  mind.  There  are  many  such  speci- 
fications used  by  engineers.  Some  of  them  are  antiquated  and  out 
of  date,  but  they  hold  their  place  because  the  longer  they  have 
been  in  use  the  more  reverence  they  receive  from  certain  people, 
and  the  more  proud  of  his  work  is  the  author.  His  name  attached 
to  a  set  of  specifications  is  a  constant  advertisement,  and  it  arouses 
a  pardonable  feeling  of  self-satisfaction.  These  conditions,  how- 
ever, do  not  serve  scientific  progress. 

Within  the  last  few  years  considerable  advance  has  been  made  in 
getting  up  standard  specifications.  In  1895  the  Association  of 
American  Steel  Manufacturers  adopted  a  certain  set  of  specifica- 
tions, and  although  it  was  claimed  by  some  people  that  it  was  not 
the  place  of  the  manufacturers  to  do  this,  yet  the  fact  remains  that 
the  users  of  structural  material  eagerly  grasped  these  specifications 
as  filling  a  long  felt  want,  and  they  are  the  basis  of  ordinary  busi- 
ness to-day. 

There  are  two  facts  which  may  well  be  kept  in  mind : 

First:  The  steel  manufacturers  in  session  assembled  may  be 
supposed  to  know  something  about  steel. 

Second :  It  is  not  for  their  interest  to  advocate  a  bad  material. 
It  might  be  for  the  interest  of  one  of  them  to  try  and  pass  a  bad 
lot  of  steel  on  a  single  contract,  but  taken  as  a  whole  they  can 
have  no  incentive  to  plead  the  cause  of  something  they  think  is  bad. 

The  steel  makers  are  not  a  unit  in  all  matters,  but  they  do  agree 
in  some  things.  Most  of  them  believe  that  Bessemer  steel  will  do 
for  buildings,  highway  bridges  and  similar  purposes.  They  be- 
lieve that  open-hearth  steel  should  be  used  for  railway  bridges,  for 
boilers,  for  locomotive  forgings  and  other  purposes  where  the  steel 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

is  subject  to  vibration  and  shock.  They  believe  that  in  such  open- 
hearth  steel  the  phosphorus  should  be  lower  than  in  the  ordinary 
run  of  Bessemer  steel,  and  that  the  greater  the  liability  to  shock 
the  lower  should  be  the  phosphorus. 

In  some  other  matters  they  do  not  agree.  They  differ  in  regard 
to  acid  and  basic  steel,  and  probably  always  will  differ  as  long  as 
human  nature  remains  as  it  is.  It  is  my  own  opinion  that  acid 
steel,  all  other  things  being  equal,  is  superior  to  basic  steel,  but 
the  manufacturers  being  unable  to  give  an  authoritative  opinion 
leave  the  matter  open  to  the  choice  of  the  engineer,  stating  what 
the  phosphorus  shall  be  in  each  case.  This  whole  subject  of  specifi- 
cations is  now  under  consideration  by  the  engineering  societies  of 
our  country  and  especially  by  the  American  Society  for  Testing 
Materials,  and  it  will  be  discussed  at  greater  length  in  Chapter 
XVIII.  No  ordinary  specification,  however,  can  take  account  of  all 
the  variations  which  will  be  found  in  the  physical  results  of  bars  of 
different  section,  and  in  the  chapter,  just  mentioned  I  have  tried  to 
indicate  what  allowances  should  be  made  to  cover  these  variations. 
It  was  not  expected  when  I  wrote  these  specifications  that  they 
would  come  into  general  use,  but  the  fact  remains  that  they  show 
certain  laws  which  must  be  recognized  by  the  engineer  and  the 
manufacturer.  These  laws  may  briefly  be  stated  as  follows : 

(1)  In  rounds  an  increase  in  diameter  is  accompanied  by  a  de- 
crease in  ultimate  strength,  a  greater  decrease  in  elastic  limit,  an 
increase  in  the  elongation,  and  a  decrease  in  the  reduction  of  area. 

(2)  In  angles  an  increase  in  thickness  is  accompanied  by  a  de- 
crease in  ultimate  strength,  a  greater  decrease  in  the  elastic  limit, 
and  a  decrease  in  the  reduction  of  area,  while  the  elongation  re- 
mains constant. 

(3)  In  plates  a  thickness  of  %  inch  to  %  inch  should  be  taken 
as  the  basis. 

Thinner  plates  will  show  higher  tensile  strength,  much  higher 
elastic  limit,  lower  elongation  and  lower  reduction  of  area. 

Thicker  plates  will  show  lower  ultimate  strength,  much  lower 
elastic  limit,  lower  elongation  and  lower  reduction  of  area. 

Narrow  plates  will  give  higher  elongation  and  higher  reduction 
of  area  than  wide  plates. 

Tests  cut  crosswise  of  the  steel  will  usually  show  lower  ultimate 
strength,  lower  elastic  limit,  lower  elongation  and  lower  reduction 
of  area.  This  is  most  marked  in  long  narrow  plates. 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

Universal  mill  plates  will  show  a  greater  difference  between 
lengthwise  and  crosswise  tests  than  will  be  found  in  sheared  plates. 

(4)  In  channels,  beams  and  similar  sections,  the  tests  cut  from 
the  web  will  follow  the  laws  just  stated  for  plates  of  medium  width. 
In  pieces  cut   from  the  flanges  there  will  be  a  lower  ultimate 
strength,  a  lower  elastic  limit,  and  a  lower  reduction  of  area. 

(5)  In  eye-bars,  an  increase  in  thickness  will  show  a  lower  ulti- 
mate strength  and  a  much  lower  elastic  limit.     The  elongation  will 
decrease  as  the  length  increases  so  that  if  a  length  of  15  feet  gives  a 
stretch  of  15  per  cent,  a  length  of  35  feet  will  not  give  over  13 
per  cent. 

WELDING. 

In  the  days  of  wrought-iron,  welding  was  the  basis  of  all  forg- 
ing and  of  very  much  structural  work.  To-day  almost  all  struc- 
tural members  are  of  steel,  as  well  as  a  very  great  proportion  of 
the  stock  that  is  in  the  shop  of  the  village  blacksmith.  This 
soft  steel  will  weld,  and  the  average  blacksmith  and  machinist,  to 
-say  nothing  of  some  engineers  who  ought  to  know  better,  believe 
that  a  welded  piece  of  steel  is  just  as  good,  or  practically  as  good, 
as  a  new  bar.  In  Chapter  XIX  will  be  found  data  showing  that 
while  a  weld  is  better  than  nothing,  and  while  it  may  have  half  the 
strength  of  the  natural  bar,  and  may  have  its  full  strength,  it  does 
not  have  its  toughness  and  is  unfit  to  use  in  any  place  where  failure 
will  be  dangerous,  and  where  it  can  possibly  be  avoided.  It  is  also 
shown  that  a  weld  of  wrought-iron  is  entirely  unreliable. 

STEEL  CASTINGS. 

A  steel  casting  is  a  mass  of  steel  poured  directly  into  finished 
shape  from  fluid  steel  made  in  the  regular  way.  In  this  country 
-acid  open-hearth  furnaces  are  generally  used,  but  in  Germany  the 
basic  furnace  is  sometimes  employed.  At  different  periods  within 
the  last  thirty  years  the  Bessemer  converter  has  been  used  for  this 
work. 

One  of  the  latest  forms  is  known  as  the  Tropenas  process.  In- 
stead of  having  the  tuyeres  in  the  very  bottom  of  the  converter  so 
that  the  blast  goes  up  through  the  metal,-the  air  is  blown  at  a  low 
pressure  upon  the  surface  of  the  bath.  At  a  point  from  four  to 
seven  inches  above  this  set  of  tuyeres  is  another  set,  which  supplies 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

air  to  burn  the  carbonic  oxide  coming  from  the  metal.  This  upper 
row  of  tuyeres  is  not  operated  until  the  blowing  is  well  under  way. 
The  lower  tuyeres  oxidize  the  carbon  to  carbonic  oxide  (CO),  just 
as  happens  in  an  ordinary  converter,  while  the  upper  tuyeres'burn 
this  to  carbonic  acid  (C02).  In  this  way  there  is  a  great  increase 
in  the  amount  of  heat  produced  and  the  steel  will  be  much  hotter 
than  if  blown  in  the  usual  way.  It  is  necessary  to  note,  however, 
that  high  temperatures  are  considered  very  injurious  in  making 
steel  castings  of  any  size,  and  the  open-hearth  furnace  is  amply 
capable  of  turning  out  steel  much  hotter  than  is  desired,  although 
it  is  not  as  well  fitted  for  making  very  small  charges  as  a  small 
^converter.  Further  remarks  on  this  subject  will  be  found  in 
•Chapter  XX. 

In  the  steel  foundry,  it  is  the  practice  to  put  what  are  called 
"sink-heads"  on  steel  castings.  These  are  masses  of  metal  that 
rise  above  the  rest  of  the  casting  and  are  of  such  size  that  they  stay 
liquid  while  the  main  body  is  solidifying,  and  the  metal  flows  from 
these  heads  down  into  the  casting  to  supply  the  gap  made  by  shrink- 
age, and  thus  prevent  the  existence  of  large  cavities.  These  "sink- 
heads"  or  "risers"  must  be  cut  off  by  saws  or  otherwise,  and  it 
often  happens  that  the  surface  so  exposed  shows  a  few  holes.  These 
holes  do  not  indicate  a  bad  casting,  as  the  fault  is  purely  local. 

On  the  other  hand  it  often  happens  that  the  casting  is  machined 
in  one  or  more  places,  and  this  exposes  many  minute  blowholes. 
'These  usually  are  not  serious,  and  as  a  rule,  it  may  be  assumed  that 
the  holes  do  no  positive  harm  in  themselves,  but  that  the  strength 
of  the  casting  is  just  the  same  as  if  an  equal  number  of  holes  had 
been  bored  with  a  tool.  A  mathematical  calculation  on  this  basis 
will  generally  show  that  these  flaws  reduce  the  strength  in  a  very 
slight  degree.  Steel  makers  themselves  pay  very  little  attention  to 
blowholes  in  castings  used  in  their  own  work. 

A  steel  casting  of  complicated  shape  is  very  likely  to  be  intern- 
ally strained  by  the  forces  at  work  in  the  cooling  of  the  mass. 
Certain  parts  will  be  in  tension  and  certain  parts  in  compression. 
In  simple  shapes  these  conditions  do  not  exist  to  any  appreciable 
extent,  but  in  complicated  forms  it  is  well  to  anneal  the  whole 
casting  by  slow  heating  and  cooling.  This  process  when  properly 
conducted  also  entirely  changes  the  crystalline  structure  of  the 
mass  and  increases  its  ductility.  The  improvements  invented  in 
the  last  few  years  in  the  way  of  pyrometers  allow  this  process  to 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

be  carried  out  with  scientific  precision,  instead  of  in  the  old  hap- 
hazard method  that  often  did  as  much  harm  as  good. 

INSPECTION. 

Nothing  is  easier  than  to  write  in  one  sentence  the  self-evident 
laws  that  should  govern  the  inspection  of  steel,  for  the  manu- 
facturer should  supply  exactly  what  is  required  and  the  inspector 
should  receive  nothing  else.  If  the  steel  does  not  fulfil  the 
specifications,  it  is  most  certainly  the  fault  of  the  maker,  and 
all  the  chances  and  losses  of  error  should  have  been  taken  into  con- 
sideration in  making  the  contract.  Moreover,  the  inspector  is  only 
an  agent,  and  he  violates  his  trust  in  accepting  anything  that  falls 
outside  the  limits  which,  either  wisely  or  foolishly,  have  been  set  by 
his  principal. 

These  facts  are  patent,  and  it  may  seem  strange  that  any  mis- 
understanding can  possibly  come  in  their  practice ;  but  such  trouble 
does  arise,  and  it  will  be  to  the  advantage  of  all  concerned  if  the 
points  of  difference  are  discussed.  The  main  causes  of  disagree- 
ment are  as  follows: 

(1)  Dishonesty  of  the  manufacturers. 

(2)  Open  disregard  of  specifications  by  the  manufacturers. 

(3)  Bad  construction  of  the  specifications. 

(4)  Conscientiousness  and  non-discretionary  powers  of  the  in- 
spector. 

The  dishonesty  of  the  manufacturer  is  a  sad  fact  which  occa- 
sionally appears  in  evidence,  but  where  one  instance  becomes  known 
there  are  a  dozen  that  escape  observation,  for  cheating  is  so  easy  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  even  with  careful  supervision,  that  the  tempt- 
ation is  hard  to  overcome  when  large  financial  stakes  are  put  in 
hazard  by  absurd  restrictions;  but  the  habit  once  formed  is  too 
easily  extended  from  the  protection  of  self  to  the  defrauding  of 
others.  It  is  a  physical  impossibility  for  any  one  or  any  ten  men 
to  follow  the  material  through  the  processes  of  manufacture  to  see 
that  no  false  marking  is  done,  and  although  it  is  true  that  the  buyer 
has  the  privilege  of  investigating  the  steel  at  a  subsequent  time, 
every  one  knows  that  engineers  do  not  go  into  the  erecting  shops 
and  cut  pieces  out  of  the  angles,  each  one  of  which  is  made  to  fit 
some  one  place  in  the  structure,  and  then  test  and  analyze  the 
samples.  Moreover,  a  dozen  random  tests  would  not  show  that 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

some  pieces  were  not  wrongly  marked,  or  that  some  of  the  metal 
was  not  entirely  outside  of  the  specifications. 

It  must  also  be  considered  that  no  ordinary  tests  can  distin- 
guish between  Bessemer  and  open-hearth  steel,  or  between  acid  and 
basic  steel,  while  it  is  only  the  laboratory  .which  can  find  whether 
the  phosphorus  is  high  or  low.  It  is  nevertheless  a  fraud  for  the 
maker  to  use  one  when  the  other  is  specified,  and  it  is  none  the  less 
a  fraud  on  the  part  of  the  engineer  toward  all  competitors  for  the 
contract  if  any  change  is  made  in  the  prescribed  method  of  manu- 
facture after  making  the  award. 

Inspectors  should  be  obliged  to  make  reports  based  on  their  own 
knowledge;  they  should  know  how  the  steel  is  made,  and,  when  any 
fraud  is  suspected,  should  pick  out  the  bars  from  which  the  tests 
are  to  be  cut,  watch  these  bars  and  see  that  no  substitution  is 
allowed,  take  drillings  to  unbiased  and  responsible  chemists,  and 
by  all  other  means  endeavor  to  stop  the  deceptions  which  place  the 
honest  manufacturer  at  a  disadvantage,  as  well  as  nullify  the  calcu- 
lations of  the  engineer.  In  so  doing  it  is  necessary  to  enforce  the 
spirit  rather  than  the  letter  of  the  law.  In  order  to  reduce  the 
friction  to  a  minimum,  the  inspector  should  be  clothed  with  some 
discretionary  power,  for  chemists  will  differ,  and  steel  will  not  be 
•absolutely  uniform,  and  different  rolled  sections  will  give  different 
results,  but  the  general  intention  of  the  engineer  can  be  carried  out, 
and  true  records  made  of  the  metal  which  is  used. 

Some  engineers  require  that  inspectors  shall  watch  every  detail 
of  manufacture  by  night  and  day.  This  provision  may  be  neces- 
sary in  some  cases,  but  it  is  sometimes  very  unjust.  A  contract  is 
often  divided  among  two  or  more  works,  and  it  may  happen  that 
one  of  these  succeeds  in  overcoming  certain  difficulties  by  ingenuity 
and  study.  .Such  an  advantage  is  the  rightful  property  of  the 
originator,  and  the  works  making  the  discovery  is  entitled  to  all  the 
gain  that  may  result  therefrom. 

Under  the  inquisitory  system  just  mentioned  it  is  impossible  to 
leep  secret  any  detail  of  manipulation,  since  the  inspectors,  who 
travel  from  one  works  to  another,  will  naturally  carry  such  infor- 
mation, and  will  volunteer  any  assistance  in  their  power  to  unsuc- 
cessful manufacturers.  This  may  be  done  from  the  most  com- 
mendable motives  and  it  is  impossible  to  condemn  the  practice, 
Irat  the  result  is  much  more  pleasant  to  Utopian  philosophers  than 
to  business  rivals. 


30  INTRODUCTION. 

The  disregard  of  specifications  by  the  manufacturer  often  ap- 
pears in  substituting  Bessemer  metal  for  open-hearth,  or  basic  steel 
in  place  of  acid,  or  in  a  defiant  attempt  to  make  a  steel  of  a  differ- 
ent chemical  composition  from  what  is  required.  Assuming  that 
the  physical  quality  is  the  final  criterion,  a  steel  is  furnished  which 
passes  the  tensile  tests,  and  the  claim  is  made  that,  since  these  are 
filled,  the  material  must  be  accepted.  Astonishing,  absurd  and  un- 
tenable as  this  position  is,  there  are  cases  where  it  has  been  taken 
and  where  the  material  has  been  accepted.  Needless  to  say  that  by 
so  doing  the  engineer  places  himself  in  an  unfair  relation  to  every 
works  which  made  a  bid  on  the  better  quality  of  material,  and  need- 
less to  say  that  such  a  transaction  casts  a  deep  shadow  of  doubt  over 
the  intention  and  the  force  of  every  clause  in  future  contracts. 

Such  a  concession  is  an  open  acknowledgement  that  the  specifica- 
tions were  written  in  ignorance  or  error,  and  while  it  would  be  well 
if  such  error  were  recognized  whenever  it  exists,  it  would  also  be 
well  if  carefully  considered  requirements  were  rigidly  enforced. 
Oftentimes  there  are  details  which  are  plainly  the  result  of  care- 
lessness, and  these  furnish  an  excuse  for  righteous  wrath  on  the 
part  of  the  manufacturer.  A  case  of  this  kind  occurred  in  filling 
a  large  contract  embracing  a  number  of  foundation  bolts  and  simi- 
lar forgings.  Part  of  these  were  to  be  made  of  steel  running  from 
70,000  to  80,000  pounds  tensile  strength,  while  the  rest  were  to 
be  from  72,000  to  82,000.  The  cause  of  this  absurdity  was  a 
change  in  management  during  the  progress  of  the  construction  with 
a  revision  of  the  specifications,  and  while  the  requirements  for  a 
certain  portion  were  allowed  to  remain  unaltered,  new  regulations 
were  made  for  exactly  similar  bolts  and  rods  for  the  rest  of  the 
work.  In  this  case  the  reason  for  the  divergence  was  evidently 
not  in  any  way  the  result  of  intention,  but  simply  an  accident,  and 
yet  the  inspector  conscientiously  refused  to  accept  steel  running 
71,500  pounds  for  one  bolt,  while  for  another,  intended  for  exactly 
the  same  purpose,  he  would  accept  71,000  pounds.  This  trouble 
could  possibly  have  been  remedied  by  a  short  consultation  with  the 
engineer,  but  in  this  case  he  was  three  thousand  miles  away  and  was 
himself  but  a  part  of  a  complicated  system  of  red-tape. 

The  possible  mistakes  in  the  specifications  call  for  a  certain 
amount  of  discretionary  power  on  the  part  of  the  inspector,  but 
such  power  is  needed  also  to  settle  some  small  questions  of  detail 
arising  in  the  manufacture.  Thus,  during  the  construction  of  a 


INTRODUCTION.  31 

large  train  shed,  it  was  found  that  a  few  angles  were  needed  of  a 
certain  special  size  and  section  not  on  hand.  The  labor  and  time 
necessary  to  put  in  rolls  to  make  them  would  have  cost  many  times 
what  the  angles  were  worth,  but  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  hard 
fight  for  permission  to  use  some  angles  of -the  same  section  and  the 
same  analysis  and  character,  but  which  were  from  one-sixteenth  to 
one-eighth  inch  thicker  than  called  for.  Now,  it  is  perfectly  con- 
ceivable that  in  a  war  vessel,  where  every  pound  is  figured  upon,  a 
conscientious  inspector  would  refuse  to  accept  anything  beyond  the 
limit,  and  it  is  also  conceivable  that  in  the  building  of  a  long-span 
bridge  the  weights  of  all  materials  should  be  carefully  watched; 
but  that  the  same  care  is  necessary,  in  the  face  of  great  expense  and 
delay,  in  a  small-span  train  shed,  which  would  never  have  any- 
thing to  do  but  keep  the  rain  from  the  ground  beneath,  is  one  of 
those  preposterous  conceits  which  could  only  arise  from  misguided 
honesty. 

A  still  more  striking  example  occurred  in  the  assembling  of  the- 
angles  and  plates  composing  certain  large  members  where  it  was 
necessary  to  use  a  few  long,  narrow  pieces  not  over  one-sixteenth  of 
an  inch  in  thickness,  as  filling  pieces  between  riveted  work  of  per- 
haps one  and  one-half  inches  in  thickness.  Although  this  was 
simply  a  washer,  and  although  any  storehouse  could  supply  per- 
fectly suitable  sheets  of  ordinary  steel,  the  inspector  required  that 
the  steel  be  made  especially  for  the  place,  and  that  it  should  be 
just  the  same  in  chemical  composition  and  physical  characteristics 
as  the  angles  and  plates  with  which  it  was  united,  although  this 
necessitated  the  making  of  special  contracts  with  sheet  mills  and 
the  delay  of  the  erecting  work. 

The  manufacturer  does  not  like  to  bother  the  engineer  with  all 
these  petty  details  arising  from  day  to  day,  as  it  would  be  human 
nature  for  the  busy  man  to  answer  after  several  such  questions  that 
contracts  were  made  to  be  carried  out.  What  the  honest  business, 
man  wants  is  a  thoroughly  competent  inspector  who  knows  how  to 
make  sure  that  he  is  getting  what  is  called  for;  who  may  examine  a 
turnbuckle  with  a  magnifying  glass,  but  pays  less  attention  to  an 
angle  for  a  hand  railing;  who  hammers  a  fire-box  sheet  until  he- 
knows  it  is  right,  but  is  a  little  lenient  with  a  gusset-plate. 

The  proper  way,  in  most  cases,  would  be  to  place  the  whole  mat- 
ter of  inspection  in  the  hands  of  a  competent  man,  who  should 
have  full  authority  to  make  such  concessions  or  such  extra  tests- 


32  INTRODUCTION. 

as  seem  desirable  dunng  the  progress  of  the  work,,  in  order  that, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  manufacturer  is  fairly  treated,  and,  on  the 
other,  that  the  material  is  fully  up  to  the  standard  required.  Under 
any  system,  most  of  the  routine  work  will  probably  be  done  by 
subordinates  who  are  not  qualified  to  decide  all  questions  that  may 
arise,  but  the  chiefs  of  American  inspection  bureaus  are  fully 
capable  of  meeting  all  responsibility.  They  are  specialists,  who 
know  much  more  about  the  quality  and  nature  of  steel  than  the  con- 
structive engineer  who  deals  with  the  designing  and  construction 
of  caissons  and  trusses.  In  this  function  of  consulting  expert  to 
the  bridge  engineer,  these  inspectors  will  find  that  the  conscientious 
manufacturer  is  their  friend  and  not  their  enemy. 

In  former  days  the  surface  inspection  of  the  material  was  the 
most  important  function  of  the  inspector;  to-day  it  is  the  least  of 
his  duties.  In  fact,  it  has  become  such  a  matter  of  form  that  there 
is  a  tendency  toward  its  complete  abolition.  There  is  much  to  be 
.said  in  favor  of  such  a  step,  for  it  is  acknowledged  by  all  manu- 
facturers that  if  an  imperfection  is  discovered  in  any  piece  of  steel, 
no  matter  if  it  has  passed  through  the  hands  of  a  dozen  inspectors, 
the  defective  member  must  be  replaced.  This  is  done  without  argu- 
ment, it  being  recognized  that  the  maker  must  stand  behind  his 
goods. 

Granting  this  condition,  it  will  be  evident  that  it  is  far  better 
for  the  manufacturer  to  reject  all  unsuitable  bars  at  the  mill  than 
to  have  them  thrown  out  after  delivery  at  distant  points,  and  it  will 
therefore  be  to  his  interest  to  properly  inspect  all  material  before 
shipment.  For  this  reason  it  is  the  universal  custom  at  rolling 
mills  to  have  certain  men  whose  sole  duty  it  is  to  examine  the  pro- 
duct as  fast  as  it  is  made,  and  separate  the  defective  bars.  This  is 
done  after  the  bars  are  straightened,  and  before  they  reach  the  load- 
ing beds,  so  that. there  is  no  further  sorting  to  be  done  in  the  ship- 
ping yard. 

The  mill  inspection  is  so  carefully  done  in  well-conducted  works 
that  it  is  an  unusual  thing  for  an  outside  inspector  to  reject  bars, 
and  it  would  be  still  more  thoroughly  performed  if  the  manufac- 
turer knew  that  the  responsibility  rested  with  him  alone.  In  the 
cases  where  the  material  is  to  be  passed  upon  by  an  outside  inspec- 
tor, the  natural  tendency  is  to  let  doubtful  bars  go  by,  since  the 
responsibility  of  their  acceptance  is  to  rest  upon  other  shoulders. 

These  facts  are  so  well  known  that  some  of  the  best  and  most 


INTRODUCTION.  33 

careful  engineers  in  the  country,  including  those  who  are  most 
stringent  in  their  demands  concerning  the  chemical  and  physical 
qualities,  do  not  make  any  surface  inspection,  but  notify  the  manu- 
facturer that  the  entire  responsibility  rests  with  him,  and  that  a  bar 
showing  manifest  flaws  must  be  replaced,  even  though  it  has  passed 
through  every  hand  and  has  been  placed"  in  position. 

Whether  this  practice  be  generally  accepted  or  not,  it  is  eminently 
desirable  that  the  inspection  bureaus  should  arrange  to  examine  the 
material  as  fast  as  it  is  made,  so  that  the  delays  and  expense  of 
double  handling  of  stock  may 'be  avoided.  It  often  happens  that 
such  handling  costs  more  than  the  inspection  bureau  receives  for  its 
work,  and  it  is  certainly  an  equitable  request  that  some  action  be 
taken  to  remedy  this  loss.  The  solution  of  this  problem  lies  in  the 
cooperation  of  the  manufacturer,  the  inspector,  and  the  engineer, 
with  a  realization  of  the  fact  that  the  interest  of  one  is  the  interest 
of  all. 


PART  II. 
THE  METALLURGY  OF  IRON  AND  STEEL. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  ERRANCY   OF   SCIENTIFIC   RECORDS. 

SECTION  ^.—Difficulties  in  obtaining  comparative  data.— The 
data  now  available  for  the  study  of  steel  would  be  sufficient  for  the 
elucidation  of  every  problem  if  it  were  possible  to  know  every  con- 
dition surrounding  each  individual  case.  Such  perfection  can 
never  be  obtained  even  in  the  most  carefully  conducted  experiments, 
for  it  has  often  happened  in  the  history  of  science  that  the  most 
careful  records  of  observations  have  failed  to  give  what  after  years 
proved  to  be  a  vital  factor,  while  it  still  more  frequently  happens 
that  such  omissions  are  due  to  simple  oversight. 

Instances  of  this  may  be  found  in  the  data  collected  by  Prof.  H. 
M.  Howe  in  his  great  work,  "The  Metallurgy  of  Steel."  On  page 
18,  he  gives  a  table  showing  the  effect  of  hardening  upon  various 
iron  compounds.  Test  No.  11  is  a  Bessemer  steel  with  .33  per 
cent,  carbon,  51,259  pounds  ultimate  strength  after  annealing, 
and  19  per  cent,  elongation.  This  is,  indeed,  strange  metal,  since 
the  strength  of  the  original  bar  is  given  as  70,225  pounds,  so  that 
the  loss  of  strength  in  annealing  was  18,966  pounds  per  square  inch. 
These  figures  are  quoted  from  Styffe  and  it  is  quite  certain  that  this 
investigator  must  have  noticed  how  far  such  a  change  varied  from 
usual  experience,  and  he  should  have  recorded  such  phenomena  as 
bore  upon  the  subject. 

If  such  omissions  can  be  found  in  the  work  of  eminent  observ- 
ers, very  little  can  be  expected  from  those  who  have  not  been  trained 
in  scientific  thought,  but  who  rush  into  print  sometimes  with  the 
best  of  motives  and  sometimes  with  a  purely  mercenary  object. 
The  columns  of  the  technical  papers  are  full  of  data  which  are 
worthless  as  guide  posts  on  the  road  to  fact.  The  errors  that  can 
creep  into  such  an  investigation  arise  from  different  causes.  They 
may  come  from  mixing  of  test  pieces  in  the  shop,  the  testing-room, 
and  the  laboratory,  or  from  miscalculations  and  mistakes  in  meas- 
uring and  copying  the  figures.  Instances  of  such  blunders  can  be 

37 


38 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


found  in  every  establishment,  and  the  only  true  remedy  is  the  repe- 
tition of  the  entire  work.  Even  when  the  utmost  care  has  been 
exercised,  the  results  must  not  be  translated  too  literally,  for  there 
are  variations  which  are  due  solely  to  the  cumulative  effect  of  petty 
determinative  errors.  Thus,  I  made  the  experiment  of  cutting  six 
tests  from  the  same  bar  and  having  them  measured,  pulled  and  cal- 
culated by  the  same  man.  The  original  piece  was  a  rolled  flat,  4 
inches  wide  by  5-16  inch  thick.  This  was  cut  lengthwise  into  two 
strips,  1%  inches  wide  by  5-16  inch  thick,  and  these  strips  were 
again  cut  into  18-inch  lengths.  Six  of  these,  taken  from  alternate 
sides  of  the  original  bar  throughout  its  length,  were  tested  without 
treatment.  The  results  are  given  in  Table  I-A. 

Whether  the  determinations  of  sulphur  and  phosphorus  are  abso- 
lutely correct  is  of  no  importance,  for  it  is  certain  that  the  total 
amount  of  impurity  is  very  small,  and  the  probable  variation  in 
chemical  composition  in  different  parts  of  such  a  bar  ma}''  be  neg- 
lected. In  regard  to  the  physical  condition,  it  should  be  said  that 
the  piece  was  made  from  a  billet,  which  in  turn  had  been  rolled 
from  a  2-ton  ingot ;  the  bar  was  therefore  more  uniform  through- 
out than  any  two  different  bars  would  likely  be,  and  yet  we  find 
a  variation  of  1400  pounds  in  ultimate  strength,  3030  pounds  in 
elastic  limit,  9.5  per  cent,  in  elongation,  3.20  per  cent,  in  reduc- 
tion of  area,  and  4.54  per  cent,  in  elastic  ratio. 

TABLE  I-A. 

Variations  in  Physical  Properties  of  Pieces  of  the  Same  Rolled 

Bar. 

Size  of  bar,  I%"x5-16".    Composition,  per  cent.,  C  (by  combustion)  .057, 
P  .006,  Mn  .33,  S  .019. 


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72.00 

71.69 

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45560 

32760 

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70.60 

71.91 

3 

45950 

34420 

33.50 

68.80 

74.91 

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45710 

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68.80 

71.65 

5 

46960 

35780 

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73.86 

Average,  i       46C98 

33825      |        35.37 

70.00 

73.37 

THE   ERRANCY  OF   SCIENTIFIC   RECORDS.  39 

Pourcel,*  citing  from  one  of  my  own  papers,  gives  results  dif- 
fering but  little  more  than  this  to  prove  the  non-homogeneity  of 
steel  as  produced  by  segregation;  by  a  strange  irony  of  fate,  he 
takes  the  records  which  I  had  confidently  published  to  show  that 
our  steel  was  homogeneous  and  uniform.  Nothing  will  better  in- 
dicate the  effect  of  a  preconceived  thesis  upon  the  reasoning 
faculty. 

SEC.  Ib. — Errors  in  chemical  methods. — Aside  from  the  disturb- 
ing factors  in  the  shop  and  testing-room,  there  are  great  and  im- 
portant errors  in  the  work  of  the  chemical  laboratories.  This  will 
seem  a  reckless  statement  to  those  not  conversant  with  the  limita- 
tions of  chemical  science.  The  average  chemist  is  well  grounded  in 
the  belief  that  his  determination  of  carbon  by  combustion  is  abso- 
lutely beyond  question,  and  if  some  other  chemist  disagrees  with 
him,  it  is  the  misfortune  of  that  analyst.  Not  only  is  he  quite  cer- 
tain of  this  result,  but  he  regards  his  color  determinations  as  above 
all  but  captious  criticism.  Such  is  the  position  of  many  a  steel- 
works chemist,  and  the  metallurgical  compiler  must  accept  his 
records  as  inerrant.  It  seems  pertinent,  therefore,  to  recite  the 
following : 

In  1888  the  chemical  societies  of  the  world  arranged  among 
themselves  to  investigate  the  methods  of  steel  analysis.  At  one  of 
the  first  meetings  of  the  American  committee  it  was  found  that  the 
different  ways  of  determining  carbon  did  not  give  concordant  re- 
sults, and  a  special  investigation  was  instituted  to  discover  the 
causes  of  error.  The  result  may  be  told  by  quoting  the  report  of 
Prof.  Langley,f  one  of  the  committee:  "It  is  perhaps  not  too 
much  to  say  that  sufficient  work  has  already  been  done  to  throw 
-doubt  on  the  accuracy  of  all  recent  determinations  made  with  pre- 
liminary solution  of  the  steel  in  double  chloride  of  copper  and  am- 
monium." 

This  opinion  has  been  reiterated  in  Vol.  XX,  p.  242,  where  it  is 
stated  that  all  commercial  chlorides  of  copper  and  ammonium  con- 
tain carbon,  and  that  their  use  in  steel  analysis  gives  too  high  a 
carbon  percentage.  J 

*  Segregation  and  its  Consequences  in  Ingots  of  Steel  and  Iron.  Trans.  A.  I. 
M.  E.,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  108. 

f  International  Standards  for  the  Analysis  of  Iron  and  Steel.  Trans.  A.  I. 
M.  E.,  Vol.  XIX,  p.  623. 

t  It  should  be  said  that  a  pure  article  is  now  in  the  market,    and 
chemists  do  not  agree  that  the  use  of  this  reagent  has  caused  errors  « 
ports  r^e. 


40 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

TABLE  I-B. 


Variations  in  the  Eesults  Obtained  by  Different  National  Commit- 
tees on  the  Same  Steel. 


No.  of 
Sample. 

Nationality  of 
Committee. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

C 

Si 

S          |          P 

Mn 

1 

English. 
Swedish, 
American, 

1.414 
1.460 
1.440 

.263 
.257 
.270 

.006 
.008 
.004 

.018 
.022 
.016 

.259 
.282 
.254 

2 

English, 
Swedish, 
American, 

.816 
.840 
.800 

.191 
.185 
.202 

.007 
.004 
.004 

.014 
.015 
.010 

.141 
.145 
.124 

3 

English, 
Swedish, 
American, 

.476 
.500 
.454 

.141 
.150 

.152 

.008 
.006 
.004 

.021 
.021 
.015 

.145 
.170 
.140 

4 

English. 
Swedish, 
American, 

.151 
.170 
.180 

.008 
.015 
.015 

.039 
.048 
.038 

.078 
.102 

.088 

.130 
.130 
.098 

Since  these  reports  have  been  published,  the  committees  have 
been  at  work,  and  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Chemical  So- 
ciety, Vol.  XV,  No.  8,  is  given  a  partial  report  of  progress,  while 
in  The  Chemical  News,  Vol.  LXVII,  No.  1766,  further  results 
are  given.  Table  I-B  shows  a  condensation  of  the  records  thus 
far  made  public. 

TABLE  I-C. 

Variations  in  Eesults  of  Determinations  of  Carbon  and  Phosphorus. 
(Wahlberg;  Journal  I.  &  8.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1901,  p.  42.) 


Carbon. 

Phosphorus. 

No. 

Combustion. 

Color. 

Av. 

Min. 

Max. 

Diff. 

Min. 

Max. 

Diff. 

1 

.119 

.100 

.156 

.056 

.089 

.166 

.068 

.051 

.048 

.055 

.007 

2 

.119 

.105 

.150 

.045 

.093 

.158 

.065 

.013 

.012 

.015 

.003 

3 

.147 

.118 

.191 

.073 

.120 

.189 

.069 

.032 

.031 

.033 

.002 

4 

.225 

.200 

.254 

.054 

.178 

.264 

.086 

.029 

.027 

.031 

.004 

5 

.474 

.455 

.489 

.034 

.480 

.500 

.020 

.025 

.025 

.026 

.001 

6 

.520 

.490 

549 

.059 

.515 

.555 

.040 

.041 

.039 

.044 

.005 

7 

.569 

.533 

.613 

.080 

.530 

.585 

.055 

.027 

.024 

.028 

.004 

8 

.636 

.590 

.692 

.102 

.618 

.671 

.053 

.088 

.031 

.035 

.004 

9 

.967 

.880 

1.060 

.ISO 

.903 

.953 

.050 

.043 

.041 

.045 

.004 

10 

.986 

.881 

1.050 

.169 

.909 

1  .035 

.126 

.024 

.023 

.026 

.003 

11 

1.115 

1.071 

1.190 

.119 

1  077 

1.268 

.191 

.029 

.027 

.032 

.005 

V2 

1.238 

1.139 

1.313 

.174 

1.162 

1.390 

.228 

.031 

.029 

.033 

.004 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  analyses  were  conducted 
tinder  the  most  favorable  conditions  which  could  possibly  exist. 


THE   ERRANCY   OF   SCIENTIFIC    RECORDS.  41 

The  chemists  were  men  of  recognized  and  eminent  ability,  espe- 
cially selected  as  worthy  of  their  important  task.     Each  fully  un- 
derstood that  his  reputation  depended  upon  his  report.     He  must 
agree  with  his  co-w0rkers  or,  if  differing,  must  establish  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  world  that  his  methods  were  right,  or  else  that 
there  was  some  disturbing  factor  previously  unknown  to  the  chem- 
ical world.     He  was  not  confined  to  any  one  determination,  but 
could  repeat  as  often  as  desired,  and  compare  with  the  work  of 
assistants  until  the  record  stood  for  his  highest  accuracy.     Not 
content  with  assuming  ordinary  risks,  many  blank  determination* 
could  be  carried  through  to  make  sure  of  the  quality  of  the  re- 
agents; of  the  effect  of  varying  moisture  in  the  atmosphere;  and 
the  many  minor  conditions  that  influence  solution,  precipitation 
and  absorption.     With  all  these  abnormal  refinements,  the  carbon 
determinations  vary  in  one  standard  from  .45  to  .50  and  in  another 
from  .15  to  .18.     The  other  elements  also  show  variations,  and  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  these  results  are  not  separate  and  ex- 
treme instances,  but  that  each  is  the  average  of  many  results  and 
of  several  chemists.     A  table  of  extremes  of  separate  determina- 
tions would  be  most  interesting  reading. 

A  very  important  investigation  was  made  by  Wahlberg*  into  the 
homogeneity  of  steel,  the  analytical  work  being  done  at  four  differ- 
ent laboratories.  The  chemists  were  of  international  reputation,  as 
may  be  seen  from  the  following  list : 

J.  E.  Stead,  of  Middlesborough. 
Baron  Jiiptner  von  Jonstorff,  of  Donawitz. 
Royal  Technical  High  School,  at  Stockholm. 
Hammarstroem  Laboratory,  at  Kopparberg. 

The  results  of  their  labors  are  given  in  Table  I-C.  It  is  not 
stated  how  many  duplicate  analyses  were  made,  but  as  the  deter- 
minations by  color  are  given  to  three  places  decimal,  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  each  of  these  figures  is  the  average  of  several  results. 
Under  these  exceptional  conditions  of  extreme  care  and  with  the 
knowledge  that  the  records  were  to  go  before  the  world,  the  differ- 
ent chemists  varied  to  a  degree  which  most  practical  men  would  con- 
sider entirely  preposterous.  The  differences  are  not  those  arising 
from  segregation,  but  represent  results  on  exactly  the  same  sample, 
and  yet  one  of  the  soft  steels  is  reported  to  hold  .118  per  cent,  of 

*  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1901. 


42  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

carbon,  while  another  chemist  says  it  contains  .191  per  cent.  On 
a  little  harder  steel  the  repgrts  varied  from  .200  to  .254;  on  a  still 
harder  steel  from  .590  to  .692  and  on  a  spring  steel  from  .880  to 
1.060,  a  variation  of  18  points. 

These  differences  are  in  determinations  by  combustion.  In  color 
work  the  higher  steels  varied  as  much  as  23  points,  while  the  dif- 
ference between  the  results  of  combustion  and  color  were  as  much  as 
.026  in  the  case  of  the  .20  carbon  steels,  and  as  much  as  .185  in  the 
case  of  the  hardest  steels.  The  phosphorus  was  reasonably  low  in 
all  the  steels,  but  the  error  of  analysis  amounted  to  as  much  as  .007 
per  cent,  and  was  usually  about  .004.  This  is  not  startling,  but 
under  the  conditions  described  it  is  not  as  satisfactory  as  might  be 
wished. 

Judging  from  the  above  data  we  are  justified  in  doubting  any 
chemical  determination.  Many  records  are  published  on  the  verbal 
statements  of  uneducated  metallurgists,  whose  uncertain  memory 
of  facts  not  originally  proven,  is  befogged  by  crochety  prejudices. 
Some  are  taken  from  laboratory  notebooks  with  too  little  care  in  the 
detection  of  clerical  errors.  Others  are  the  results  of  methods 
Avhich  have  been  condemned  by  all  chemists  save  the  one  using 
them,  while  still  more  have  been  obtained  by  methods  which, 
though  looked  upon  as  correct  at  the  time  the  analyses  were  made, 
have  been  found  to  be  inadmissable.  Few,  very  few,  have  been 
made  by  chemists  whose  work  is  being  continually  checked  by  the 
parallel  results  of  other  analysts  of  known  excellence.  Even  were 
this  last  requirement  met,  it  has  been  shown  that  scientific  cer- 
tainty would  by  no  means  be  obtained. 

From  the  foregoing  remarks  it  may  be  seen  that  the  comparison 
of  miscellaneous  records  is  perfectly  useless  and  misleading.  Even 
the  results  of  two  different  well-conducted  laboratories  and  works 
may  not  be  trustingly  placed  together.  This  can  be  done  if  the  two 
works  in  question  exchange  samples,  and  find  that  both  obtain  simi- 
lar results  from  the  same  metals,  but  under  no  other  circumstances 
is  the  comparison  valid. 

SEC.  Ic. — Necessity  of  uniformity  in  chemical  work. — It  may 
appear  that  these  conclusions  put  in  question  the  value  of  chemical 
work,  but  such  is  not  the  case.  The  one  thing  desired  above  all 
others  in  practical  manufacturing  is  consistency  of  results,  anb, 
having  this  quality,  the  absoluteness  may  be  dispensed  with.  A 
striking  example  of  this  happened  in  my  own  experience.  We  dis- 


THE   ERRANCY   OP   SCIENTIFIC   RECORDS.  43 

covered  about  twenty  years  ago  that  we  had  been  running  with  an 
error  of  .11  per  cent,  in  all  our  low  carbon  determinations,  and  .13 
in  all  the  high  steels.  Thus  steel  of  .09  carbon  had  been  regularly 
determined  as  .20,  and  .50  carbon  as  .63.  Customers  ordered  steel, 
found  it  right,  or  found  it  too  hard  or  too  soft,  and  ordered  the 
next  lot  accordingly.  Years  had  rolled  by  and  every  customer 
knew  just  what  he  wanted,  and  could  learnedly  discuss  the  special 
nature  of  .64  and  of  .76  carbon.  The  discovery  of  the  error  in  the 
standards  was  a  rude  shock,  and  the  change  to  the  new  order  of 
things  was  the  work  of  many  months,  and  a  diplomatic  catering 
to  prejudice,  mixed  with  a  very  strong  disinclination  to  an  open 
acknowledgment  that  we  had  been  altogether  wrong. 

In  these  later  days  it  is  customary  to  have  the  standards  analyzed 
by  several  chemists,  and  to  take  an  average  between  results,  which 
always  differ.  It  has  also  been  found  essential,  whenever  color 
comparisons  are  to  be  made,  that  a  standard  of  nearly  the  same 
composition  be  dissolved  at  the  same  time  and  under  the  same  con- 
ditions as  the  steel  under  treatment.  This  refinement  was  cer- 
tainly not  observed  in  many  analyses  of  the  past. 

As  before  noted,  the  errancy  of  the  records  is  not  confined  to  the 
carbon,  for  sulphur  is  another  offender;  thus  in  Table  I-B  three 
of  the  samples  have  only  a  trace  at  best,  and  hence  a  difference  of 
100  per  cent,  will  not  be  discussed,  but  the  results  on  the  fourth 
sample,  showing  .038  by  one  average  and  .048  by  another,  is  a  more 
important  matter.  When  United  States  Government  contracts 
specify  that  sulphur  must  be  below  .04,  and  when  steel  is  rejected 
because  it  shows  .042  by  the  analysis  of  a  naval  engineer,  it  is  time , 
that  the  standard  methods  should  not  give  a  variation  such  as  these 
records  show. 

The  differences  in  silicon  in  the  results  given  in  Table  I-B  are 
unimportant,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  manganese,  although 
these  determinations  do  not  shed  lustre  on  chemical  science,  but 
it  is  in  phosphorus  that  the  most  astonishing  revelation  appears. 
An  error  of  50  per  cent,  in  steels  of  about  .02  is  bad  enough,  for 
contracts  are  made  with  that  point  as  a  limit,  but  the  fourth  sample 
is  a  catastrophe.  In  the  structural  world  the  limit  .10  is  looked 
upon  as  the  maximum  percentage  admissible.  Some  few  engineers, 
who  desire  a  better  class  of  material,  specify  that  .08  shall  be  the 
maximum.  Yet  so  great  are  the  errors  of  the  highest  chemical 
research,  that  this  sample  (No.  4)  is  condemned  by  one  committee 


44 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


as  unfit  for  the  most  common  work,  while  another  approves  it  as 
of  extra  quality. 

SEC.  Id. — Variations  in  the  parallel  determinations  of  practicing 
chemists. — It  may  be  a  fall  in  dignity  to  leave  these  determinations 
of  the  picked  chemists  of  the  world  and  discuss  the  results  of  every- 
day work,  but  it  is  assuredly  of  vital  importance  to  know  how  much 
reliance  can  be  placed  upon  commercial  records.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  A.  I.  M.  E.,  in  February,  1894,  W.  E,  Webster  recounted  an 
investigation  by  Mr.  Vauclain  of  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works, 
wherein  two  pieces  of  boiler  plate  were  each  cut  into  five  parts  and 
sent  to  five  different  steel  works  for  analysis.  The  greatest  differ- 
ences in  the  results  were  as  follows : 

Carbon 0.1 7    to  0.23    per  cent. 

Manganese 0.33    to  0.42      "     " 

Phosphorus 0.041  to  0.055    "     " 

Sulphur 0.019  to  0.043    "     " 

In  commenting  upon  these  figures,  the  opinion  was  expressed  by 
Mr.  Vauclain  that  the  divergence  was  probably  due  more  to  irregu- 
larity of  the  steel  than  to  chemical  errors.  It  should  be  noted, 
therefore,  that  both  plates  had  been  rolled  direct  from  small  ingots. 

'.  % 

TABLE  I-D. 

Comparison  of  Chemical  Eesults  Obtained  on  the  same  Steels  by 
the  Pottstown  Iron  Co.  and  the  Pennsylvania  Steel  Co. 

NOTE.— Steels  were  made  by  the  Pottstown  Iron  Co. 


Y 

Carbon,  per  cent. 

Phosphorus, 
per  cent. 

Manganese, 
per  cent. 

Sulphur, 
per  cent. 

&4 

d  . 

^S 

8 

s 

a 

8 

6 

o 

Q 

w 

OD  g 

cc'3 

M*O 

ri 

M 

OD 

M 

CO 

M 

i 

PH"° 

•  O 

PH' 

OH 

p; 

PH' 

PH' 

N    1022 

.109 

.125 

.11 

.033 

.030 

.46 

.47 

.064 

.075 

\ 

S.087) 

1028 
1043 

.078 
.090 

.095 
.100 

.09 
.10 

.089  } 
.044) 
.039/ 

.110 
.025 

.23 
.31 

.26 
.30 

.069 
.058 

.090 
.066 

1069 

.068 

.090 

.09 

.064 

.065 

.33 

.34 

.064 

.086 

1082 

.109 

.120 

.12 

.055 

.050 

.34 

.36 

.048 

.057 

1084 

.109 

.120 

.11 

045 

.040 

.45 

.46 

.039 

.038 

1097 

.094 

.110 

.10 

.075 

.075 

.31 

.34 

.087 

.098 

1099  » 

.146 

'.145 

.13 

.053 

.065 

(  .66  ) 
J.67J 

.68 

.057 

.069 

•AV. 

.100 

.113 

.106 

.057 

.057 

.39 

.40 

.061 

.072 

Inasmuch  as  the  value  of  many  investigations  in  this  book  de- 
pend on  the  accuracy  of  chemical  determinations  as  made  at  Steel- 
ton,  Table  I-D  will  be  of  interest  as  comparing  the  results  obtained 


THE    ERRANCY    OF   SCIENTIFIC    RECORDS.  45 

in  the  laboratory  of  the  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  with  those  of 
the  Pottstown  Iron  Company.  The  latter  works  is  chosen  on  ac- 
count of  the  investigations  conducted  there  by  W.  R.  Webster  into 
the  physical  properties  of  steel.  His  work  is  discussed  at  length  in 
Chapter  XVII. 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  a  difference  of  one  point  in  carbon 
between  the  determinations  by  color  and  by  combustion.  This, 
usually,  is  of  no  importance,  but  in  carefully  equating  the  influence 
•of  elements,  such  a  difference  is  of  some  moment.  The  manganese 
agrees  very  well,  being  sufficiently  accurate  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses. 

The  two  averages  of  phosphorus  coincide,  but  the  individual 
records  show  that  this  is  purely  accidental.  With  three  exceptions, 
the  error  is  not  of  vital  importance,  but  this  is  hardly  true  of  heats 
1028  and  1043.  A  comparison  of  the  results  throughout  the  col- 
umns shows  an  erratic  character,  pointing  rather  to  a  general  un- 
certainty than  to  a  pronounced  wrong  in  the  chemical  system.  In 
sulphur,  on  the  contrary,  the  difference  seems  to  be  fairly  uniform, 
.and  the  separate  items,  like  the  average,  indicate  a  fundamental 
variation  in  the  manipulation. 

The  variations  in  results  between  different  laboratories  sometimes 
becomes  a  matter  of  great  commercial  importance,  as  shown  by  G. 
E.  Thackray,*  who  recites  a  case  where  the  Cambria  Iron  Company 
delivered  steel  running  from  .074  to  .080  per  cent,  of  phosphorus 
according  to  its  own  ^determinations,  while  the  buyer's  chemist 
found  it  to  contain  from  .088  to  .110  per  cent.  Having  agreed 
upon  an  arbitrator  the  metal  was  reported  to  hold  between  .063  and 
.087  per  cent. 

This  experience  led  to  the  distribution  of  drillings  from  two 
•different  pieces  of  steel  to  many  of  the  steel  works  and  chemists  of 
the  country,  and  the  paper  just  referred  to  gives  the  individual 
records.  In  the  case  of  one  piece  of  steel,  the  lowest  phosphorus 
reported  was  .045,  and  the  highest  .055  per  cent.  In  the  second 
piece,  the  lowest  determination  was  .076,  and  the  highest  .091  per 
cent.  In  commenting  upon  these  results,  Mr.  Thackray  considers 
that  they  are  "quite  harmonious"  and  encouraging,  although  he 
acknowledges  that  they  "by  no  means  approach  perfection,  and 
leave  room  for  further  improvement." 

*  A  Comparison  of  Recent  Phosphorus  Determinations  in  Steel.  Atlanta  Meet- 
ing, A.  I.  M.  E.,  October,  1895. 


46 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


SEC.  le. — Methods  by  which  metallurgical  laws  must  be  deduced, 
— If  the  main  causes  of  error  which  have  been  enumerated  could 
be  removed,  the  investigation  of  the  laws  that  govern  the  physical 
qualities  of  steel  would  be  wonderfully  simplified.  As  it  is,  the 
published  records  include  inconsistencies  and  contradictions  which 
are  almost  appalling.  Taking,  for  example,  the  apparently  simple 
problem  of  determining  the  effect  of  carbon  upon  steel,  we  find  in 
Professor  Howe's  book  the  following  paragraph  :*  "While  we  can- 
not accurately  quantify  the  effects  of  carbon  upon  steel,  I  believe 
that  for  ordinary  unhardened  merchantable  steel,  the  tensile 
strength  is  likely  to  lie  between  the  following  pretty  wide  limits." 

.05  carbon  between  50,000  and     66,000  pounds  per  square  inch 

.10 

.15 

.20 

.30 

.40 

.50 


1.00 
1.30 


These  wide  generalizations  are  of  interest  as  showing  the  ex- 
tremes which  have  been  recorded,  but  in  order  to  deduce  a  law,  it  is 
necessary  to  compare  metals  which  have  been  made  by  the  same  pro- 
cess, analyzed  by  the  same  laboratory,  rolled  under  the  same  con- 
ditions, and  tested  in  the  same  way.  With  records  so  collaborated, 
the  deductions  are  of  the  highest  value,  even  though  the  results 
are  not  strictly  comparable  with  those  of  other  investigators. 

Not  only  are  carefully  recorded  experiments  to  be  accepted,  but 
much  virtue  should  be  accorded  the  unformulated  generalizations 
of  experience.  The  advances  in  metallurgical  science  are  seldom 
due  to  special  investigations.  These  are  usually  the  exponents,  not 
the  causes,  of  progress,  and  they  refine,  rather  than  create,  the 
methods  of  procedure.  Not  one  man  in  a  hundred  has  ever  put 
down  on  paper  a  graphic  proof  that  carbon  strengthens  steel;  by 
long  experience  that  fact  was  discovered  without  the  plotting  of  a 
curve,  and  without  any  careful  isolation  of  this  element  from  all 
confusing  conditions. 

Eunning  along  in  the  mind  of  the  practical  man  is  a  long  series 


50,000 

70,000 

55,000 

75,000 

60,000 

80,000 

65,000 

90,000 

70,000 

1  00,000 

75,000 

110,000 

80,000 

120,000 

90,000 

150,000 

90,000 

170,000 

90,000 

115,000 

*  The  Metallurgy  of  Steel,  p.  16. 


THE   ERRANCY   OF   SCIENTIFIC   RECORDS.  47 

of  results,  some  of  them  complicated  with  high  manganese,  some 
with  high  phosphorus,  some  with  abnormal  rolling,  some  with 
erratic  analysis ;  but,  just  as  in  the  wildest  resonance  of  orchestral 
music  a  simple  air  may  ring  out  clearly  above  the  swelling  diapa- 
son, so  are  the  fundamental  facts  of  science  seen  by  the  observant 
mind  amid  a  multitude  of  accidental  conditions,  with  a  clearness 
which  mathematics  may  not  explain. 

Such  opinions  must  not  be  taken  as  final,  but  there  is  a  vast  dif- 
ference between  proving  the  truth  in  a  disputed  issue  and  verifying 
an  accepted  theory.  Most  of  the  experiments  given  in  this  book  are 
merely  illustrative  of  laws  which  are  commonly  received  in  the 
metallurgical  world.  They  try  to  value  the  factors  whose  exist- 
ence is  already  conceded.  There  are  many  things  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  steel  which  we  do  not  understand.  There  are  still  improve- 
ments to  be  introduced  and  discoveries  to  be  made ;  but  the  work  is 
all  surveyed ;  the  mysteries  have  been  swept  away.  The  making  of 
steel  was  once  a  trick ;  it  was  then  an  art ;  it  is  now  a  business. 


CHAPTEK  II. 
THE  BLAST  FURNACE. 

SECTION  Ha. — Iron  ores  used  for  smelting. — Three  kinds  of  ore 
are  used  in  the  making  of  pig-irc-n :  carbonates,  hematites  and  mag- 
netites. 

(1)  Carbonate  (FeC03),  called  also  spathic  ore,  or  black-band, 
or  clay-band,  or  clay  iron  stone,  contains  when  pure  only  48.28  per 
cent,  of  iron  and  is  usually  roasted  to  expel  the  carbonic  acid  be- 
fore being  charged  in  the  blast  furnace.     In  the  United  States  it 
occurs  widely  distributed  throughout  the  coal  measures,  but  it  is 
usually  impure  and  has  been  driven  from  the  market  by  richer 
ores.     The  most  notable  deposits  of  carbonate  are  in  the  Cleveland 
district  of  England,  in  Spain,  in  Bohemia,  in  Hungary,  and  in 
Styria.     In  most  cases  it  is  out  of  the  question  to  transport  spathic 
ore  any  great  distance.     The  carbonic  acid  contained  is  clear  loss, 
and  if  the  ore  is  carried  in  its  raw  state,  then  freight  must  be  paid 
on  this  waste  material.     If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  roasted  at  the 
mines,  then  coal  must  be  carried  there  to  do  the  work,  unless  it  so 
happens  that  the  coal  is  near  the  mines,  in  which  latter  case  there 
is  generally  no  necessity  for  shipping  the  ore  away. 

(2)  Hematite   (Fe203)   is  the  ferric  oxide  and  contains  when 
pure  exactly  70  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron.     It  occurs  sometimes  as 
specular  hematite,  the  fracture  presenting  a  black,  shining,  crystal- 
line appearance,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  instances  of  this  being 
seen  in  the  ore  from  the  Island  of  Elba.     More  often  the  color  is  a 
reddish  brown,  or  yellow,  in  which  latter  case  the  ore  is  pretty 
•certain  to  contain  some  combined  water.     The  accidental  moisture 
can  be  driven  off  by  exposure  to  a  temperature  of  212°  F.  (100° 
C.),  but  the  combined  water  remains  as  an  integral  part  of  the 
chemical    compound,    the    percentage    of    this    combined    water 
varying    from    zero    in    the    specular    hematites    to    over     13 
per  cent,   in   the   less   crystalline   varieties.     Mineralogists   have 
classified   these   minerals    according   to    their    content    of    com- 

48 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  49 

bined  water,  but  it  is  customary  to  speak  of  the  purer  kinds  as 
•"red"  or  "brown"  hematites,  while  the  more  hydrous  ores  are  called 
"soft"  hematites  or  "limonites."  This  latter  term  should  be  ap- 
plied only  to  bog-iron  ore  containing  over  20  per  cent,  of  water, 
but  the  above  classification  has  been  sanctioned  by  custom  and  by 
the  Census  Bureau. 

The  best  known  deposits  of  hematite  are  as  follows :  The  Lake 
Superior  region,  which  alone  supplies  as  much  ore  as  is  produced 
.in  any  other  country;  Alabama,  which  has  an  immense  deposit  of 
extremely  lean  ore;  the  Bilbao  region  in  Northern  Spain;  the 
southeast  coast  of  Cuba;  the  Minette  district  of  Lorraine,  Luxem- 
burg, France  and  Belgium ;  the  west  coast  of  England ;  the  basin  of 
the  Don  in  Southern  Russia;  the  Ural  Mountains;  the  Tafna  beds 
in  Algeria;  the  newly  opened  mines  in  Newfoundland,  and  the 
now  almost  exhausted  mines  of  Elba. 

Oolitic  ore  is  a  variety  of  hematite  which  cannot  be  called  a  dis- 
tinct kind  of  ore  like  carbonate,  or  magnetite,  but  which  is  con- 
stantly referred  to  in  scientific  literature  and  which  must  be  men- 
tioned on  account  of  its  importance.  The  term  "Oolitic"  means 
that  it  is  in  the  form  of  small  spherical  grains,  each  grain  being 
composed  of  a .  kernel  of  foreign  matter  surrounded  by  iron  ore. 
If  the  foreign  matter  be  silica,  the  ore  is  usually  worthless,  but  if 
it  is  limestone  it  may  be  valuable,  even  though  the  percentage  of 
iron  be  low,  for  this  lime  reduces  the  quantity  of  limestone  needed 
in  the  blast  furnace,  and  if  present  in  sufficient  quantity,  the  ore 
may  be  "self -fluxing,"  that  is  to  say,  it  contains  so  much  lime  that 
it  is  unnecessary  to  add  any  limestone  in  the  furnace.  Many  ores 
contain  more  than  enough  limestone  and  must  be  mixed  with 
others  more  silicious. 

For  this  reason  it  is  entirely  wrong  to  regard  the  percentage  of 
iron  in  such  an  ore  as  the  sole  index  of  the  quality,  as  the  real  ground 
of  comparison  is  the  percentage  of  iron  in  the  sum  total  of  ore  and 
limestone.  Thus,  if  an  ore  should  contain  40  per  cent,  of  iron  and 
sufficient  lime  to  be  self -fluxing,  it  is  actually  just  as  valuable  as 
•an  ore  containing  50  per  cent,  of  iron  and  no  lime,  but  carrying 
so  much  silica  that  one-quarter  of  a  ton  of  limestone  must  be  added 
for  every  ton  of  ore.  In  both  cases  the  total  of  ore  and  stone  gives 
an  average  of  40  per  cent,  of  iron.  On  this  account,  there  is  much 
misunderstanding  about  the  poverty  of  the  ores  in  certain  districts. 

One  of  the  principal  deposits  of  oolitic  iron  ore  occurs  in  Ala- 


50  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

bama,  but  it  is  very  high  in  silica  and  most  of  it  is  worthless  until 
some  method  is  found  to  enrich  it  by  concentration;  another  de- 
posit is  found  in  the  eastern  central  part  of  England;  another, 
and  the  most  important  of  all,  spreads  over  the  junction  of  three 
nations  and  forms  the  basis  of  the  iron  industry  in  Belgium, 
France,  Luxemburg  and  Western  Germany. 

(3)  Magnetite  (Fe304)  contains  72.41  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron 
when  chemically  pure,  and  is  regarded  as  a  chemical  union  of  the 
ferrous  oxide  (FeO)  with  the  ferric  oxide  (Fe203).  Its  distinc- 
tive characteristic  is  its  attraction  for  the  magnet,  although,  in  this 
respect,  it  differs  in  degree  rather  than  in  kind  from  other  iron 
oxides,  for  it  is  -now  proven  that  the  other  oxides  are  quite  sus- 
ceptible to  magnetic  influence.  It  is  also  certain  that  magnetite 
and  hematite  shade  into  one  another  so  that  no  line  can  be  drawn 
between  them,  and  that  some  ores  which  have  been  called  hematites 
are  really  magnetites.  It  is  the  general  opinion  that  a  true  magne- 
tite requires  more  coke  in  the  blast  furnace  than  a  hematite  on 
account  of  the  greater  difficulty  in  reduction. 

The  main  deposits  of  magnetite  are  found  in  Central  and  North- 
ern Sweden,  the  deposits  being  extremely  rich  in  iron.  In  this 
respect  they  differ  widely  from  very  extensive  deposits  occurring 
all  over  the  eastern  portion  of  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. These  deposits  are  extremely  poor,  but  are  of  such  extent 
that  great  effort  has  been  made  to  make  them  available  by  magnetic 
concentration.  Edison  has  spent  vast  sums  of  money  and  years  of 
work  upon  the  problem,  but  it  will  hardly  be  a  surprise  to  hear  of 
failure  when  it  is  known  that  the  ore  treated  by  him  was  a  hard 
sandstone  rock  carrying  only  18  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron.  The 
work  was  perfectly  successful  from  a  technical  point  of  view  in 
that  concentrates  were  regularly  made  containing  from  60  to  65 
per  cent,  of  iron  with  the  phosphorus  down  to  about  .02  per  cent., 
but  one  great  difficulty  was  to  brick  the  fine  product,  while  the 
greatest  was  to  do  the  work  and  compete  with  the  ores  of  Lake 
Superior,  which  every  year  came  cheaper  and  cheaper  to  the  fur- 
naces of  the  East. 

To  separate  the  magnetic  particles  from  the  sand  or  from  the 
phosphate  bearing  minerals,  the  ore  must  be  crushed  fine  enough 
to  have  each  mineral  in  separate  particles,  and  it  is  perfectly  clear 
that  the  finer  the  ore  is  ground  the  better  will  be  the  product  and 
the  purer  the  concentrate.  It  is  also  perfectly  clear  that  under 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  51 

present  conditions  this  finely  ground  product  cannot  be  used 
directly  in  the  blast  furnace  as  a  large  proportion  of  the  burden, 
and  that  some  means  must  be  found  to  put  it  into  the  form  of 
bricks. 

The  strength  of  the  brick  required  depends  upon  the  operating 
conditions;  certain-  Swedish  furnaces  have  utilized  successfully  a 
brick  which  would  not  be  hard  and  strong  enough  to  resist  the  much 
greater  pressure  in  the  high  and  fast  driven  furnaces  of  America. 
It  has  been  proposed  to  melt  the  fine  concentrate  by  passing  it 
between  the  poles  of  an  electric  arc,  but  this  involves  the  expendi- 
ture of  so  much  power  per  ton  of  product  that  it  is  doubtful  if  it 
will  come  into  general  use. 

SEC.  lib. — Fuel  used  in  smelting. — 

(1)  Charcoal:  The  primitive  fuel  is  charcoal  and  this  is  still 
used  in  some  localities  owing  to  the  demand  for  charcoal  iron. 
Such  iron,  however,  may  be  left  out  of  the  question  as  far  as  the 
manufacture  of  steel  is  concerned,  except  in  Sweden  and  the  Ural 
Mountains,  where  no  other  fuel  is  available. 

(2}  Hard  Coal:  The  term  "hard  coal"  or  "anthracite"  is  one 
meaning  different  things  in  different  places.  It  generally  means 
the  "hardest"  kind  of  coal  known  in  the  district.  In  America  we 
have  a  coal  which  has  been  subjected  to  a  severe  geological  history 
and  has  had  practically  all  the  volatile  matter  driven  out,  leaving 
nothing  but  fixed  carbon  and  ash.  It  is  as  solid  as  limestone  and 
is  entirely  without  pores.  Such  coal  is  unknown  in  Europe,  except 
in  South  Russia,  and  when  "anthracite"  is  mentioned  in  foreign 
writings  there  is  generally  meant  a  semi-bituminous  coal. 

This  hard  anthracite  above  described  is  found  in  Eastern  Penn- 
sylvania, and  is  used  almost  exclusively  for  household  purposes, 
although  the  smaller  sizes  are  used  for  firing  boilers.  A  genera- 
tion ago  it  was  used  in  blast  furnaces,  and  now  sometimes  con- 
stitutes a  part  of  the  charge,  but  it  does  not  give  good  results  when 
used  alone.  Being  non-porous,  it  cannot  burn  rapidly  and  must  flake 
off  in  layers  and  if  it  disintegrates,  it  will  clog  the  furnace.  The 
statistical  records  of  American  blast  furnaces  always  speak  of  "an- 
thracite" furnaces,  but  this  is  misleading,  as  the  furnaces  so  classi- 
fied use  only  a  small  proportion  of  anthracite  and  many  of  them 
have  used  none  at  all  for  many  years. 

(3)  Raw  Coal:  In  Scotland  it  is  the  custom  to  use  raw  coal, 
but  this  is  because  there  is  but  a  small  proportion  of  volatile  mat- 


. 
62  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

ter,  and  this  enriches  the  gas  from  the  top  without  seriously  troub- 
ling the  working  of  the  furnace.  In  almost  all  other  districts  the 
use  of  raw  bituminous  coal  has  been  discarded  in  modern  practice. 

(4)  Coke:  The  use  of  coke  for  smelting  is  almost  universal, 
and  the  working  of  the  blast  furnace  depends  on  its  quality  as 
much  as  upon  the  quality  of  the  ore.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  do 
well  even  with  inferior  material.  In  America  the  deposits  of  Con- 
nellsville  have  been  so  abundant,  the  cost  of  transportation  so  low, 
and  the  quality  so  good  that  they  have  dominated  the  situation  in 
the  North  and  East.  The  West  Virginia  beds  have  come  to  the 
front  in  recent  years,  but  they  are  of  the  same  high  quality.  Some 
furnaces  of  Eastern  Pennsylvania  have  used  the  poorer  cokes  of 
the  central  part  of  the  State,  but  with  the  exception  of  Alabama, 
the  great  producers  of  our  country  have  never  faced  the  necessity 
of  using  an  inferior  fuel.  In  the  Cleveland  district  of  England 
the  furnacemen  have  had  the  renowned  Durham  coke,  and  in  the 
Rhenish  provinces  of  Germany  the  coke  of  Westphalia  is  very 
good,  but  in  other  districts,  as  in  Silesia  and  the  Saar,  the  coal 
gives  a  poor  coke,  which  American  furnacemen  would  call  worth- 
less, and  yet  the  fuel  consumption  is  not  high  and  the  furnaces 
run  regularly.  In  Chapter  IX  the  manufacture  of  coke  from 
inferior  coal  is  further  discussed. 

SEC.  lie. — Flux. — In  exceptional  cases  an  iron  ore  containing  no 
lime  may  be  smelted  without  the  addition  of  any  flux.  An  instance 
of  this  is  mentioned  by  Bell,  who  gives  the  slags  as  having  the 
composition  shown  in  Table  II-A. 

TABLE  II-A. 
Slags  made  by  Smelting  Ores  without  Lime. 

SiOa    49.57  48.39 

A12O8    9.00  6.66 

MnO   25.84  33.96 

MgO    15.15  10.23   ' 

S    08  .08 

FeO 04  .06 

Omitting  these  cases,  which  are  merely  curiosities,  limestone 
either  as  part  of  the  ore  or  as  a  separate  addition  is  a  component 
part  of  the  charge.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Cleveland  ore, 
the  earthy  impurities  would  make  a  perfectly  fusible  slag  without 


THE   BLAST   FURNACE.  53 

such  an  addition,  but  the  lime  is  necessary  to  carry  away  the  sul- 
phur contributed  by  the  fuel  and  the  ore  in  order  to  get  an  iron 
free  from  this  element. 

Limestone  occurs  so  universally  that  it  is  usually  possible  to  get 
it  in  a  reasonably  pure  state,  but  it  always  contains  some  silica  and 
oftentimes  magnesia.  The  latter  element  has  been  the  cause  of 
much  controversy.  Ledebur*  says:  "For  the  production  of  pig- 
iron  low  in  sulphur,  pure  limestones  are  to  be  preferred  to  those 
containing  magnesia." 

Bellf  confirms  this :  "Lime  has  at  high  temperatures  a  certain 
affinity  for  sulphur,  whereas  magnesia  has  little  or  no  action  on  it." 

FirmstoneJ  has  reviewed  these  and  other  condemnatory  opinions 
and  argues  that  magnesia  has  been  treated  with  injustice  and  that 
"under  certain  circumstances  at  least  the  sulphur  in  the  pig  is 
reduced  by  substituting  dolomite  for  limestone  containing  about  5 
per  cent,  of  magnesia/'  It  was  found  possible  to  run  with  a  lower 
percentage  of  silica  in  the  slag  and  still  have  the  cinder  retain  its 
fluidity.  With  pure  lime  and  a  silica  content  of  39  to  40  per  cent., 
the  cinder  "slacked,"  but  with  dolomite,  the  silica  could  be  reduced 
to  35  per  cent.,  and  the  furnace  worked  much  better. 

Phillips  §  regards  magnesia  as  a  benefit  and  says:  "It  may  be 
regarded  as  practically  settled  that  as  a  desulphurizer  in  the  blast 
furnace,  dolomite  is  quite  as  efficient  as  limestone  for  ordinary 
grades  of  iron,  and  much  more  efficient  for  basic  iron  requiring 
unusually  low  sulphur." 

The  probable  explanation  of  the  contradictory  character  of  these 
opinions  was  pointed  out  by  Firmstone.  1 1  He  refers  to  various 
investigators  who  had  shown  that  a  high  content  of  magnesia  gives 
rise  to  the  production  of  spinel,  an  infusible  and  insoluble  com- 
pound of  alumina,  lime  and  magnesia,  and  he  argues  that  the  for- 
mation of  this  compound  depends  upon  the  presence  of  a  large  pro- 
portion of  alumina  as  much  as  it  depends  upon  the  presence  of  mag- 
nesia. From  this  he  reasons  that  if  the  ore  contain  only  a  small 
proportion  of  alumina,  a  considerable  proportion  of  magnesia  will 
give  no  trouble,  the  proportions  being  so  regulated  that  when  the 
slag  from  the  furnace  contains  over  20  per  cent,  of  magnesia,  it 

*  Kaernther  Zcitschrift,  No.  2,  1881,  p.  53. 

t  Manufacture  of  Iron,  and  Steel,  p.  58. 

t  Trans.,  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXIV,  p.  408. 

§Iron,  Making  in  Alabama;  Ala.  GeoL  Survey,  1898,  p.  73. 

II  Joe.  cit. 


54  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

shall  not  contain  over  10  per  cent,  of  alumina.  Whether  this  be 
the  whole  explanation  or  not,  it  is  quite  certain  that  furnaces  in 
Eastern  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  Alabama  have  used  for 
many  years  a  limestone  containing  from  5  to  20  per  cent,  of  mag- 
nesium carbonate  without  any  noticeable  increase  either  in  the 
quantity  of  stone  or  fuel,  and  without  any  trouble  from  sulphur. 

The  most  objectionable  component  of  limestone  is  the  carbonic 
acid.  In  pure  stone  (CaC03)  this  gas  constitutes  44  per  cent,  of 
the  total  weight,  and  the  only  part  of  the  flux  which  is  of  any  use 
is  the  56  per  cent,  of  CaO.  This  gas  is  expelled  from  the  stone 
at  a  full  red  heat  and  consequently  the  action  takes  place  as  the 
stock  sinks  down  in  the  blast  furnace,  the  exact  point  depending 
on  the  conditions  under  which  the  furnace  is  operating.  If  the 
gas  merely  left  the  stone  and  went  off  unchanged,  little  harm  would 
be  done,  but  it  undergoes  decomposition.  It  has  been  stated  that 
it  does  not  leave  the  stone  until  the  temperature  is  above  redness, 
and  at  this  temperature  carbonic  acid  acts  upon  the  coke.  The 
reaction  is  as  follows: 

C02+C= SCO. 

Thus  each  pound  of  carbon  in  the  carbonic  acid,  which  is  to  say 
each  pound  of  carbon  in  the  limestone,  absorbs  a  pound  of  carbon 
from  the  coke  and  carries  it  away  in  the  gases.  These  gases  may 
be  used  to  create  heat  or  power  after  they  have  left  the  tunnel 
head,  and  the  carbon  utilized  in  that  way,  but  as  far  as  the  furnace 
itself  is  concerned,  this  carbon  is  irrevocably  lost.  If  750  pounds 
of  limestone  are  used  for  each  ton  of  pig-iron  made,  this  stone  will 
contain  90  pounds  of  carbon  and  it  will  carry  away  90  pounds  of 
carbon  from  the  fuel,  or  about  100  pounds  of  coke.  If  the  propor- 
tion of  limestone  be  doubled  on  account  of  impure  ores,  there  will 
be  an  additional  loss  of  100  pounds  of  coke.  Thus  an  ore  contain- 
ing high  silica  involves  a  large  consumption  of  fuel,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  larger  amount  of  impurities  to  be  smelted,  but  on 
account  of  the  greater  amount  of  limestone  needed  and  the  con- 
sequent waste  of  fuel. 

In  order  to  prevent  this  waste,  it  has  been  the  practice  in  some 
localities  and  at  some  furnaces  to  burn  the  limestone  and  expel  the 
carbonic  acid  before  charging  into  the  furnace.  This  apparently 
simple  answer  proves  to  be  at  the  best  an  unsatisfactory  one,  even 
if  it  is  an  answer  at  all. .  In  the  first  place,  it  is  impracticable  to 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  gg 

expel  all  the  carbonic  acid  and,  in  cases  cited  by  Bell,  the  weights 
of  burned  lime  charged  when  compared  with  the  usual  practice 
with  raw  stone  indicated  that  only  about  half  of  the  gas  was  driven 
off  by  the  calcining,  so  that  all  the  labor  and  fuel  were  expended 
to  get  only  half  the  hoped  for  result. 

But  even  this  might  be  economical  if  the  furnace  practice  showed 
the  gain  that  theory  would  call  for,  but  such  gain  is  not  always 
shown,  and  there  are  good  reasons  why  it  will  not  appear.  When 
the  burned  lime  is  charged  into  the  tunnel  head,  it  is  exposed  to  the 
action  of  a  gas  containing  a  considerable  proportion  of  carbonic 
acid  (C02).  This  is  exactly  the  gas  that  has  been  driven  from  the 
stone  in  the  kiln;  but  at  lower  temperatures,  below  a  red 
heat,  there  is  a  complete  reversal  of  affinities  and  caustic  lime 
absorbs  C02  with  avidity.  Consequently  when  this  burned  lime 
has  been  in  the  furnace  for  sometime  and  has  sunk  downward  with 
the  rest  of  the  stock,  it  has  become  reconverted  into  limestone  and 
all  the  work  of  the  kiln  has  been  undone.  This  artificial  limestone 
must  be  broken  up  again  farther  down  in  the  furnace,  just  as  if 
raw  limestone  had  been  charged.  It  is  true  that  energy  cannot  be 
lost  or  gained  by  any  such  action,  but  although  this  is  true  theo- 
retically at  all  times,  it  is  also  sometimes  true  that  there  is  a  wrong 
way  of  doing  things,  and  the  above  described  action  is  wrong  from 
every  point  of  view.  The  upper  part  of  a  furnace  has  a  certain 
amount  of  sensible  heat  to  spare,  and  any  way  of  using  this  heat 
will  be  an  economy,  but  the  combination  of  lime  and  carbonic  acid 
does  not  absorb  heat,  but  creates  it,  and  it  creates  it  where  it  does 
no  good  at  all.  When  raw  limestone  is  added  it  is  calcined  by  the 
excess  heat  and  the  result  is  a  lowering  of  the  temperature  of  the 
tunnel  head  gases,  and  although  this  is  theoretically  a  loss,  it  is 
practically  a  matter  of  small  moment  as  far  as  the  absorption  of 
sensible  heat  is  concerned.  The  loss  by  absorption  of  carbon,  how- 
ever, is  not  a  small  matter,  and  as  the  C02  is  not  driven  away  from 
the  CaO  until  it  reaches  a  point  where  it  is  impossible  for  C02  and 
C  to  exist  side  by  side,  it  would  seem  as  if  there  was  little  hope  of 
preventing  the  waste  of  fuel  involved  in  the  use  of  either  limestone 
or  caustic  lime. 

These  arguments  were  elaborated  many  years  ago  by  Sir  Low- 
thian  Bell,  but  they  have  not  been  accepted  as  final  by  everybody, 
and  some  furnaces"  in  the  Cleveland  district  have  made  a  regular 
practice  of  calcining  the  limestone,  or  at  least  a  part  of  it.  One 


56  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

of  the  chief  exponents  of  this  system  was  Charles  Cochrane,  one 
of  the  great  ironmasters  of  Middlesborough  and  the  author  of  many 
valuable  metallurgical  articles.  In  a  paper  presented  only  a  few 
days  before  his  death*  he  gave  the  comparison  between  a  furnace 
running  on  burned  lime  and  raw  stone,  and  showed  by  elaborate 
calculation  that  calcining  resulted  in  a  very  considerable  reduction 
in  the  coke  consumption. 

The  conditions  in  the  Cleveland  district  offer  every  opportunity 
to  discover  the  facts  in  the  case,  for  although  Cochrane' s  experi- 
ments were  carried  on  with  the  richest  ores  in  the  beds,  the  amount 
of  limestone  used  was  1560  pounds  per  ton  of  iron  made.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  if  the  margin  of  gain  is  so  narrow  that  it  needs 
rigid  investigation  to  prove  its  existence  in  Cleveland,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  show  any  advantage  when  the  amount  of  stone  is 
only  half  as  great.  But  it  also  would  seem  that  if  a  gain  can  be 
proven  in  the  Cleveland  district,  there  would  also  be  a  gain  any- 
where, whether  this  gain  would  be  visible  or  not.  This  last  con- 
clusion, however,  has  limiting  conditions.  In  the  first  place  the 
burden  now  used  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States  is  ar- 
ranged to  carry  as  large  a  proportion  of  fine  Mesabi  ores  as  the  fur- 
nace can  successfully  handle.  The  substitution  of  fine  burned 
lime  in  place  of  lumps  of  stone  would  probably  decrease  consider- 
ably this  allowable  proportion  of  fine  ore.  Moreover,  the  furnaces 
in  America  and  some  of  the  later  furnaces  abroad  are  blown  much 
harder  and  at  much  higher  pressures  than  most  of  those  of  the 
Cleveland  district,  and  under  these  conditions  of  rapid  driving  a 
very  considerable  proportion  of  this  finely  divided  burned  lime 
would  be  carried  away  by  the  tunnel  head  gases  through  the  down- 
takes  into  the  ovens  and  under  the  boilers,  and  the  loss  from  this 
source  would  undoubtedly  counterbalance  any  gain.  Possibly  for 
these  reasons,  and  possibly  on  account  of  conservatism,  the  use  of 
burned  lime,  although  quite  ancient,  seems  to  make  no  progress. 

SEC.  lid. — Construction  and  operation. — It  was  proven  a  genera- 
tion ago  that  a  blast  furnace  eighty  feet  high  would  give  better  fuel 
consumption  than  one  fifty  feet  high,  but  the  changing  of  a  furnace 
is  such  an  expensive  operation,  often  requiring  the  complete  de- 
struction of  existing  plant,  that  many  furnaces  exist  to-day  in 
well  equipped  plants  of  Europe  and  America  varying  from  fifty  to 
seventy  feet  in  height,  and  some  of  them  are  doing  excellent  work. 

*  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I.  1898,  p.  69. 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  57 

On  the  other  hand  many  of  the  newer  furnaces  in  America 
are  one  hundred  feet  high,  although  the  very  latest  experience 
indicates  that  ninety  feet  is  ahout  right.  The  immense  product 
of  the  larger  American  furnaces  depends  upon  the  amount  of  air 
delivered  to  the  tuyeres,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  that  with  a  furnace 
of  given  height  and  given  cross  sectional  area,  the  delivery  of  twice 
the  volume  of  air  means  that  the  gases  burned  in  the  furnace  are  in 
contact  with  the  ore  only  one-half  the  time,  and  consequently  there 
is  only  half  the  opportunity  for  reduction  of  the  iron  oxide  by  these 
£ases.  In  order  to  give  the  same  opportunity  for  reduction  with 
twice  the  quantity  of  air  we  must  double  the  cubical  contents  of 
the  furnace  either  by  doubling  the  height  or  by  doubling  the  cross 
sectional  area,  or  by  enlarging  both  height  and  diameter. 

There  is  a  limit  to  the  possible  diameter  of  the  furnace  at  the 
level  of  the  tuyeres,  as  it  is  necessary  that  the  blast  should  penetrate 
to  the  center  of  the  furnace,  and  an  increase  in  diameter  necessi- 
tates a  corresponding  increase  in  the  pressure  of  the  blast  in  order 
to  get  this  penetration.  There  is  a  limit  to  the  diameter  above  the 
tuyeres,  as  it  is  necessary  to  have  the  angle  of  the  bosh  just  what 
experience  has  proven  to  be  best,  and  there  is  a  limit  to  the  ex- 
tension of  the  slope  of  the  bosh  outward,  as  the  walls  must  be 
drawn  in  above  the  bosh  to  give  a  small  opening  at  the  bell.  Were 
it  not  for  these  conditions,  the  bosh  might  be  indefinitely  enlarged 
by  increasing  the  height  of  the  furnace,  the  inwall  angle  re- 
maining constant.  Thus  in  a  furnace  80  feet  high  if  the 
lines  are  such  that  the  widest  part  of  the  bosh  is  23  feet  in  diam- 
eter and  the  tunnel  head  is  15  feet,  and  the  distance  from  the 
tunnel  head  down  to  the  widest  part  is  40  feet,  then  if  the  diameter 
of  the  bosh  be  increased  three  feet  to  26  feet,  and  the  slope  of  the 
inwall  be  maintained,  it  will  be  necessary  to  increase  the  height 
15  feet  to  get  the  same  diameter  at  the  tunnel  head. 

There  is  a  limit  to  this  increase  in  height  both  on  account  of 
the  increased  blast  pressure  required  and  the  crushing  of  the  coke 
by  the  weight  of  the  column  of  stock.  Thus  all  the  factors  enu- 
merated must  be  considered  as  parts  of  one  great  problem,  and  with 
them  must  be  taken  into  account  the  kind  of  ore  used,  and  whether 
it  is  reduced  easily  or  only  after  long  exposure  to  reducing  gases. 
Disastrous  results  have  followed  the  introduction  of  so-called 
American  practice  into  some  European  works  because  only  one 
part  of  the  practice  was  introduced  at  a  time,  and  nothing  else  was 


58  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

made  to  fit.  It  is  idle  to  take  a  furnace  that  has  been  running  for 
thirty  years  on  a  production  of  seventy-five  tons  per  day,  and  sud- 
denly blow  three  times  the  amount  of  air  at  three  times  the  pres- 
sure, and  expect  three  times  the  product  with  a  reduced  fuel  con- 
sumption and  no  mishaps.  Such  things  have  been  done  and  such 
expectations  treasured,  and  when  the  results  were  bad  "American 
practice"  was  blamed,  but  it  should  be  known  that  American  prac- 
tice is  an  evolution  from  failures  as  well  as  successes;  it  is  the 
result  of  changing  the  blast  to  suit  the  hearth  and  the  hearth  to 
suit  the  blast;  of  changing  the  bosh  to  suit  the  hearth  and  the 
hearth  to  suit  the  bosh;  of  changing  continually,  and  at  enormous 
-cost,  to  strengthen  weak  points  and  improve  strong  ones,  until  a 
furnace  is  obtained  that  makes  six  hundred  tons  per  day  and  econo- 
mizes both  labor  and  fuel.  With  a  furnace  producing  such  a  quan- 
tity it  is  economical  to  provide  expensive  machinery  for  handling 
the  stock,  when  with  a  furnace  making  only  one-third  this  quantity 
the  interest  and  depreciation  on  the  installation  would  be  greater 
than  the  saving. 

Such  a  furnace  has  its  difficulties,  for  if  it  makes  600  tons  of 
iron  in  twenty-four  hours,  it  must  handle  nearly  1000  tons  of  ore, 
-500  tons  of  coke,  and  300  tons  of  limestone,  or  1800  tons  of  ma- 
terial every  day,  and  it  is  a  problem  to  get  this  up  to  the  tunnel 
head  and  never  have  the  machinery  out  of  order.  Moreover,  in 
the  greater  part  of  the  United  States  the  ores  come  from  Lake 
Superior  and  must  be  brought  down  the  chain  of  lakes  during  the 
open  season  from  May  to  November,  so  that  the  ores  must  be 
stocked  in  sufficient  quantity  to  last  from  the  late  fall  until  early 
summer,  or  about  six  months  supply.  This  means  that  a  furnace 
such  as  above  described  must  have  an  ore  pile  containing  200,000 
tons  of  ore  within  reach,  and  provision  must  be  made  during  the 
summer  for  unloading  this  quantity  in  addition  to  an  equal  quan- 
tity required  by  the  furnace,  and  for  loading  it  in  the  winter,  in 
spite  of  snow  and  ice,  and  carrying  it  to  the  hoist.  This  prob- 
lem is  one  which  does  not  confront  furnacemen  in  most  Euro- 
pean districts,  and  hence  there  is  no  reason  for  the  enormous  and 
expensive  installations  that  may  be  seen  in  some  American  works. 

The  blast  pressure  under  American  practice  is  about  15  pounds 
per  square  inch,  equal  to  one  atmosphere,  although  in  exceptional 
cases  it  may  rise  for  a  short  time  to  two  atmospheres,  the  engines 
being  designed  to  work  at  this  load.  The  fundamental  point  is  to 


THE    BLAST    FURNACE.  59 

deliver  exactly  the  same  amount  of  air  to  the  furnace  each  minute 
without  any  regard  to  a  scaffold  or  other  irregularity  of  the  internal 
conditions.  In  ordinary  European  practice  the  blowing  engines  are 
all  attached  to  one  common  main,  and  it  is  evident  that  if  a  furnace 
is  slightly  out  of  order  and  ten  pounds  pressure  is  needed,  and  if 
the  supply  in  the  main  is  at  a  pressure  of  only  five  pounds,  the 
furnace  in  question  will  receive  very  little  air  and  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  make  iron.  It  has  taken  a  great  many  years  for  furnace- 
men  to  discover  this  simple  fact,  but  all  up-to-date  plants  are  now 
constructed  so  that  each  furnace  has  its  own  blowing  engine. 

The  working  of  the  furnace  and  its  life  depend  fundamentally 
upon  the  preservation  of  the  lines  from  the  hearth  to  the  upper 
part  of  the  bosh,  or  in  other  words,  in  the  region  where  the  stock 
is  melted  and  where  the  lining  will  be  eaten  away  unless  precau- 
tions are  taken.  In  America  it  is  quite  common  to  use  <cbosh 
plates,"  which  are  water-cooled  bronze  plates  set  into  the  brick 
work  in  such  manner  that  they  receive  all  the  abrasion  and  the 
melting  action  of  the  stock,  and  thus  prevent  any  change  of  the 
bosh.  At  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Works  at  Stcrlton  V:P  have  used 
in  place  of  this  construction  a  continuous  jacket  of  rivetted  plate, 
against  which  jets  of  water  are  constantly  thrown.  The  brick  on 
the  inside  are  only  nine  inches  thick,  so  that  it  is  impossible  for 
the  lining  to  wear  more  than  this  amount  without  having  the  stock 
in  contact  with  the  cooled  plate,  and  before  this  contact  happens, 
there  is  a  deposit  of  carbon  on  the  plate  which  protects  the  iron 
:and  acts  in  place  of  brick.  This  construction  gives  a  smooth  sur- 
face on  the  incline  of  the  bosh,  while  the  bronze  plates  gives  a 
serrated  surface,  which  must  interfere  more  or  less  with  the  free 
descent  of  the  material. 

•  The  stoves  for  heating  the  blast  have  increased  necessarily  with 
the  size  of  the  furnaces  and  the  amount  of  air  supplied.  Accord- 
ing to  present  American  practice,  a  furnace  making  three  hundred 
tons  of  iron  per  day  should  have  four  stoves,  each  20  feet  in  diameter 
and  85  feet  high,  while  for  furnaces  of  larger  capacity  the  stoves 
are  made  22  feet  in  diameter  and  110  feet  high.  In  some  places 
in  America  it  has  been  found  best  to  keep  the  temperature  of  the 
blast  down  to  about  1000°  F.,  for  with  higher  temperatures  the 
furnace  hangs  and  slips,  probably  from  the  development  of  an  in- 
tense heat  at  too  great  a  distance  above  the  tuyeres  and  a  consequent 
sticking  of  the  stock  to  the  bosh,  but  this  trouble  appears  only  in 


60 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


the  largest  furnaces  and  where  the  fine  Mesabi  ores  constitute  a 
considerable  proportion — say  40  per  cent. — of  the  burden.     The 


FIG.  II-A. — BLAST  FURNACE  AT  JONES  &  LAUGHLINS, 
PITTSBURG,  PA. 

temperature  is  kept  down  by  admitting  cold  air  with  the  hot  blast 
in  the  right  proportion,  this  practice  having  the  great  advantage 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE. 


61 


62  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

that  there  is  always  a  reserve  supply  of  heat  to  call  upon,  for  if 
the  furnace  shows  signs  of  growing  cold  it  is  only  necessary  to  close 
the  cold  air  inlet  to  immediately  raise  the  temperature  of  the  blast. 
In  many  parts  of  America  this  practice  is  not  followed  and  the 
blast  is  heated  to  1400°  F. 

Fig.  II-A  is  taken  from  The  Iron  Age  and  shows  the  "Eliza" 
furnace  of  Jones  &  Laugh lins,  Pittsburg,  Pa.  This  is  the  usual 
American  construction  with  water-cooled  plates  set  into  the  bosh 
walls.  Fig.  II-B  shows  the  method  of  constructing  the  bosh  at 
Steelton,  no  water  plates  being  used,  the  lines  being  preserved  by  a 
casing  of  rivetted  steel  plates  on  which  water  is  sprayed  constantly. 
The  lining  of  this  casing  is  made  very  thin,  as  it  is  inevitable  that 
any  lining,  no  matter  how  thick,  will  wear  down  very  close  to  the 
water  cooled  sheet,  and  if  the  brick  work  be  put  in  very  thick,  the 
lines  of  the  furnace  will  be  materially  altered  after  it  is  worn 
away,  while  with  a  thin  wall,  preserved  by  the  cooling,  the  lines 
remain  nearly  constant.  This  construction  gives  a  smoother  in- 
terior surface  for  the  descent  of  the  stock,  for  in  the  first  method 
of  horizontal  water-cooled  plates,  the  bricks  wear  away  between  the 
coolers  and  the  interior  surface  is  thus  a  series  of  small  terraces 
and  corrugations,  while  under  the  second  method  no  such  condi- 
tions can  exist. 

Fig.  II-C  gives  a  drawing  of  the  Bertrand  blast  furnace  top 
used  at  Kladno,  Bohemia,  which  is  intended  to  overcome  the  carry- 
ing of  dust  into  the  down  takes.  The  ore  at  Kladno  is  roasted  and 
then  leached  to  remove  sulphur  and  goes  to  the  furnace  in  a  fine 
state  and  saturated  with  water,  but  this  moisture  did  not  prevent 
considerable  trouble  from  flue  dust,  and  Mr.  Bertrand  devised  this 
method  of  avoiding  it.  From  personal,  but  very  limited,  observa- 
tion I  believe  that  it  settles  the  dust  problem  at  Kladno  quite  per- 
fectly, and  it  seems  important  to  consider  it  in  connection  with 
Mesabi  ores  and  also  in  the  use  of  furnace  gas  for  gas  engines,  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  at  Kladno  the  saturated  ore  tends  to 
give  a  very  cool  top  and  consequently  the  iron  work  is  not  sub- 
jected to  the  higher  temperatures  obtained  in  some  other  furnaces. 
The  method  of  operation  is  as  follows : 

The  ore  falls  from  the  bell,  Bl,  on  the  distributing  bell,  B2,  and 
thence  down  the  annular  space  around  it,  the  gases  from  the  stock 
finding  outlets  through  the  hollow  arms,  A,  all  these  gases  finally 
reaching  the  concentric  passage,  C,  from  which  it  goes  to  the  down 


THE   BLAST   FURNACE. 


takes.  The  arms,  A,  are  open  at  the  bottom,  but  the  ore  is  main- 
tained at  such  a  level  that  this  opening  is  sealed  by  the  stock,  so 
that  there  is  no  current  of  gas  immediately  above  this  level  and  the 
ore  and  coke  fall  into  a  dead  space,  the  only  dust  being  what  arises 


FIG.  II-C.— BERTRAND  BLAST-FURNACE  TOP. 

from  the  slow  descent  of  the  column  as  it  passes  below  the  opening 
in  the  under  side  of  the  spokes  marked  A.     It  may  be  objected  that 
this  construction  does  not  give  a  good  chance  for  explosion  doors  t< 
take  care  of  the  slips.     It  is  generally  considered  necessary  i 
America  to  give  ample  area  for  the  exit  of  gases  in  case  c 


64  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

slips,  but  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  well  known  American 
engineer,  Mr.  Julian  Kennedy,  has  taken  the  opposite  view,  and 
considers  that  such  openings  do  much  harm  by  relieving  the  pres- 
sure and  thereby  encourage  a  rapid  passage  of  the  gases  through 
the  furnace,  with  consequent  ejection  of  the  stock.  He  believes 
that  the  true  solution  is  to  hold  the  top  securely  and  allow  no 
explosion  doors,  thus  preventing  such  rapid  escape  and  keeping 
the  stock  in  the  furnace.  This  theory  has  been  partially  tested  in 
some  recent  furnaces,  but  the  results  are  not  yet  conclusive. 

SEC.  He.1 — Chemical  Reactions  in  a  Blast  Furnace. — A  blast 
furnace  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  colossal  gas  producer,  in 
which  there  is  a  column  of  coke  70  ft.  high  ranging  in  tempera- 
ture from  a  white  heat  at  the  tuyeres  to  a  black  heat  at  the  tunnel 
Lead.  As  soon  as  the  air  strikes  the  white-hot  coke  there  is  an 
immediate  formation  of  carbonic  acid,  followed  by  an  instantaneous 
reaction,  by  which  the  carbonic  acid  so  produced  unites  with  more 
carbon  to  form  carbonic  oxide.  This  reaction  is  consummated 
Yery  quickly  and  with  thoroughness,  so  that  if  the  furnace  held 
only  coke,  the  gas  coming  from  the  top  would  be  almost  entirely 
carbonic  oxide  and  nitrogen,  but  the  furnace  contains  also  iron 
oxide,  and  this  complicates  the  matter  very  materially,  for  the 
carbonic  oxide  reacts  upon  the  oxide  of  iron,  forming  carbonic 
acid  and  metallic  iron.  The  reactions  between  carbonic  acid 
(C02),  carbonic  oxide  (CO),  carbon,  ferric  oxide  (Fe203),  ferrous 
oxide  (FeO)  and  spongy  iron  (Fe)  are  dependent  upon  the  tempera- 
ture and  upon  the  exact  composition  of  the  gases.  The  phenomena 
were  thoroughly  investigated  by  Bell  many  years  ago,  and  Fig. 
II-D  as  well  as  the  following  discussion  is  founded  on  his  experi- 
ments. 

Carbonic  oxide  begins  to  reduce  Fe203  at  about  250°  C.  (480° 
F.)?  but  the  action  is  not  rapid  until  a  temperature  of  400°  C.  to 
450°  C.  is  reached  (say  800°  F.),  when  the  Fe203  is  converted  into 
Fe304,  or  after  longer  exposure,  to  Fe607.  Following  are  some  of 
the  chemical  relations  between  carbonic  oxide  and  the  usual  iron 
oxides  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur  in  the  blast  furnace: 

(1)  3  Fe20.+C0=2  Fe,O  +C02. 

(2)  Fe304-f  C0=3  FeO+  C02. 

(3)  FeO+CO= Fe+  C02. 

Each  of  these  is  exothermic — i.e.,  it  produces  heat. 

1 1  am  indebted  to  Mr.  J.  W.  Dougherty,  superintendent  of  the  Pennsylvania  Steel  Co.,  at 
Stce'ton.  for  a  careful  supervision  of  this  section. 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE. 


65 


Blast 


FIGURE  II-D. 
Furnace  Eeactions  as  Determined  by  the  Temperature. 

Note.— The  word  "  complete  "  means  practically  complete. 


1000°C 

OO2+C=2CO 

950° 

900°C 

850° 

800°C 

CaC03=CaO+COa 
FeO-f-C=Fe+CO  (complete) 

750° 

700°C 

FeO-f-C=Fe+CO  (begin) 

«50° 

600°C 

Carbon  deposition  ceases 
Fe3O4+OO=3FeO+C08  (complete) 

550° 

CO,+C=2CO  (begin) 

-500°0 

450° 

3Fe>08+CO=2FesO4+C02  (complete) 
Fe+OOa=FeO+CO 

400°C 

Fe,03+3C=2Fe-h3CO  (begin) 
3FeaO8-FCO=2Fe,O4+OOt  (rapid) 

350° 

300°C 

Fe+OOa=FeO+CO  (begin) 

250° 

2Fe2O3+80O=7C08-f  4Fe+0  (begin  carbon  deposition) 
3Fe2O8+CO=2Fe,O4-fCO2  (begin) 

200°0 

• 

Carbon  begins  to  reduce  Fe203  at  about  400°  C.   (750°  F.). 
The  reactions  between  carbon  and  the  usual  oxides  are  as  follows: 


66  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

(4)  Fe203-f-3  C— 2  Fe+3  CO. 

(5)  Fe304+4  C=3  Fe+4  CO. 

(6)  FeO+C— Fe+CO. 

Each  of  these  reactions  is  endothermie — i.e.,  it  absorbs  heat. 

The  carbonic  acid  (C02)  formed  by  the  reduction  of  iron  oxide 
by  carbonic  oxide  (CO),  or  by  carbon,  is  an  oxidizing  agent,  and 
by  a  change  in  temperature  there  may  be  a  complete  reversal  and 
undoing  of  the  reduction  just  performed,  according  to  the  follow- 
ing reactions: 

(7)  2  FeO+C02=:Fe203+CO. 

(8)  2  Fe+3  C02:=Fe203+3  CO. 

The  first  creating  a  large  amount  of  heat  and  the  second  absorbing 
energy. 

These  reactions  depend  upon  both  the  temperature  and  the  dilu- 
tion of  the  gas  with  carbonic  oxide.  At  high  temperatures  the 
action  is  strong  and  considerable  carbonic  oxide  must  be  present  to 
avoid  reoxidation.  The  main  landmarks  of  the  relations  may  be 
thus  summarized: 

(a)  Carbonic  acid  (C02)  begins  to  oxidize  spongy  iron  at  300°  C. 
(570°  F.). 

(b)  Carbonic  acid  (C02)  begins  to  unite  with  carbon  at  550°  C. 
(1020°  F.),  and  the  reaction  is  complete  at  1000°  C.  (1830°  F.). 

(c)  The  reduction  of  metallic  iron  depends  upon  the  percentage 
of  carbonic  acid  (C02)  in  the  gases,  but  the  critical  content  of  C02 
depends  upon  the  temperature,  as  follows: 

At  a  white  heat  a  gas  containing  C02=10%,  C0=90%,  will 
not  reduce  metallic  iron  from  the  oxide. 

At  a  full  red  heat  a  gas  containing  C02=32%,  C0=68%,  will 
not  reduce  metallic  iron. 

At  a  low  red  heat  a  gas  containing  C02=60%,  C0=40%,  will 
not  reduce  metallic  iron. 

A  mixture  of  C02=50%,  CO =50%,  passed  over  spongy  iron 
at  a  white  heat  oxidizes  it  to  FeO,  while  if  passed  over  Fe203 
reduces  it  to  FeO. 

It  is  essential  to  remember  that  the  reactions  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  blast  furnace  are  not  made  up  of  simple  processes  of  reduc- 
tion like  reactions  (1)  to  (6)  or  oxidations  like  (7)  and  (8).  While 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  67 

these  actions  are  progressing  there  is  a  deposition  of  carbon  accord- 
ing to  relation  (9), 

(9)  2  Fe203+8  CO=7C02+4  Fe+C, 

It  is  stated  by  high  authority  that  carbon  deposition  cannot  take 
place  without  a  contemporaneous  oxidation  of  metallic  iron  by 
carbonic  acid  (C02),  or  by  carbonic  oxide  according  to  the  relation 
(10)  or  (11), 

(10)  Fe+CO=rFeO+C, 

(11)  2  Fe-fC02=r2FeO+C, 

but  it  is  very  difficult  to  understand  how  these  reactions  can  pos- 
sibly take  place  in  the  upper  zone  of  the  blast  furnace,  since  at  the 
temperatures  existing  at  the  point  under  discussion  the  reactions 
(1)  and  (9)  are  the  only  ones  possible,  and  it  follows  therefore  that 
no  metallic  iron  can  exist  except  through  reaction  (9),  which  calls 
for  carbon  deposition,  and  this  reaction  produces  metallic  iron 
instead  of  oxidizing  it.  It  may  be  perfectly  true  that  at  higher 
temperatures  the  great  bulk  of  carbon  deposit  is  dependent  upon, 
or  at  least  is  associated  with,  an  oxidation  of  metallic  iron  by 
carbonic  acid  (C02)  or  carbonic  oxide  (CO),  but  the  testimony 
Indicates  that  the  first  of  the  carbon  deposit  is  formed  where  the 
temperature  is  insufficient  for  the  formation  of  metallic  iron  save 
by  the  simultaneous  formation  of  impregnating  carbon.  More- 
over, if  metallic  iron  were  formed  it  could  not  be  oxidized  by 
carbonic  acid  (C02),  since  reaction  (12)  does  not  begin  until  a  tern- 

(12)  Fe-f C02=FeO-fCO. 

perature  of  300°  C.  (510°  F.)  is  reached  and  does  not  become  rapid 
until  a  still  higher  altitude  is  attained. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  well  known  that  carbon  deposition  does 
not  take  place  with  rapidity  until  the  temperature  is  from  400°  C. 
to  500°  C.  (say  840°  F.),  and  this  would  indicate  that  such  deposi- 
tion might  depend  upon  reaction  (12)  between  metallic  iron  and 
carbonic  acid  (C02),  but  it  may  also  depend  upon  the  reduction  of 
iron  oxide  by  carbon,  as  shown  in  reactions  (4),  (5)  and  (6).  These 
latter  reactions  are  all  endothermic — i.e.,  they  absorb  heat,  while  the 
reduction  of  iron  oxide  by  carbonic  oxide  (CO)  is  exothermic — i.e., 
it  creates  heat. 

Eeaction  (4)  begins  to  take  place  at  about  400°  C.  (750°  F.),  BO 


68  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

that  at  this  temperature  a  supply  of  metallic  iron  is  provided,  and 
since  carbonic  acid  (C02)  is  able  at  this  point  to  oxidize  metallic 
iron  according  to  reaction  (12),  it  .follows  that  there  may  coexist 
all  the  factors  necessary  for  any  reactions,  since  by  interchange 
there  may  be  present  Fe203,  Fe304,  FeO,  Fe,  CO  and  C02.  Two 
of  the  reactions  occurring  are  (13)  and  (14), 

.(13)  2  FeO+C02:=Fe203+CO, 
(14)   2  Fe+3  C02=Fe203+3  CO, 

the  first  creating  a  large  amount  of  heat  and  the  second  absorbing 
energy. 

Some  interesting  experiments  on  carbon  deposition  were  carried 
on  by  Laudig.*  He  passed  blast  furnace  gas  over  different  ores,  the 
gas  containing  about  7.5  per  cent.  C02,  and  29  per  cent.  CO, 
the  temperature  being  just  above  the  melting  point  of  zinc.  The 
following  list  shows  the  results  obtained,  the  figures  being  the 
weight  of  carbon  deposited  in  per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  ore : 

Min.  Max. 

Old  range  soft  hematites 4.48  35.13 

hard  hematites. 2.16  12.88 

blue  ores 1.56  4.72 

brown  ores 0.98  24.92 

magnetites nil  nil 

Mesabis 10.20  36.40 

Scale  and  cinder 0.08  0.74 

It  was  assumed  by  Laudig  that  the  reducibility  and  value  of  an 
ore  depended  upon  two  conditions : 

(1)  That  it  should  be  of  such  a  character  that  carbon  would  be 
deposited  throughout  the  mass ; 

(2)  That  it  should  not  be  too  readily  disintegrated  or  too  much 
increased  in  volume  by  this  action. 

Cases  were  cited  in  tests  on  some  of  the  Mesabi  ores  where  the 
mass  increased  to  four  or  five  times  its  volume  after  exposure  to  the 
gas,  thus  explaining  the  choking  and  scaffolding  encountered  when 
smelting  these  fine  varieties.  I  believe  that  much  remains  undis- 
covered in  this  field.  Thus  it  is  a  matter  of  record  that  Cuban  ore 

*  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.t  Vol.  XXVI,  p.  269. 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  69 

has  been  smelted  at  Steelton  with  a  consumption  of  less  than  a  ton 
of  coke  per  ton  of  iron,  and  this  was  done  moreover  in  a  furnace 
only  65  feet  high,  the  practice  being  continued  for  a  long  time. 
This  ore  is  mostly  magnetite,  in  hard  lumps,  containing  10  per 
cent,  silica  and  from  0.25  to  0.50  sulphur,  and  on  account  of  this 
latter  impurity  it  was  essential  to  maintain  a  good  temperature,  but 
this  was  done  so  successfully  that  the  iron  produced  ran  from  a 
trace  up  to  .04  per  cent,  in  sulphur.  This  experience  does  not 
agree  with  the  current  belief  that  magnetites  are  hard  to  smelt,  and 
it  does  not  agree  with  the  theory  about  the  necessity  of  carbon 
deposition  since  Laudig  states  that  no  carbon  was  deposited  in 
the  magnetites,  a  fact  which  I  have  verified  by  experiments.  It 
is  also  quite  certain  that  the  smelting  values  of  the  old  range 
ores  do  not  vary  in  proportion  to  their  absorption  of  car- 
bon, and  it  is  well  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  hematite  ores 
when  charged  into  a  blast  furnace  are  very  quickly  converted  into  a 
magnetite,  although  it  is  quite  possible  that  this  conversion  gives 
an  opportunity  for  the  permeating  power  of  the  gases  which  would 
be  absent  in  the  case  of  magnetites  where  no  such  reaction  takes 
place. 

I  have  commented  above  on  the  necessity  of  invoking  something 
beside  the  oxidizing  influence  of  carbonic  acid  upon  iron  to  explain 
the  beginning  of  the  carbon  impregnation,  but  the  question  is  so 
puzzling  and  it  is  so  difficult  to  investigate  that  in  the  present  state 
of  metallurgy  there  seems  to  be  about  as  much  darkness  as  light  sur- 
rounding the  matter.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  subject  is  of 
great  importance,  as  it  is  known  that  carbonic  oxide  alone  is  unable 
to  remove  the  last  traces  of  oxygen  from  iron  oxide,  this  office 
being  performed  by  deposited  carbon  in  the  lower  region  of  the  blast 
furnace,  and  it  is  also  known  that  carbon  deposition  ceases  at  about 
600°C  and  that  carbonic  acid  (C02)  then  acts  upon  and  dissolves 
carbon,  so  that  in  the  lower  and  hotter  portions  of  the  furnace  there 
is  probably  no  carbon  deposit  except  what  is  so  to  speak  associated 
with  the  iron,  waiting  for  a  chance  to  unite  with  it  as  carbide. 

Howe*  has  reviewed  the  work  of  Bell  and  others  very  thoroughly 
in  respect  to  carbon  impregnation,  and  concludes  thus: 

"The  exact  nature  of  the  reactions  is  not  known.  Metals  which 
like  iron  are  reduced  by  carbonic  oxide,  but  which  unlike  it  are  not 

*  Metallurgy,  p.  122. 


70  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

oxidized  by  this  gas  or  by  carbonic  acid,  do  not  induce  carbon 
deposition  as  far  as  known :  this  suggests  that  it  is  connected  with 
the  oxidation  of  iron  by  one  or  both  of  these  gases  by  reactions  like 
the  following : 

Fe+xCO=FeOx+xC, 
FeOx+yCO=FeOx+y+yC, 

rather  than  to  mere  dissociation  of  carbonic  oxide,  thus : 
2  CO=C+C02 

which  indeed  may  be  regarded  as  the  resultant  of  either  of  these  two 
reactions :" 

FeOx+yCO=FeOx_y+yC02. 

FeOx+yCO=FeOx+y+yC. 

The  chemical  phenomena  of  a  blast  furnace  have  been  repre- 
sented graphically  by  Bell  and  also  in  a  book  by  Prof.  Robt.  H. 
Richards  for  the  use  of  students  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology,  but  I  believe  that  no  attempt  has  ever  been  made  to 
show  them  with  quantitative  accuracy.  From  what  has  gone  before 
and  what  will  appear  in  the  rest  of  this  chapter  it  may  be  seen  that 
it  is  possible  to  map  out  the  progress  of  the  reactions,  after  assuming 
certain  working  conditions.  This  task  has  been  performed  for  me 
by  Mr.  John  W.  Dougherty,  Superintendent  of  The  Pennsylvania 
Steel  Company,  and  the  results  are  shown  in  Fig.  II-E. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  curves  are  drawn  very  carefully 
and  express  quantitatively  the  exact  relative  amounts  of  each  ele- 
ment or  substance,  as  nearly  as  our  knowledge  admits,  for  the  special 
conditions  under  consideration.  The  height  is  taken  to  be  90  feet, 
and  information  is  given  as  to  the  temperature  to  be  expected  at 
different  distances  above  the  hearth,  these  temperatures  being  given 
in  degrees  Centigrade.  The  conditions  assumed  are  as  follows: 

Temperature  at  tuyeres  1500°"  C. 

Ore=60  per  cent.  Fe ;  no  water. 

Coke=87  per  cent.  C ;  1888  Ibs.  per  ton  of  iron. 

Stone=100  per  cent.  CaC03 ;  1010  Ibs.  per  ton  of  iron. 

Pig-iron=4  per  cent.  C ;  1  per  cent.  Si. 

Ratio  of  tunnel  head  gas  by  volume,  1  C02  to  iy2  CO. 

Temperature  of  tunnel  head  gases  260°  C. 

Height  of  furnace,  90  feet. 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE. 


71 


72  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

It  is  also  assumed  upon  the  authority  of  Bell  that  the  carbon 
needed  for  the  carburization  of  the  pig  iron  is  deposited  in  the  iron 
oxide,  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  furnace,  and  that  the  amount  so 
deposited  is  just  sufficient  for  the  work.  In  the  absence  of  positive 
data  an  estimate  is  made  of  the  amount  of  cyanogen  present.  No 
data  are  given  on  the  diagram  concerning  silicon,  sulphur,  phos- 
phorus and  other  similar  elements,  as  it  is  evident  that  their  graphic 
representation  when  shown  on  so  small  a  scale  would  be  a  straight 
line.  In  the  case  of  alumina,  the  amount  is  considerably  greater, 
but  it  has  not  been  shown  on  the  diagram,  as  it  undergoes  no 
change  and  affects  no  other  constituent  of  the  charge  until 
it  reaches  the  zone  of  fusion  just  above  the  tuyeres.  It  will 
be  readily  understood  that  the  isothermal  lines  in  a  blast  furnace  are 
not  horizontal,  as  they  will  vary  with  the  irregularities  in  the  rate 
of  the  descent  of  the  stock  in  different  parts  of  the  furnace,  but  it 
seemed  unnecessary  to  attempt  to  show  these  complications. 

From  this  diagram  we  may  learn  the  following: 

At  the  tunnel  head  the  ore  (Fe203)  is  plunged  into  an  atmosphere 
of  CO— 24:  per  cent.,  C02=16  per  cent.,  N=60  per  cent.,  and  a 
temperature  of  about  260°  C.  (500°  F.),  and  there  is  immediately  a 
reduction  of  part  of  the  ore  to  Fe304,  this  action  increasing  as  the 
ore  descends  and  reaches  a  higher  temperature.  By  the  time  a 
depth  of  10  feet  is  reached,  all  the  Fe203  has  been  converted  into 
Fe304  and  the  temperature  is  450°  C.  (890°  F.). 

Before  this  reduction  is  completed,  and  even  before  it  is  well 
under  way,  there  begins  the  peculiar  reaction  of  carbon  deposition 
by  which  the  gases  react  upon  the  ore  and  deposit  carbon  throughout 
the  pores  of  the  oxide,  and  this  carbon  so  deposited  remains  asso- 
ciated with  the  iron,  finally  furnishing  the  proportion  needed  for  its 
conversion  into  pig  iron.  This  carbon  deposition  begins  at  a  tem- 
perature of  about  300°  C.  (570°  F.),  very  soon  after  the  first 
stages  of  reduction  are  under  way,  rapidly  increases  until  all  the 
Fe203  is  reduced  to  Fe304  at  a  temperature  of  about  450°  C. 
(840°  F.)  and  then  continues  at  a  slower  rate  until  the  Fe:!04  is 
all  reduced  to  FeO  at  a  temperature  of  about  600°  C.  (1110°  F.). 
The  mixture  of  carbon  and  metallic  iron  then  descends  until  the 
zone  of  fusion  is  reached,  when  the  mixture  is  converted  into  iron 
carbide. 

As  above  stated,  the  gases  reduce  the  Fe203  and  at  a  temperature 
of  450°  C.  the  iron  is  nearly  all  present  as  Fe304.  This  descends 


THE   BLAST   FURNACE.  7$ 


•unchanged  until  at  13%  feet  it  meets  a  temperature  of  500°  C. 
(930°  F.),  when  it  is  strongly  acted  upon  and  converted  into  FeO, 
the  transformation  being  complete  when  a  temperature  of  about 
580°  C.  (1080°  F.)  is  reached  at  a  depth  of  19  feet.  This  FeO  so 
formed,  impregnated  with  deposited  carbon,  descends  quite  a  dis- 
tance unchanged  until  a  temperature  of  700°  C.  (1290°  F.)  is 
encountered  at  a  depth  of  26  feet,  when  the  last  atom  of  oxygen  is 
taken  by  the  carbonic  oxide,  and  spongy  iron  begins  to  form.  This 
reaction  is  completed  when  the  temperature  reaches  800°  C. 
(1470°  F.)  at  a  depth  of  32  feet. 

The  limestone  comes  down  through  the  furnace  until  it  encount- 
^rs  the  temperature  of  800°  C.  (1470°  F.),  at  which  the  last  of 
the  FeO  is  reduced  to  spongy  iron,  at  which  place  it  is  decom- 
posed and  the  carbonic  acid  is  driven  off  to  rise  through  the  stock, 
while  caustic  lime  (CaO)  descends  to  the  zone  of  fusion  to  flux 
the  silicious  ingredients  of  the  charge.  The  carbonic  acid  (C02) 
so  driven  off  from  the  limestone  plays  an  important  and  objection- 
able part  in  its  passage  from  its  place  of  birth  to  the  tunnel  head. 
It  has  elsewhere  been  stated  that  at  all  temperatures  above  550°  C. 
(1020°  F.)  the  following  reaction  occurs  : 

C02+C=2  CO, 

and  as  the  limestone  is  not  decomposed  until  a  temperature  of 
800°  C.  is  reached  it  follows  that  during  the  passage  of  this  carbonic 
acid  from  the  point  where  it  is  made  at  a  depth  of  32  feet  until  it 
reaches  a  temperature  of  550°  C.  (1020°  F.)  at  a  depth  of  about  17 
feet,  which  is  to  say,  during  the  travel  of  the  gas  through  a  vertical 
distance  of  15  feet,  it  is  constantly  reacting  upon  the  coke.  Experi- 
ments show  that  a  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  equal  to  the  entire 
amount  liberated  from  the  limestone  is  thus  destroyed  in  the  upper 
portions  of  the  furnace,  with  the  production  of  an  equivalent  amount 
of  carbonic  oxide  (CO).  The  potential  energy  of  this  carbonic 
oxide  may  be  subsequently  utilized  under  boilers  or  in  the  stoves, 
but  it  is  totally  lost  as  far  as  the  economy  of  the  furnace  itself  is 
concerned. 

It  is  not  strictly  correct  to  say  that  all  the  carbonic  acid  from 
the  stone  is  decomposed,  for  alongside  of  this  amount  so  produced 
is  a  certain  quantity  arising  from  the  reaction  between  the  ferrous 
oxide  (FeO)  and  the  carbonic  oxide  (CO),  and  there  is  no  warrant 
for  supposing  that  a  molecule  of  gas  derived  from  the  stone  has  any 


74  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

history  different  from  a  molecule  derived  from  the  reduction  of 
the  ore,  but  it  may  be  said  for  the  sake  of  simplicity,  as  represent- 
ing quantitative  values,  that  the  reactions  in  the  upper  portion 
of  the  furnace  consist  of  the  reduction  of  iron  oxides  (Fe203, 
Fe304,  FeO)  by  carbonic  oxide  (CO)  and  the  simultaneous  oxi- 
dation of  coke  by  the  carbonic  acid  (C02)  of  the  limestone. 
With  the  exception  of  this  last  reaction,  and  thu  formation  of  a 
small  amount  of  carbon  deposit,  the  coke  charged  at  the  top  goes 
down  through  the  furnace  unchanged  in  quantity  or  condition  until 
it  reaches  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  tuyeres,  the  presence 
of  so  large  a  proportion  of  carbonic  oxide  rendering  the  oxidation  of 
carbon  out  of  the  question. 

Below  the  place  where  the  last  of  the  FeO  is  reduced,  at  a  tem- 
perature of  800°  C.,  at  which  point  the  limestone  is  entirely 
decomposed,  there  are  practically  no  reactions  whatever  occurring, 
and  the  whole  history  is  one  of  heat  absorption  preparatory  to  the 
intense  concentration  of  energy  at  the  tuyeres.  The  temperature, 
therefore,  rises  steadily  and  regularly  as  the  tuyeres  are  approached. 
This  rise  in  temperature  is  shown  upon  the  diagram  as  being  per- 
fectly uniform  throughout  the  entire  height  of  the  furnace,  which, 
of  course,  is  not  strictly  true,  for  the  bosh  region  is  cooled  by  water, 
and,  being  at  a  high  temperature,  the  chilling  effect  at  this  point 
must  be  more  rapid  than  will  be  found  a  little  higher  up,  where  there 
is  little  radiation  and  no  heat  absorbing  reactions.  There  is  still 
another  zone  where  the  limestone  is  decomposed,  and  this  portion 
would  show  a  considerable  variation  from  a  regular  increase  in 
temperature,  while  above  that  point  considerable  heat  is  absorbed 
by  the  union  of  carbonic  acid  from  the  stone  with  coke 
(C02-|-C— 2  CO),  and  a  considerable  amount  created  by  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  iron  oxides  by  carbonic  oxide  (CO).  Inasmuch  as  any 
attempt  to  equate  these  conditions  would  involve  many  assump- 
tions, it  may  be  just  as  well  to  presuppose  a  uniform  rate  of  pro- 
gression. 

The  reactions  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  tuyeres  differ 
very  materially  from  the  reactions  occurring  higher  up,  on  account 
of  the  facilitation  of  chemical  action  by  the  intense  temperature. 
The  entering  blast  is  composed  of  nitrogen  and  oxygen;  the  nitro- 
gen passes  unchanged  through  the  zone  of  fusion  and  through  the 
upper  zones  of  reduction,  and  escapes  in  its  original  state  and 
quantity  with  the  tunnel  head  gases.  A  very  small  and  uncertain 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  75 

quantity  combines  with  carbon  to  form  cyanogen,  which  in  turn 
combines  with  potassium  or  sodium  to  form  cyanides,  but  these  are 
constantly  undergoing  decomposition  in  their  passage  upward 
through  the  ore,  according  to  the  reaction  : 

2  KCN+3  FeO=K20+2  CO+3  Fe-f  2  N. 

The  oxygen,  immediately  upon  entering,  unites  with  the  glowing 
coke  to  form  carbonic  acid  (C02),  but  by  contact  with  other  pieces 
of  incandescent  coke  this  is  all  changed  into  carbonic  oxide  (CO), 
and  from  a  distance  of  about  four  feet  above  the  tuyeres  to  the 
point  where  limestone  is  decomposed  and  ferrous  oxide  reduced, 
there  is  no  carbonic  acid  in  the  furnace,  the  entire  gaseous  atmos- 
phere being  composed  of  nitrogen  and  carbonic  oxide  (CO). 

As  before  stated,  the  coke  comes  down  through  the  furnace 
unchanged  and  unaffected  in  quality  or  quantity,  save  for  the  oxida- 
tion of  a  small  amount  by  the  carbonic  acid  (C02)  driven  off  from 
the  limestone.  No  other  action  takes  place  until  it  reaches  a  point 
about  four  feet  above  the  tuyeres,  when  it  meets  the  carbonic  acid 
(C02)  formed  at  the  tuyeres,  and  there  then  occurs  the  reaction: 

C02+C=2  CO. 

At  the  same  time  other  particles  of  incandescent  carbon,  possibly 
only  a  fraction  of  an  inch  away  from  where  the  foregoing  reaction 
is  taking  place,  are  coming  in  contact  with  molecules  of  free  oxygen 
from  the  blast  and  there  occurs  the  following  reaction  : 


C+2  0=C02, 

the  carbonic  acid  so  formed  being  doomed  to  immediate  destruction 
on  its  first  meeting  with  the  next  molecule  of  incandescent  carbon. 

The  final  result  of  this  combustion  is  the  formation  of  carbonic 
oxide  (CO)  with  no  admixture  of  carbonic  acid  (C02),  and  this 
carbonic  oxide  rises  in  unchanging  quantity  to  the  point  where  it 
meets  unreduced  ferrous  oxide  (FeO).  Here  begins  the  formation 
of  carbonic  acid  (C02)  from  both  the  reduction  of  the  ore  and  the 
decomposition  of  the  limestone,  and  in  spite  of  the  destruction  of 
some  carbonic  acid  (C02)  by  the  coke  with  formation  of  carbonic 
oxide  (CO)  the  proportion  of  carbonic  acid  (C02)  in  the  gases 
increases  all  the  way  to  the  top. 


76 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


It  need  hardly  be  stated  that  all  the  figures  relating  to  vertical' 
distances  must  be  changed  for  every  variation  in  the  height  of  differ- 
ent furnaces,  nor  that  the  temperature  of  the  tunnel  head  gases  is 
quite  different  at  every  furnace,  while  the  horizontal  measurements 
on  the  drawing  must  be  made  to  accord  with  the  furnace  practice 
on  coke,  ore,  etc.,  but  it  has  been  deemed  worth  while  to  solve  one 
definite  problem  as  an  example  of  the  method  which  seems  applicable 
to  all  similar  investigations. 

SEC.  Ilf. — The  Utilization  and  Waste  of  Heat. — Any  discussion 
of  the  distribution  of  heat  in  a  blast  furnace  must  base  itself  on  the 
investigations  of  Sir  Lowthian  Bell.  One  of  the  last  contributions 

TABLE  1KB. 
Comparison  of  Furnace  Practice  at  Middlesborough  and  Pittsburg. 


Middles- 
borough. 

Pittsburgh.. 

General  conditions- 
Height  of  furnace,  feet  

80 

80 

Cubic  contents,  feet  

25600 

18200 

Per  cent  of  metallic  iron  in  ore       •                                        .... 

39  0 

59  0 

Weekly  product  per  1000  feet  cubic  content  tons  

21  57 

12800 

Temperature  of  blast  degrees  cent                       

704 

593 

250 

171 

Ratio  of  CO  to  CO2  in  gases  

2  11 

2  35 

Data  per  ton  of  pig  iron- 
Coke,  pounds  

2239 

1882 

Limestone  pounds  ...                                         .            ....... 

1232 

1011 

Ore,  pounds  

5376 

3613 

Weight  of  blast  pounds      

9761 

7974 

Weight  of  tunnel  head  gases  pounds                    . 

13  381 

11  211 

Slag,  pounds  

3136 

1200 

Calories  used  in  the  furnace  per  ton  of  pig  iron- 

1.681,887 

1.681,887 

Reduction  of  metalloids  in  pig-iron     .                       

212  039 

133  655 

Dissociation  of  CO 

73  152 

74  168 

Fusion  of  pig-iron  

335280 

335,280 

Evaporation  of  water  in  coke           ...             . 

13970 

4216 

120904 

118.516 

Expulsion  of  COa  from  limestone  

206  756 

157,175 

Reduction  of  this  CO2  to  CO 

214  579 

177  190 

782.320 

299,212 

Radiation,  cooling  water  etc  

494  792 

298,145 

4,135,679 

3,279,444 

Calories  in  tunnel  head  gases  per  ton  pig  iron- 
Sensible  heat  

364  000 

254  700 

Potential  as  CO  .... 

3  810  000 

3  137  000 

Total  in  tunnel  head  gas  

4  174.000 

3.391  700 

Summary  per  ton  of  pig  iron— 
(a)  Calories  used  in  furnace  (as  above)..  

4  135  679 

3  279  444 

(b)  Calories  in  tunnel  head  gases  (as  above)  . 

4  174000 

3  391  700 

Sum  of  (a)  and  (b)  , 

8309679 

6  671.144 

(c)  Less  calories  from  blast  included  in  (a)                      

738  632 

626  872 

Calorific  power  produced  per  ton  of  iron.  .  . 

7  671  047 

6,044.272 

Calorific  power  produced  per  ton  of  coke  

7  574  400 

7  1%  000 

THE   BLAST    FURXACE. 


77 


made  by  him  was  a  discussion  of  a  paper  by  Gayley.*  In  his  re- 
marks he  compared  the  working  of  a  typical  Pittsburgh  furnace 
with  the  practice  in  the  Cleveland  district  in  England.  In  Tables 
II-B  and  II-C  the  results  are  tabulated,  so  as  to  show  the  way  the 
heat  is  utilized  under  two  entirely  different  sets  of  conditions. 

In  Table  II-B  I  have  calculated  what  I  believe  are  the  correct 
figures,  being  merely  an  expansion  of  the  data  given  by  Bell.     In 

TABLE  II-C. 

Distribution  of  Calorific  Energy  on  the  Assumption  of  the  Same 
Coke  for  Middlesborough  and  Pittsburg. 

Table  II-B  shows  that  the  English  coke  was  5  per  cent,  better  than  American 

coke.     Hence  with  the  same   coke,  the  fuel  in  Pittsburg  would  have  been 

only  1788  Ibs.  per  ton. 


Equivalent  in  Pounds 
of  Coke. 

Per  cent,  of  total  Calo- 
rific Value 

English. 

American. 

English 

American. 

Constant  factors- 

452 
90 

452 

90 

20.2 
4.0 

25.2 
5.0 

Fusion  of  pig1  iron  

Total  

542 

58 
66 
58 
210 

542 

36 
41 
49 

80 

24.2 

2.6 
2  5 
2.6 
9.4 

30.2 

2  0 
2  3 
2  7 
45 

Factors  beyond  the  control  of  the  smelter- 
Reduction  of  the  metalloids  

Expulsion  of  CO2,  from  limestone  

Fusion  of  slag  . 

Total     

382 

20 
5 
34 
134 

206 

20 
2 
33 

80 

17.1 

0.9 
0.2 
1.5 
6.0 

11.5 

1.1 

0.1 
1  8 
4.5 

Factors  more  or  less  under  control- 

Evaporation  of  water  in  coke  

Decomposition  of  water  in  blast 

Radiation  cooling  water  etc  

Total  

193 

99 
1023 

135 

68 
837 

86 

4.4 
45.7 

7.5 

3.8 
47.0 

Tunnel  head  gases- 
Sensible  heat            

Potential  as  CO 

Total  

1122 

905 

50.1 

50.8 

Grand  Total  

2239 

1788 

100.0 

100.0 

*  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.t  Vol.  XIX,  p.  957. 

In  the  figures  as  given  here  some  changes  are  made.  Following  the  system 
in  his  previous  writings,  the  learned  investigator  has  used  a  unit  of  20  kilo- 
grammes as  being  readily  convertible  into  20  cwt.  Unfortunately,  it  is  too 
easily  convertible  and  in  one  case  the  figure  given  for  calories  produced  per 
ton  of  iron  is  really  the  value  per  20  kilogrammes,  and  a  column  headed  pounds 
does  not  refer  to  pounds  at  all.  These  errors  have  no  bearing  on  the  funda- 
-mental  questions,  but  attention  is  called  to  them  to  save  trouble  for  others. 


78  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Table  II-C  I  have  departed  from  his  line  of  calculation  in  finding 
the  equivalent  amount  of  coke  in  the  American  furnace.  The 
object  of  the  investigation  is  to  account  for  the  larger  amount  of 
fuel  used  in  England,  and  Bell  sums  up  every  way  in  which  the 
lean  and  silicious  ores  of  Cleveland  increase  the  work  to  be  done, 
but  although  he  mentions  the  fact  that  Connellsville  coke  contains 
more  ash  than  the  coke  of  Durham,  he  makes  no  allowance  for  this 
at  all.  It  is  quite  certain  that  a  pound  of  ash  in  the  fuel  will  have 
just  as  much  effect  as  a  pound  of  similar  earth  in  the  ore,  and  it  is. 
just  as  certain  that  the  furnaceman  cannot  get  calorific  power  out 
of  this  ash,  and  for  this  reason  I  believe  that  the  calculation  by  Bell 
on  the  heat  developed  per  unit  of  coke  (p.  958  loc.  cit.)  is  entirely 
misleading.  The  difference  of  7.00  per  cent,  (not  "71/2  per  cent.") 
is  almost  entirely  accounted  for  by  the  extra  ash  which  the  Ameri- 
can coke  contains,  for  Durham  coke  is  given  as  5  to  7%  per  cent, 
in  ash,  while  Connellsville  will  run  at  least  5  per  cent,  higher. 

The  exact  composition  of  the  gases  from  the  Cleveland  furnace 
is  not  given,  but  the  ratio  is  recorded  and  the  weight  produced  per 
ton  of  iron,  and  from  these  data  I  have  made  calculations  of  the 
composition.  (In  the  case  of  both  the  English  and  American  fur- 
naces no  allowance  was  made  for  an  unknown  quantity  of  steam  in 
the  escaping  gases  and  a  certain  small  error  is  caused  in  this  way.) 
By  thus  determining  all  the  factors,  we  are  able  to  tabulate  the 
figures  in  a  more  logical  way.  Bell  views  the  gases  simply  as  a 
vehicle  of  sensible  heat,  with  the  exception  of  the  calorific 
power  returned  in  the  blast,  but  I  believe  it  is  more  correct  to  calcu- 
late all  the  potential  energy  in  the  coke  and  find  how  much  is 
accounted  for,  either  as  potential  or  chemical  energy,  or  as  sen- 
sible heat.  Bell  has  done  this  in  some  cases  in  his  previous  writ- 
ings and  showed  that  in  one  case  74  per  cent,  of  the  entire  heating 
power  of  the  fuel  was  employed  in  useful  work,  but  this  counted  the 
energy  developed  in  the  boilers  and  in  the  hot  stoves.  I  believe  it 
is  better  to  keep  this  separate  under  the  name  of  "potential  heat  in 
gas,"  as  the  economical  use  of  such  gas  is  a  problem  entirely  dis- 
tinct from  the  metallurgy  of  a  blast  furnace.  It  may  or  may  not 
be  possible  to  improve  radically  on  the  economy  of  energy  in  the 
interior  of  a  furnace,  but  it  is  certainly  possible  to  improve  on  the 
power  plant  and  the  oven  plant  in  use  at  many  places. 

The  treatment  of  the  energy  used  in  heating  the  blast  is  a  rather 
confusing  problem.  It  cannot  be  neglected,  as  the  hot  blast  pro- 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  79 

duces  an  increase  in  the  calories  developed  in  the  furnace;  and  it 
cannot  be  treated  alone,  as  this  same  energy  is  included  in  the  po- 
tential heat  of  the  unburned  tunnel  head  gases.  This  potential  heat 
becomes  kinetic  when  the  gases  are  burned  in  the  stoves  and  in  the 
boilers,  but  it  is  impossible  to  make  a  full  account  of  it  and  put  it 
all  into  the  equation  of  the  furnace,  because  only  a  portion  is  used 
to  heat  the  blast,  the  rest  being  burned  under  the  boilers  and 
dissipated  in  losses  having  no  direct  bearing  upon  the  calorific 
history  of  the  furnace  proper. 

I  have  tried  to  cover  the  general  heat  equation  in  Table  II-D, 
which  gives  on  the  one  side  the  total  heat  developed  in  the  furnace 
and  on  the  other  side  the  distribution  of  this  heat. 

TABLE  II-D. 
General  Equation  of  the  Blast  Furnace. 


Middles- 
borough. 

Pittsburg. 

Per  ton  of  pig  iron- 
Calories  from  formation  of  CO2 

2  42?  000 

1  Qfi'2  000 

Calories  from  formation  of  CO  

1  336000 

1  025  000 

Calories  potential  in  gas  as  CO    

3  810000 

3  137  000 

Total  per  ton  of  iron  

7  573  000 

6  144  000 

Per  ton  of  coke- 
Calories  from  formation  of  CO*                      .        . 

.2428  000 

2  360000 

1  342000 

1  220  000 

Calories  potential  in  gas  as  CO             .                

3  812  000 

3  735  000 

Total  per  ton  of  coke    

7582000 

7.315  000 

Distribution  by  per  cent,  of  total  energy- 

32.1 

32.2 

17  6 

167 

50.3 

51.1 

Total    

100.0 

100.0 

The  item  of  potential  heat  includes  all  the  energy  of  the  escaping 
gases,  except  the  sensible  heat.  This  potential  heat  appears  later 
in  four  places: 

(1)  Heat  utilized  in  stoves  in  heating  the  blast. 

(2 )  Heat  utilized  in  boilers  in  making  steam. 

(3)  Heat  lost  in  ovens  by  incomplete  combustion,  in  the  stack 
gases,  and  by  radiation. 

(4)  Heat  lost  at  boilers  by  incomplete  combustion,  in  the  stack 
gases,  and  by  radiation. 

It  would  be  possible  to  verify  the  conclusions  if  the  exact  calorific 


80  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

value  of  the  coke  were  known,  but  this  is  not  given  in  either  case. 
Bell  assumes  that  Durham  coke  contains  10  per  cent,  of  earthy  and 
volatile  materials,  but  some  of  this  volatile  matter  is  hydrogen, 
which  appears  as  potential  heat  in  the  gases.  It  is  probable  that  the 
heat  value  of  Durham  coke  is  about  7400  calories  per  kilogramme, 
or  say  7,500,000  calories  per  ton.  The  coke  of  Connellsville  will 
probably  give  about  7,120,000  calories  per  ton. 

The  figures  given  in  Table  II-D,  as  found  by  theoretical  calcula- 
tions, show  a  value  for  Durham  coke  of  7,582,000  calories,  being 
about  1  per  cent,  greater  than  the  foregoing  assumption,  and  for 
Connellsville  7,315,000  calories,  being  about  3  per  cent,  more,  while 
in  Table  II-B  a  somewhat  different  method  gave  7,574,000  calories 
for  Durham  and  7,196,000  calories  for  Connellsville.  This  is  a 
sufficiently  close  approximation,  considering  the  inaccuracy  of  the 
data.  The  coke,  the  ore  and  the  stone  vary  in  composition  from  day 
to  day.  The  moisture  in  coke,  ore  and  blast  will  depend  upon  the 
weather ;  and  so,  throughout  the  whole  list,  it  is  impossible  to  make 
more  than  an  approximation  of  what  we  call  the  general  practice, 
but  it  is  possible,  by  careful  investigations  like  those  conducted 
by  Bell  on  the  Cleveland  furnace,  to  find  the  values  of  each  factor 
under  an  assumed  or  actual  set  of  conditions,  and  from  these  re- 
sults may  be  deduced  the  relative  importance  of  the  factors  in- 
volved. Even  if  the  total  calories  developed  vary  somewhat  from 
the  heat  value  of  the  coke,  the  ratio  of  one  factor  to  the  whole  is 
not  necessarily  greatly  in  error. 

We  may  consider  that  the  Middlesborough  and  Pittsburgh  fur- 
naces represent  two  extremes  of  good  practice;  one  with  lean  ores 
and  slow  running,  and  the  other  with  rich  ores  and  fast  running, 
and  from  Tables  1I-C  and  II-D  the  following  conclusions  may  be 
drawn : 

(1)  Of  all  the  heat  energy  contained  in  the  coke  charged  in  a 
blast  furnace,   almost  exactly  one-half  goes  away  in  the  tunnel 
head   gases,   a   small   part   as   sensible   heat,   but   most   of   it   as 
unburned  CO. 

(2)  This  proportion  of  heat  so  lost  is  about  the  same  whether 
the  furnace  is  working  on  lean  ores  with  a  high  consumption  of 
fuel  or  on  rich  ores  with  a  low  fuel  ratio. 

(3)  The  other  half  of  the  energy  is  used  in  reducing  the  iron  ore, 
in  melting  the  iron  and  slag,  in  losses  from  conduction  and  radia- 
tion, and  in  minor  chemical  reactions. 


THE    BLAST    FURNACE.  81 

(4)  The  proportion  of  the  total  energy  used  for  each  one  of  these 
items  depends  upon  the  special  conditions;  as,  for  instance,  the 
proportion  needed  for  the  reduction  of  C02  and  the  proportion 
needed  for  the  melting  of  the  slag  both  depend  on  the  amount  of 
limestone  needed,  and  this  in  turn  depends  on  the  impurities  in 
ore  and  fuel.     In  the  case  of  the  reduction  of  the  ore  and  the  fusion 
of  the  pig  iron,  both  of  which  take  a  given  amount  of  heat,  the 
proportion  which  this  given  amount  bears  to  the  total  will  depend 
solely  upon  what  the  total  is,  being  greater  with  a  small  fuel  ratio. 

(5)  The  proportion  lost  in  radiation  and  through  the  cooling 
water  will  decrease  as  the  output  of  the  furnace  is  increased,  either 
by  the  use  of  rich  ores  or  by  rapid  driving,  or  both. 

(6)  The  heat  needed  for  the  reduction  of  the  ore  calls  for  between 
20  arid  25  per  cent,  of  all  the  energy  delivered  to  the  furnace. 

(7)  The  fusion  of  the  pig  iron  requires  from  4  to  5  per  cent. 

(8)  The  fusion  of  the  slag  requires  from  4.5  to  9.4  per  cent., 
increasing  with  the  amount  of  impurities  and  the  quantity  of  stone. 

(9)  The  heat  lost  by  radiation  and  in  cooling  water  varies  from 
4.5  to  6.0  per  cent.,  decreasing  with  a  larger  output  of  pig  iron. 

(10)  The  reduction  of  the  metalloids,  the  expulsion  of  C02  from 
limestone,  and  the  reduction  of  this  C02  to  CO,  each  require  from 
2  to  3  per  cent. 

(11)  The  dissociation  of  CO,  and  the  decomposition  of  water 
in  the  blast,  each  call  for  from  1  to  2  per  cent.,  while  the  evapora- 
tion of  the  water  in  the  coke  takes  a  small  fraction  of  1  per  cent. 

(12)  Some  factors  are  beyond  the  control  of  the  smelter,  as  for 
instance  all  those  depending  on  the  limestone,  this  being  determined 
by  the  impurities  to  be  fluxed.     In  the  American  furnace  before 
described  the  factors  beyond  the  control  of  the  smelter  required 
only  206  pounds  of  coke,  while  in  the  English  furnaces  382  pounds 
were  needed,  a  difference  of  176  pounds.     Inasmuch  as  fifty  per 
cent,  of  all  the  energy  is  lost  in  the  escaping  gases,  it  is.  evident  that 
these  factors  alone  account  for  an  extra  352  pounds  of  fuel  in  the 
English  furnace. 

(13)  The  factors  which  are  more  or  less  under  control  are 
practically  the  same  in  both  cases,  giving  a  total  of  7.5  per  cent,  in 
Pittsburgh  and  8.6  per  cent,  in  Cleveland. 

(14)  The  loss  in  the  tunnel  head  gases  is  the  only  great  item 
presenting  any  hope  for  future  economies.     In  the  Cleveland  prac- 
tice the  ratio  of  CO  to  CO,  was  2.11.     In  Pittsburgh  it  was  2.35. 


82  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

It  has  been  stated  by  Bell  that  a  ratio  better  than  2  to  1  cannot  be 
hoped  for,  but  instances  are  given  elsewhere  showing  that  much 
better  practice  is  possible. 

SEC.  Ilg. — Metallurgical  Conditions  Affecting  the  Nature  of  the 
Iron. — The  composition  of  the  slag  and  the  temperature  of  the 
furnace  are  the  two  great  forces  at  work  determining  the  quality 
of  the  product  and  much  remains  to  be  learned  concerning  their 
mutual  relation.  A  slag  is  necessary  for  two  reasons: 

(1)  To  carry  away  the  silica  and  earthy  matters  contained  in  the 
ore  and  fuel. 

(2)  To  carry  away  the  sulphur  contained  in  the  ore  and  fuel. 

It  must  be  liquid  enough  to  be  fluid 'at  the  temperature  of  the 
furnace  and  run  freely  from  the  cinder  notch,  and  it  must  be 
viscous  enough  so  that  it  does  not  act  too  readily  on  the  linings  and 
destroy  them.  In  other  words,  acids  and  bases  must  be  in  such 
proportion  that  they  are  mutually  satisfied  with  each  other,  and  it  is 
plain  that  this  satisfaction  depends  in  great  measure  upon  the 
temperature,  since  a  high  heat  renders  a  slag  active  that  might 
otherwise  be  inert. 

It  is  rather  difficult  to  determine  just  what  constitutes  an  acid 
and  a  basic  slag,  as  the  function  of  alumina  is  not  thoroughly  under- 
stood. It  is  stated  by  Elbers*  that  "if  the  percentage  of  silica 
be  low,  it  acts  as  an  acid  and  hence  increases  the  fluidity  of  the  slag, 
but  if  high  it  acts  as  a  base  and  lowers  the  fusing  point."  Phillips,* 
in  discussing  furnace  slags,  says,  "for  every-day  practice  and  with 
slags  of  33  and  36  per  cent,  silica  the  alumina  is  considered  as 
silica.  In  calculating  furnace  burdens  the  error  thus  caused  is 
comparatively  slight." 

It  is  seldom  that  an  increase  in  the  proportion  of  lime  in  the  slag 
gives  trouble  by  erosion  of  the  walls,  since  a  hot  furnace  usually  pro- 
tects itself  by  a  deposit  of  hard  carbon  upon  the  inner  surface  of  the 
bosh  and  hearth,  but  trouble  does  arise  in  other  ways.  If  the  slaT 
is  too  basic  it  will  not  run  out,  and  therefore  fills  the  hearth,  while 
if  it  is  too  acid  it  will  not  absorb  the  sulphur.  If  the  ore  and  fuel 
contain  only  a  small  amount  of  this  impurity  the  slag  may  be  able 
to  dissolve  it,  even  though  the  composition  vary  through  very  wide 
limits,  but  if  sulphur  be  present  in  excess  it  may  be  necessary  to 
keep  the  slag  within  very  narrow  bounds  to  make  it  capable  of 

•Berg-  und  Huttenmannische  ZeUung,  Vol.  XLVIT,  p.  253. 
*Ala.  Geol.  Survey,  1898,  p.  45. 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  83 

holding  the  sulphur  in  solution,  and  it  will  often  happen  that  it  will 
be  necessary  to  increase  the  amount  of  slag  so  as  thereby  to  have 
more  latitude.  With  rare  exceptions,  the  ores  used  in  the  large 
iron  districts  of  the  world  contain  only  a  small  proportion  of 
sulphur,  but  the  coke  almost  always  carries  a  very  considerable 
quantity  varying  from  one-quarter  of  1  per  cent.,  which  is  very 
low,  to  over  2  per  cent.,  a  fair  average  of  good  coke  being  about 
1  per  cent.,  so  that,  ordinarily,  the  question  of  removing  sul- 
phur resolves  itself  into  handling  the  sulphur  in  the  fuel.  It 
may  often  happen  that  special  provision  must  be  made  to  accomplish 
this;  thus  some  of  the  Lake  Superior  hematites  contain  so  little 
silica  that  they  do  not  produce  sufficient  slag  to  carry  away  the 
sulphur  from  Gonnellsville  coke,  and  it  is  found  necessary  to  mix 
them  with  more  silicious  ores  in  order  to  produce  a  greater  volume 
of  cinder.  Some  ores  contain  sulphur  up  to  2  per  cent.,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  Cornwall  deposit  in  eastern  Pennsylvania.  Part  of  this 
can  be  expelled  by  roasting,  but  although  the  ore  is  rich  in  silica,  it 
is  found  advisable  at  times  to  still  further  increase  the  volume  of 
cinder  to  carry  away  the  double  burden  of  sulphur  in  ore  and  coke. 

When  much  sulphur  is  present  in  either  coke  or  ore  it  may 
be  removed  by  running  the  furnace  very  hot,  thereby  making  pos- 
sible a  very  basic  slag,  but  it  is  difficult  to  do  this  without  making 
an  iron  high  in  silicon,  and  this  is  considered  a  disadvantage  in 
America,  as  with  rapid  work  in  the  Bessemer  a  content  of  1  per 
cent,  of  silicon  is  quite  sufficient.  High  silicon  can  be  used,  how- 
ever, if  necessary,  and  if  plenty  of  scrap  be  added  and  plenty  of 
blast  supplied,  the  blow  is  not  very  long.  At  Steelton  we  have 
many  times  put  a  mixture  into  the  vessels  containing  3  per  cent,  of 
silicon  and  have  blown  the  heats  in  about  twelve  minutes,  when  low 
silicon  iron  would  take  about  nine  minutes,  no  difference  being 
found  in  the  life  of  the  linings  or  the  bottoms. 

The  amount  of  silicon  reduced,  and  hence  the  percentage  of  this 
element  in  the  iron,  depends  on  several  conditions,  being  aided  by: 

(1)  A  rise  in  temperature;  for  at  high  thermal  altitudes  the 
oxygen  has  a  greater  affinity  for  carbon  than  for  silicon,  and,  there- 
fore, carbon  can  reduce  silica  with  production  of  silicon. 

(2)  A  decrease  in  lime  additions;  for  lime  tends  to  hold  silica 
in  proportion  to  its  needs,  so  that  the  higher  a  slag  is  in  silica,  the 
less  firmly  is  any  one  molecule  fastened  in  that  slag. 

(3)  An  increase  in  the  total  amount  of  silica  present;  for,  when 


84  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

all  other  'things  are  equal,  the  greater  the  exposure,  the  greater  is 
the  opportunity  for  its  reduction,  so  that  if  one  furnace  working 
on  ores  low  in  silica  makes  three-quarters  of  a  ton  of  slag  to'  every 
ton  of  iron,  and  another  furnace  working  on  ores  high  in  silica 
makes  one  and  one-half  tons  of  the  same  composition,  the  tendency 
will  be  toward  twice  the  percentage  of  silicon  in  the  second  iron  that 
would  be  found  in  the  first. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  one  of  the  conditions  favorable  to  the 
production  of  high  silicon  pig  iron,  viz.,  high  temperature,  is  also 
favorable  to  the  elimination  of  sulphur,  while  another  condition — 
an  acid  slag — is  opposed  to  it. 

This  complication  gives  rise  to  variations  in  practice  whereby 
these  factors  are  arrayed  against  each  other  for  the  attainment  of 
certain  ends.  Thus  it  is  possible  to  make : 

(1)  An  iron  with  high  silicon  and  low  sulphur,  by  running  the 
furnace  at  a  high  temperature  with  a  slag  sufficiently  ba,sic  to  hold 
the  sulphur,  but  not  basic   enough  to  keep   silicon   from  being 
reduced. 

(2)  An  iron  with  low  silicon  and  low  sulphur,  by  using  a  lower 
temperature  with  a  somewhat  more  basic  slag,  or  a  high  temperature 
with  a  much  more  basic  slag. 

(3)  An  iron  with  low  silicon  and  high  sulphur,  by  using  a  low 
temperature  with  a  slag  not  sufficiently  basic. 

(4)  An  iron  with  high  silicon  and  high  sulphur,  by  using  a 
high  temperature  with  a  slag  not  sufficiently  basic. 

t  Manganese  is  another  element  which  is  found  in  many  ores,  and 
which  occasionally  plays  an  important  part  in  the  operation.  A 
content  of  only  1  or  2  per  cent,  in  the  ore  will  nearly  all  be  carried 
away  in  an  ordinarily  acid  slag,  but  if  a  greater  quantity  of  lime 
be  added,  there  is  less  demand  for  metallic  oxides  in  the  cinder 
and  the  manganese  is  reduced  and  alloyed  with  the  iron.  A  high 
temperature  seems  to  favor  this  reaction,  but  part  of  this  effect 
may  be  due  to  the  corresponding  increased  fluidity  in  the  extra-basic 
slag. 

The  specifications  of  high  temperature  and  a  limey  slag,  which 
favor  the  presence  of  manganese  in  the  pig  iron  tend  also  toward 
the  elimination  of  sulphur.  When  the  slag  is  made  more  basic,  as 
it  should  be  in  the  production  of  spiegel,  to  prevent  the  loss  of  oxide 
of  manganese  in  the  cinder,  the  conditions  are  evidently  opposed 
to  the  reduction  of  silicon,  so  that  high-manganese  iron  generally 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE. 


85 


contains  low  silicon,  and  almost  always  low  sulphur.  It  is  possible, 
however,  by  special  care,  to  make  a  silico-spiegel  containing  as  much 
as  11  per  cent,  of  silicon  and  18  per  cent,  of  manganese,  this  alloy 
being  used  as  a  recarburizer  in  steel  making. 

Table  II-E  shows  the  composition  of  blast  furnace  slags  as 
taken  from  various  sources. 

SEC.  Ilh. — The  blast,  (a)  The  amount  of  air  required. — The 
usual  way  of  measuring  the  amount  of  air  that  enters  the  furnace 
is  to  calculate  the  cubical  displacement  of  the  pistons  in  the  WOW- 


TABLE  II-E. 
Composition  of  Blast  Furnace  Slags. 


1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
?6 

Slag. 

Iron. 

Remarks. 

SiOa 

Al,03 

CaO 

MgO 

FeO 

s 

Total 
not  in- 
cluding 
S. 

Si 

S 

33  10 
32.27 
24  26 
32.68 
32.28 
34.  -50 
84.98 
34  70 
33.68 
29.86 
28.95 
30  62 
32.55 
30  08 
31.46 
36.08 
37.19 
36.86 
32.06 
33.57 
35.38 
36.35 
33.70 
35.11 
35.10 
35.84 

14.92 
14  57 
11.53 
13.50 
9.38 
7.94 
12.05 
11  44 
11.93 
12.04 
12  04 
10.47 
11.13 
11  44 
11.50 
12.85 
12.65 
10.74 
11.97 
10.65 
11.76 
10.21 
12.56 
14.21 
14.75 
14  34 

40.76 
41.02 
40.25 
43  28 
46.95 
46.47 
41.33 
41  27 
45.96 
45.20 
49  30 
49  13 
47.16 
46  36 
44.85 
41.69 
35.47 
42.46 
42.46 
44.11 
38.19 
40  10 
38  12 
22  48 
27.  95 
32.71 

9.67 

10.30 
13.28 
9.44 
9.52 
10.47 
9.62 
9.96 
6.69 
11.41 
8.46 
7  49 
6.61 
8.76 
10.41 
7.25 
11.32 
6.62 
10.25 
8.55 
12.32 
10  95 
11  60 
22.38 
22  28 
17.46 

98.45 
98.16 
98.32 
98.90 
98.13 
99  38 
97.98 
97  37 
98.26 
98.51 
98.75 
97.71 
97.45 
96.64 
98  22 
9*.  41 
97.53 
97.31 
97.37 
97.69 
98.53 
98.60 
98.30 
100.12 
100.08 
100.35 

3.37 
3.18 
4.81 
1.25 
0.70 
0.69 
2.60 
2.32 
1.27 
1.27 
.57 
.26 
.15 
.58 
.20 
2.15 
1.92 
1.50 
1.59 
0.94 
1.18 
0.66 
0.50 
1.37 
1.85 
1.60 

tr. 
tr. 
.01 
.06 
.11 
.05 
.03 
.02 
.02 
.02 
tr. 
.02 
.03 
.03 
.07 
.020 
.029 
.028 
.032 
.017 
.040 
095 
.101 
.048 
.038 
.034 

Cuban  ore,  hot  furnace. 

"      war 
"      cool 

Spanish  ore,  hot 
coo 

Lake  ore  and 
part  an- 
thracite 
coal  :  most- 
ly Connells- 
ville  coke. 

1  Lake  ore  and 
y    Connells-« 
I     ville  coke. 

m. 

furnace. 

1  furance. 

Hot  furnace. 
Fairly  hot. 

Normal. 
Cool. 

'Av.of  8  weeks 
••    7  weeks 
"    7  weeks 

.... 



O.M' 
0.90 
0.63 
0.63 
0  81 
0.90 
0.99 
0.32 

Y62' 
1.70 
1  54 
1.76 
1  74 
1.60 
1.28 
0  96 





Averages  for  hot  furnaces — 


33.21 
34.  84 
31.77 
35.55 


13.67 
It. "5 
11.98 
12.05 


40  68 
41.30 
45.58 
40.52 


11.08 
9.79 
9.05 


1.66 


98.64 
97.68 
98.38 
97.66 


3.791  tr. 


Cuban  ore. 


2.46  .025  Spanish  ore. 


1.27  .020 

1.79  .027  Lake  ore. 


Averages  for  moderate  or  cool  furnace — 


33  151  10  271  45  57 

9  si 

98.80  10.88 

.071  Cuban  ore. 

30  73  11.32  47  36 
34.76  11.30  40.12 
35  35  14  43  29  69 

8.35 
10.86 
20  71 

'T.26 

"i'46 

97.75   0.35 
98.29   0.81 
100.18    1.61 

.03  Spanish  ore. 
.063  Lake  ore. 

' 

NOTE— All  slags  are  from  Steelton  furnaces  except  Nos.  24,  25  and  26.    The  ore  mixture 
•was  the  same  in  all  the  cases  where  Spanish  ore  Avas  used. 


86  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

ing  cylinders,  but  this  is  not  accurate,  as  the  losses  from  leaks  and 
from  inefficiency  of  inlet  and  exit  valves  cannot  be  measured.  It 
may  be  well  to  calculate  the  theoretical  amount  of  air  indicated  by 
the  results  obtained  on  tunnel  head  gases.  In  Section  Hi  will  be 
found  Table  II-I,  which  gives  the  weight  of  nitrogen  and  oxygen 
contributed  by  the  blast  per  ton  of  pig-iron  under  different  condi- 
tions of  furnace  practice.  Selecting  practice  D  as  representing  a 
consumption  of  1900  pounds  of  coke  per  ton  of  iron  and  a  good 
efficiency  as  shown  by  the  ratio  in  the  tunnel  head  gases  of  2  CO  to 
1C02,  we  find  by  calculation  that  such  a  furnace  when  making  iron 
at  the  rate  of  300  tons  per  twenty-four  hours  will  require  about 
19,700  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute. 

The  correctness  of  this  result  is  indicated  by  the  figures  obtained 
by  Bell,*  who  calculates  in  an  entirely  different  way  and  gives  the 
weight  of  the  air  blast  as  103.74  kg.  per  20  kg.  of  iron,  a  ratio  of 
5.187  kg.  to  1  kg.  of  iron=5270  kg.  per  2240  pounds  of  iron,  which, 
for  a  furnace  making  300  tons  in  24  hours,  is  at  the  rate  of  1098 
kg.=849  cubic  metres=:29,983  cubic  feet  per  minute.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  the  consumption  of  coke  in  Middlesborough  was  22.32 
units  per  20  units  of  iron=2500  pounds  per  ton  of  iron,  while  I 
have  assumed  for  American  practice  a  consumption  of  1900 
pounds,  and  correcting  for  this,  the  figures  according  to  Bell 
would  indicate  that  22,790  cubic  feet  of  air  was  supplied  per  ton 
of  iron,  which  is  a  moderately  close  agreement  to  19,700  cubic 
feet,  the  result  just  obtained  by  entirely  different  methods  of  cal- 
culation, and  under  radically  different  conditions. 

(b)   The  heating  of  the  blast. 

In  the  foregoing  calculation  it  has  been  shown  that  in  round 
numbers  a  furnace  making  300  tons  of  pig-iron  per  day  will  re- 
ceive 19,700  cubic  feet  or  558  cubic  metres  of  air  per  minute,  equal 
to  803,500  cubic  metres  per  24  hours.  It  will  produce  3551  cubic 
metres  of  tunnel  head  gases  per  ton  of  iron  (see  Sec.  Hi)  equal  to 
1,065,000  cubic  metres  in  twenty-four  hours  and  about  one-third, 
or  355,000  cubic  metres  of  this  gas  will  be  sent  to  the  stoves.  The 
specific  heat  of  the  air  is  .307  calories  per  cubic  metre  and  the 
blast  must  be  warmed  from  its  natural  temperature  to  a  dull  red 
heat,  say  1300°  F.  or  700°  C.  so  that  the  heat  required  for  this 
operation  will  be 

803,500X.307X?00=172,670,OOQ. 

*  Manufacture  of  Iron  and  Steel,  p.  204. 


THE    BLAST    FURNACE.  87 

The  gases  from  the  tunnel  head  enter  the  stoves  quite  a  little 
warmer  than  the  atmospheric  temperature,  say  about  170°  C. 
(300°  F.),  and  their  sensible  heat  will  be  utilized  in  heating 
stoves.  The  specific  heat  of  tunnel  head  gas  is  about  .320  calories 
per  cubic  metre,  so  that  the  sensible  heat  thus  carried  to  the  stoves 
will  be 

355,OOOX.320X170=19,312,000, 

and  the  net  amount  which  must  be  supplied  by  the  combustion  of 
the  gas  will  be  the  total  amount  to  heat  the  blast  minus  this  sen- 
sible heat  carried  in  by  the  tunnel  head  gases,  which,  is  therefore, 

172,670,000—19,312,000—153,358,000  calories. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  one-third  of  the  tunnel  head  gas  is 
sent  to  the  stoves,  and  it  is  shown  in  Table  II-I  that  Gas  D  has  a 
calorific  value  of  823  calories  per  cubic  metre,  after  allowing  for  a 
small  proportion  of  hydrogen.  The  theoretical  value,  therefore, 
of  this  will  be 

355,000X8^3=292,165,000  calories. 

Thus  we  find  that  the  gas  furnished  to  the  stoves  has  a  theo- 
retical heating  value  of  292,165,000  calories,  while  the  heating  of 
the  blast  calls  for  only  153,358,000  calories,  showing  an  efficiency 
of  52  per  cent.  The  low  temperature  of  the  gases,  their  varying 
quality  and  the  difficulty  of  properly  regulating  the  quantity  of  air 
for  combustion  will  account  for  this  low  percentage  of  efficiency, 
while  the  presence  of  large  quantities  of  dust  in  the  gas  render 
impracticable  the  use  of  small  passages  fof  the  more  perfect  absorp- 
tion of  the  heat. 

In  this  calculation  no  account  has  been  taken  of  the  moisture 
in  the  atmosphere,  or  of  difference  between  summer  and  winter 
temperatures.  This  matter  will  be  discussed  later. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  compare  the  results  of  calculations  by 
Bell,*  although  conducted  on  entirely  different  lines,  and  by  entirely 
different  methods.  He  states  that  the  heating  to  500° 
blast  for  18.83  kg.  of  pure  carbon  in  coke  required  11,345  calories. 
In  the  foregoing  paragraph  it  has  been  found  that  heating  the  blast 
for  300  tons  of  iron  to  700°  C.  required  153,358,000  calories,  or 


*  Iron  and  Steel  Manufacture,  p.  143. 


88  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND  STEEL. 

511,193  calories  per  ton.  It  is  shown  in  Table  II-I,  Section  Hi, 
that  under  the  practice  assumed,  giving  Gas  D,  there  will  be  768 
kg.  of  carbon  in  the  tunnel  head  gases  per  ton  of  pig-iron.  If  a 
rough  allowance  be  made  for  the  heating  to  700°  C.,  instead  of 
500°  C.,  it  will  be  found  that  18.83  kg.  will  require: 


511,193  =  8952  cals. 


Thus  Bell  gives  11,345  calories,  while  our  figures  show  8952 
calories.  We  have  not  made  any  allowance  for  oxygen  contained  in 
the  gases,  nor  for  moisture,  but  have  taken  simply  the  quantity  of 
air  theoretically  necessary  to"  burn  the  carbon  to  a  gas  containing  a 
low  ratio  of  CO  to  C02.  After  allowing  for  various  losses  and  for 
leaks,  it  is  probable  that  this  amount  in  practice  would  be  increased 
20  per  cent,  and  that  a  furnace  making  300  tons  of  pig  iron  in 
twenty-four  hours  will  call  for  over  23,000  cubic  feet  of  air  per 
minute,  under  which  assumption  our  figures  would  agree  with 
those  given  by  Bell. 

It  has  just  been  shown  that  when  the  blast  is  heated  to  700°  C. 
it  contains  over  500,000  calories  per  ton  of  iron  produced,  and  it 
was  shown  in  Section  Ilf  that  under  American  practice  the  full 
value  of  the  coke  charged  represented  6,000,000  calories  per  ton 
of  pig  iron,  of  which  one-half  is  utilized  in  the  furnace  itself,  the 
other  half  escaping  in  the  gases.  The  heat  in  the  blast,  therefore, 
represents  17  per  cent,  of  all  the  heat  that  escapes  from  the  tunnel 
head,  and  as  the  amount  utilized  is  just  equal  to  the  amount 
escaping,  it  follows  that  the  heat  in  the  blast  represents  also  17  per 
cent,  of  all  the  heat  utilized  in  the  furnace.  If  this  is  true  when 
the  air  is  at  700°  C.,  it  is  possible  to  say  that  each  100°  C.  in  the 
blast  represents  2.4  per  cent,  of  the  fuel  utilized,  or  if  the  coke 
consumption  is  1900  pounds  per  ton,  it  represents  46  pounds  of 
coke,  so  that  it  would  seem  that  an  increase  of  100°  C.  (180°  F.) 
in  the  temperature  of  the  blast  should  save  46  pounds  of  coke  per 
ton  of  iron. 

Such  a  conclusion,  however,  is  not  warranted  by  either  theory  or 
facts.  It  was  long  ago  explained  by  Bell  that  the  great  gain  in  hot 
air  is  found  in  the  first  increments  of  heat,  and  that  when  a  tem- 
perature of  700°  C.  is  reached  the  gain  by  further  superheating  is 
comparatively  slight.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  pursue  the  calcula- 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  89 

tion  on  theoretical  lines,  as  many  assumptions  must  be  made,  and 
because  general  experience  has  corroborated  the  foregoing  statement. 
In  calculating  the  amount  of  fuel  needed  for  any  metallurgical 
operation  it  is  necessary  to  consider  two  things: 

(1)  The  amount  of  energy  needed. 

(2)  The  intensity  of  heat  required. 

A  pound  of  coal  produces  a  certain  amount  of  energy  and  heat 
when  burned  and  this  amount  is  constant  whether  the  coal  is  burned 
slowly  or  fast.  It  is  the  same  whether  it  is  burned  in  an  open  grate 
by  natural  draft  or  in  a  furnace  under  forced  blast,  but  under 
forced  draft  the  coal  burns  in  a  shorter  time,  and  this  means  that 
there  is  a  greater  amount  of  heat  produced  per  unit  of  time,  and 
since  the  loss  by  conduction  and  radiation  is  about  the  same,  it 
follows  that  this  rapid  combustion  produces  a  higher  temperature. 
If  only  low  temperatures  are  required,  as,  for  instance,  in  the 
evaporation  of  steam  in  boilers,  the  efficiency  of  the  coal  is  about 
the  same  whether  the  fires  be  forced  or  not,  but  when  cast  iron 
or  'copper  or  other  difficultly  fusible  substances  are  to  be  melted 
it  is  almost  necessary  to  use  a  blower.  Thus  making  the  arbitrary 
assumption  that  a  coke  fire  without  blast  will  give  a  temperature  of 
1000°  C.  and  that  a  fire  with  blast  wiU  give  1400°  C.,  it  is  evident 
that  no  increase  in  the  amount  of  fuel  or  length  of  time  will  melt  a 
substance  requiring  a  temperature  of  1200°  C.  unless  forced  blast 
be  used,  but  that  with  forced  blast  the  melting  can  easily  be  accom- 
plished. 

In  the  same  way  the  use  of  hot  blast  renders  possible  a  higher 
temperature  than  with  cold  blast,  and  with  this  high  temperature 
the  blast  furnace  may  readily  smelt  what  was  done  with  difficulty 
and  with  a  great  quantity  of  fuel  when  cold  blast  was  used,  but  by 
the  very  same  course  of  reasoning  it  will  be  clear  that,  once  a 
sufficient  temperature  is  attained,  any  increase  beyond  this  may 
be  of  comparatively  little  value. 

It  has  been  shown  in  Section  He  that  at  the  moment  the  hot 
blast  of  air  strikes  the  glowing  coke  a  certain  amount  of  carbonic 
acid  (C02)  is  formed,  but  that  this  is  immediately  transformed 
into  carbonic  oxide  (CO),  so  that  the  first  reaction  and  the  equa- 
tion may  be  written  as  follows : 

1  kg.  C+4.45  c.m.  air=1.87  c.m.  CO+3.25  c.m.  N 
r=5.39  c.  m.  products  of  combustion. 


90 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


The  burning  of  1  kg.  of  carbon  to  CO  produces  about  2450 
calories  when  the  carbon  and  the  air  are  both  cold,  but  the  produc- 
tion of  energy  is  much  greater  with  hot  carbon  and  hot  air,  just  in 
accordance  with  the  extra  energy  in  these  two  factors,  and  it  is 
possible  to  find  the  temperature  that  will  be  created  under  any  set 
of  conditions  by  dividing  the  total  number  of  calories  by  the 
sensible  heat  of  the  gaseous  products  of  combustion.  This  calcu- 
lation is  not  perfectly  simple  because  the  specific  heat  of  these  pro- 
ducts varies  with  every  change  in  temperature.  Table  II-F  gives 
the  specific  heat  of  the  common  gases  at  different  temperatures. 


TABLE  II-F. 

Specific  Heat  of  Gases  at  Different  Temperatures,  between 
0°  C  and  t°  C. 

Formulae  j  N,  CO  and  O  =  0 . 306  +  0 . 000027  t 

Formulae -j  COa  0.374  +  0.00027    t 


Specific. 

Specific. 

Specific. 

Temp. 

Temp. 

Temp. 

N,  etc. 

C02 

N,  etc. 

CO.. 

N,  etc. 

CO, 

0 

.306 

.374 

800 

.328 

.590 

1600 

.349 

.806 

200 

v  .311 

.428 

1000 

.333 

.644 

1800 

.355 

.860 

400 

.317 

.482 

1200 

.338 

.698 

2000 

.360 

.914 

600 

.322 

.536 

1400 

.344 

.752 

2200 

.365 

.968 

We  are  thus  confronted  with  the  fact  that  we  should  know  the 
resulting  temperature  in  order  to  find  the  specific  heat,  and  should 
know  the  specific  heat  to  find  the  temperature.  This  may  be  done 
quite  readily  by  the  method  of  successive  approximations,  but  I  am 
indebted  to  Prof.  J.  W.  Richards  for  a  method  by  which  accurate 
results  can  be  obtained  by  direct  processes,  and  with  assumptions 
which  give  rise  to  unimportant  errors.  I  have  adopted  his  method 
and  have  worked  out  the  answer  for  the  range  of  available  tempera- 
tures. It  will  suffice  to  explain  the  details  of  one  calculation,  by 
which  we  find  the  temperature  produced  by  the  combustion  of  the 
carbon  at  the  tuyeres  of  the  blast  furnace,  with  air  at  700  degrees 
Centigrade. 

The  specific  heat  of  carbon  above  1000  degrees  C.  is  0.5,  but  below 
1000°  C.  it  is  less,  so  that  the  total  heat  in  1  kg  of  C.  at  t°  (when 
t°  is  above  1000°)  is  approximately  0.5—120.  Assuming  that  the 


THE   BLAST   FURNACE.  91 

heat  value  of  1  kg  of  carbon  is  2450  calories,  the  calculation  for  a 
temperature  of  700°  C.  will  be  as  follows : 

Heat  in  air  700x4.45x0.325=  1012 

Heat  in  carbon 0.5 1 120 

Heat  in  carbon  and  air 0.5  t+   892 

Heat  of  combustion 2450 

Total  heat  in  5.39  c.  m.  of  products 0.5 1+3342 

Heat  per   c.   m. . .          623.8-f  0.0928  t 
Therefore    .  t=    623'8+<>.0928 1 


0.306+0.000027  t 

from  which  we  have : 

0.2132 t+0.000027 t*=623.8 
t=2273°  C. 

In  this  calculation  no  allowance  has  been  made  for  the  dissocia- 
tion of  the  water  vapor  in  the  air,  but  taking  the  amount  usually 
present  in  the  atmosphere,  it  is  found  that  from  200  to  300  calories 
will  be  absorbed  per  kg.  of  carbon,  and  this  will  reduce  the  temper- 
ature at  the  point  of  combustion  about  115°  C.,  so  that  it  is  neces- 
sary, to  subtract  this  from  each  result.  It  is  not  supposed  that 
this  will  by  any  means  give  accurately  the  temperature  of  the  zone 
of  fusion,  but  it  is  believed  that  it  is  an  approximation;  and  it  is 
still  further  believed,  what  is  of  great  importance,  that  the  results 
in  Table  II-G  are  comparative  and  show  the  relative  temperatures 
caused  by  changes  in  the  temperature  of  the  blast. 

TABLE  II-G. 

'Temperatures  Produced  by  Burning  Carbon  with  Air  at  Different 

Temperatures. 


Temp. 

of  air. 

Resulting 

temperature. 

0 

0 

c. 

(  30° 

F.)  

1559° 

C. 

(2840° 

F.) 

100 

0 

c. 

(  210° 

F.)  

1641° 

C. 

(2990° 

F.) 

200 

o 

C!. 

(  390° 

F.)  

1724° 

c. 

(3135° 

F.) 

300 

0 

0. 

(  570° 

F.)  

1808° 

c. 

(3290° 

F.) 

400 

0 

C. 

(  750° 

F.)  

1893° 

c. 

(3440° 

F.) 

500 

0 

r. 

(  930° 

F.)  

1978° 

r. 

(3590° 

F.) 

600 

0 

r. 

(1110° 

F.)  

,  2062° 

c. 

(3740° 

F.) 

700 

0 

r. 

(1290° 

F.)  

2146° 

c. 

(3895° 

F.) 

800 

e 

C1. 

(1470° 

F.)  .... 

2232° 

c. 

(4050° 

F.) 

900 

0 

r. 

(1650° 

F.)  .... 

2316° 

c. 

(4200° 

F.) 

1000 

e 

c. 

(1830° 

F.)  

,  2400° 

c. 

(4350° 

F.) 

It  will  be  found  by  inspection  that  the  increase  in  temperature 
Is  constant  for  each  increment  in  the  temperature  of  the  blast, 


92  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND  STEEL. 

which  is  to  say  that  the  same  increase  in  the  resulting  temperature 
of  the  zone  of  fusion  follows  the  heating  of  the  blast  from  600°  to 
•  1000°  as  from  0°  to  400° ;  hut,  as  before  pointed  out,  an  increase  in 
temperature  of  the  zone  of  fusion  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  amount  of  heat  produced  in  the  furnace  as  a  whole,  and  the 
calculation  as  to  how  much  saving  is  effected  is  very  complicated  and 
admits  much  difference  of  opinion.  There  can  be  no  question  of  how 
much  heat  is  contained  in  a  given  amount  of  air,  or  in  the  air  for  a 
given  amount  of  coke,  but  it  is  a  question  whether  this  should  be 
compared  with  the  total  value  of  the  fuel,  or  with  the  amount  util- 
ized in  the  furnace  proper,  or  with  the  amount  developed  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  tuyeres.  Moreover,  any  one  of  the  assumptions 
is  wrong,  for  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  account  the  fact  that  the 
fuel  can  never  be  reduced  below  a  certain  point  on  account  of  the 
necessity  of  having  free  carbonic  oxide  in  the  tunnel  head  gases 
to  act  upon  the  ore.  The  exact  proportion  of  this  gas  necessary  is 
much  lower  than  formerly  supposed,  but  there  is  some  limit,  and 
as  this  limit  is  approached  each  gain  is  made  at  a  greater  sacrifice. 
Experience  has  shown  that  there  is  a  practical  limit  in  heating  the 
blast,  and  in  practice  it  is  usually  from  1000°  F.  (540°  C.)  to 
1400°  F.  (760°  C.). 

In  further  elucidation  of  this  point  I  give  the  following  remarks 
of  Prof.  J.  W.  Eichards  on  reading  the  manuscript  of  the  forego- 
ing discussion: 

NOTE   BY   PROF.   J.   W.   RICHARDS. 

The  conclusion  is  correct  that  the  increase  in  the  temperature  of  the  zone 
of  combustion  is  proportional  to  the  increase  in  the  temperature  of  the  blast. 

I  have  made  a  formula  for  the  temperature  at  the  point  of  combustion, 
using  the  temperature  of  the  blast  as  a  variable,  and  by  differentiating  and 
taking  the  first  differential  coefficient  have  obtained  the  relative  rate  of  in- 
crease of  the  two  temperatures,  from  which  it  appears  that  when  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  blast  is  O°  C.  the  rate  of  increase  in  the  furnace  is  0.86°  for  1° 
in  the  blast  and  at  1000°  it  is  0.85°. 

Theoretically,  therefore,  the  maximum  temperature  attainable  increases 
about  85°  for  every  100°  increase  in  the  blast.  Actually,  however,  the  tem- 
perature of  the  whole  zone  of  fusion  depends  on  the  ratio  of  burden  to  the 
coke  burned,  or  rather  to  the  heat  available  in  the  zone,  and  as  the  furnace  Is 
burdened  heavier  when  hot  blast  is  used,  the  temperature  of  the  whole  zone  of 
fusion,  and  of  the  fused  materials,  will  be  lower  than  theory  would  call  for. 

The  heat  developed  by  combustion  and  absorbed  mostly  by  the  CO  and  N 
raises  these  gases  to  a  certain  temperature.  As  they  ascend  they  cool  off  by 
transmitting  their  heat  to  the  ingredients  of  the  pig-iron  and  slag.  The  maxi- 
mum temperature  to  which  the  burden  can  be  heated  at  the  zone  of  fusion  is 
the  heat  which  the  CO  and  N  lose  in  ascending  through  the  furnace,  divided  by 
the  calorific  capacity  of  the  pig-iron  and  the  slag-forming  materials.  Whatever 
be  the  temperature  of  the  gases,  these  conditions  will  determine  the  maximum 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  93 

temperature  of  the  fused  materials.  This  explains  why  in  the  use  of  hot  blast 
the  temperatures  of  the  fused  iron  and  slag  are  not  proportional  to  the  theo- 
retically calculated  temperature  of  the  gases,  for,  as  stated  above,  more  burden 
is  carried  with  the  hotter  blast. 


(c)  The  Vapor  in  the  Atmosphere. — The  vapor  in  the  atmos- 
phere is  everywhere  recognized  as  seriously  interfering  with  the 
operation  of  a  blast  furnace,  but  accurate  information  on  the  sub- 
ject is  not  always  obtainable.  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Works  is 
situated  only  three  miles  from  a  station  of  the  United  States 
Weather  Bureau,  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  and  I  have  obtained  the  data, 
from  this  source,  of  a  district  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from 
the  ocean  and  still  farther  from  any  great  fresh  water  lake.  The 
district  is  not  mountainous,  and  has  an  annual  rainfall  of  about  40 
inches,  which  is  about  the  same  as  most  -places  in  the  northern  and 
eastern  portion  of  the  United  States. 

The  average  humidity  throughout  the  year,  for  three  successive 
years,  was  68  per  cent.,  75  per  cent,  and  76  per  cent.,  and  this 
percentage  did  not  vary  as  much  as  might  be  supposed  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  year.  Selecting  January,  April,  August  and  No- 
vember in  one  year  as  typical  months,  there  were  eight  days  in 
January  and  one  day  in  November  when  the  humidity  was 
100  per  cent.,  or,  in  other  words,  when  the  atmosphere  was 
saturated,  while  in  April  the  highest  humidity  was  96  per  cent, 
and  in  August  93  per  cent.  The  minimum  figures  showed  one 
day  in  each  month  as  follows:  January,  40  per  cent.;  April,  33 
per  cent. ;  August,  54  per  cent. ;  November,  40  per  cent.  There 
were  17  days  in  January  when  the  humidity  was  80  per  cent,  and 
over,  April  having  6  days,  August  9  days  and  November  11  days. 
There  were  3  days  in- January  when  the  humidity  was  60  per  cent, 
or  less,  April  having  13  days,  August  4  days  and  November  9 
days.  Thus  August  has  less  than  the  average  number  of  days  of 
high  humidity  and  much  less  than  the  average  of  low  humidity, 
while  November  shows  a  large  proportion  with  high  humidity  and  a 
large  proportion  with  low  humidity.  In  other  words,  the  humidity 
in  August  remained  steadily  at  about  the  average,  while  in  Novem- 
ber it  varied  widely,  but  averaged  about  the  same  as  in  the  summer. 
The  early  spring-time  showed  the  largest  number  of  days  with  a  low 
humidity,  while  January  had  the  largest  number  with  high 
humidity.  These  facts  are  recorded,  as  they  differ  quite  a  good  deal 
from  popular  belief. 


04  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

A  general  error  arises  from  confounding  the  percentage  of 
humidity  with  the  amount  of  vapor.  One  cubic  foot  of  air  at 
32°  F.  (0°  C.)  will  hold,  at  100  per  cent,  humidity,  only  .000304 
pounds  of  water  per  cubic  foot,  while  at  92°  F.  (33°  C.), 
it  will  hold  .00225  pound,  or  seven  times  as  much,  and  it  follows 
that  a  cubic  foot  of  air  at  90°  F.,  with  only  50  per  cent,  humidity, 
will  carry  between  three  and  four  times  the  vapor  that  will  be  held 
in  saturated  air  of  only  32°  F.  In  the  previous  discussion  it  has 
been  shown  that  a  blast  furnace,  making  300  tons  per  day,  will 
need  over  20,000  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute,  or  about  100,000 
cubic  feet  per  ton  of  pig-iron.  It  will  be  shown  in  Table  II-I, 
Section  Hi,  that  a  furnace  producing  gas  (D)  which  has  been  the 
basis  of  previous  calculations,  requires  806  kg.  of  oxygen  per  1900 
pounds=862  kg.  of  coke,  equivalent  to  750  kg.  of  carbon.  This 
proportion  is  somewhat  different  from  that  in  the  tunnel  head 
gases  as  the  limestone  contributes  carbon  and  oxygen,  and  the  ore 
contributes  oxygen,  but  at  the  base  of  the  furnace  the  weight  of 
oxygen  will  almost  exactly  equal  the  weight  of  carbon.  This  pre- 
cludes entirely  the  formation  of  any  C02  so  that  the  higher  oxide 
must  be  formed  higher  up  in  the  furnace  by  the  action  of  the  ore. 
Therefore,  the  heat  reaction  arising  from  the  setting  free  of  oxy- 
gen from  the  steam  will  consist  simply  of  the  union  of  8/9=0.89' 
kg.  of  oxygen  with  sufficient  carbon  to  form  CO. 

.67  kg.  C.+.89  kg.  0, 

which  will  produce  1650  calories.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  thafr 
the  true  refrigerating  effect  of  the  decomposition  of  H20  will 
be  the  heat  absorbed  in  setting  free  1/9  kg.  of  hydrogen,  which 
will  equal  the  heat  produced  by  burning  1/9  kg.  of  hydrogen— ^^f1-0 
=3333  cals.  minus  the  heat  produced  by  the  union  of  the  oxygen 
with  carbon=3333 — 1650=1683  calories. 

There  is,  however,  another  point  to  be  considered.  We  may  view 
the  reaction  not  in  the  light  of  the  dissociation  of  steam,  but  as  the 
oxidation  of  carbon,  and  this  carbon,  had  it  not  been  burned  by 
water,  would  have  been  burned  by  air,  and  in  this  case  would 
have  produced  a  positive  gain  in  heat.  It  may  be  correct  and  it 
may  be  a  fallacy  to  view  this  hoped  for  heat  as  part  of  the  problem. 
If  we  do  so  view  it,  it  would  tend  to  counterbalance  the  heat  pro- 
duced by  the  oxygen  of  the  steam,  but  it  cannot  entirely  counter- 


THE  BLAST   FURNACE. 


95. 


balance  it  since  the  steam  carries  no  nitrogen  with  it,  while  the 
oxygen  of  the  air  carries  a  heavy  load  of  inert  matter.  The  ques- 
tion is  very  puzzling,  but  the  answer  is  of  considerable  importance. 
In  Table  II-H  the  refinements  just  elaborated  have  been  omitted 
and  the  dissociation  of  one  kilogramme  of  steam  is  considered  to 
absorb  the  same  amount  of  heat  as  the  oxidation  of  the  hydrogen 
contained  therein. 

TABLE  II-H. 
Vapor  in  the  Atmosphere  as  Affecting  the  Blast  Furnace. 


Degrees 
Fahr. 

Cubic 
Feet  of 
Air  Need- 
ed per 
Ton  of 
Pig  Iron. 

Pounds 
of  Water 
in  One 
Cubic 
Foot  of 
Satur- 
ated Air. 

Pounds 
of  Water 
in  Air 
Needed 
per  Ton 
of 
Pig  Iron 

Calories  Ab- 
sorbed  in  Disso- 
ciating this 
Steam. 
1kg.  =3333  cals. 
1  lb.=1510  cals. 

Pounds  of  Coke  Representedby 
this  absorption. 
1  kg.  coke=4200  cals. 
1  Ib.  coke=1900  cals. 

100  Per  Cent. 
Humidity. 

40  Per  Cent. 
Humidity. 

32 

100,000 

.000304 

30.4 

45,900 

24 

10 

42 

102000 

.000440 

44.9 

67,800 

36 

14 

52 

101,000 

.000627 

65.2 

98500 

52 

22 

62 

106,000 

.000881 

93.4 

141,000 

74 

30 

72 

108,000 

.001221 

131.9 

199,200 

105 

42 

82 

110,000 

.001667 

183.4 

276,900 

146 

58 

92 

112,000 

.002250 

252.0 

380,500 

200 

80 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  a  saturated  atmosphere  of  92°  F., 
which  sometimes  exists  during  the  day  in  America,  calls  for  an 
expenditure  of  200  pounds  more  fuel  per  ton  of  iron  than  dry 
air  at  32°  F.  It  also  shows  that  at  low  temperatures,  it  matters 
very  little  whether  the  air  is  saturated  or  not,  as  the  content  of 
vapor  is  so  small  in  either  case,  and  it  shows  that  a  saturated 
atmosphere  of  60°  F.  will  demand  no  more  fuel  than  a  dry  air 
of  85°  F.,  as  the  content  of  vapor  is  the  same  in  either  case. 
A  summer  temperature  of  90°  F.  means  that  the  blowing  engines 
must  run  one  sixth  faster  to  give  the  same  wind,  and  that  the 
coke  consumption  will  be  from  70  to  200  pounds  higher  per  ton 
of  iron  than  on  a  moderately  cool  winter  day. 

NOTE  :  On  reading  the  manuscript  of  the  foregoing  discussion, 
Professor  J.  W.  Eichards  offers  the  following : 

The   carbon   burnt    to   carbonic   oxide   at   the   tuyeres   produces   the   heat   of 
formation  of  carbonic  oxide,  no  matter  where  the  oxygen  comes  from, 
oxygen  comes  in  as  air,  the  above  heat  is  generated  and  is  available; 
of  the  oxygen  conies  in  as  steam,  the  above  heat  is  also  generated  but  not 
is  available,  and  a  deduction  must  be  made  for  the  heat  required  to  decompose 


96  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

the  steam  and  set  the  oxygen  free.     The  chilling  effect  of  the  steam   is  there- 
fore 29,000  calories  per  kilo  of  hydrogen  thus  liberated. 

To  keep  the  zone  of  fusion  at  the  same  temperature  while  this  chilling 
effect  is  being  produced,  requires  that  more  carbon  be  burnt  there  per  unit  of 
burden  to  be  fused ;  therefore  the  chilling  effect  at  the  tuyeres  can  only  be 
counteracted  by  either  decreasing  the  burden  or  increasing  the  fuel  ratio.  If  the 
burden  is  considered  constant,  then  more  carbon  must  be  burnt  at  the  tuyeres, 
enough  more  to  make  up  for  the  chilling  effect ;  and  since  carbon  burns  at  the 
tuyeres  only  to  carbonic  oxide,  the  extra  amount  to  be  burnt  at  the  tuyeres 
will  be  the  chilling  effect  in  calories  divided  by  the  heat  effect  (generated  and 
introduced  in  hot  blast)  per  kilo  of  carbon  consumed  at  the  tuyeres.  Assuming 
that  coke  contains  90  per  cent,  of  fixed  carbon,  of  which  90  per  cent,  is  burned 
at  the  tuyeres,  and  that  the  hot  blast  brings  in  one-half  as  much  heat  as  is 
generated  by  combustion,  one  kilo  of  coke  will  represent  (90X90X2,450) 
X  f  =2,977  calories,  and  the  increased  amount  of  coke  required  is  equal  to  the 
chilling  effect  divided  by  2,977  (using  kilos  and  kg.  calories). 


SEC.  Hi. — Tunnel  head  gases. — The  volume  and  the  quality  of 
the  tunnel  head  gases  are  becoming  more  and  more  a  matter  of 
moment  as  progressive  steel  works  managers  are  no  longer  content 
to  merely  raise  sufficient  steam  at  the  furnace  for  the  furnace 
itself,  but  are  making  all  the  steam  possible  and  supplying  power 
to  other  departments.  The  question  also  appears  important  in 
view  of  the  development  of  gas  engines  driven  by  blast  furnace 
gases.  ISTeedless  to  say  that  no  provision  is  ever  made  at  furnaces 
to  measure  the  volume  of  these  gases.  A  rough  calculation  can 
be  made  from  the  amount  of  air  blown,  but  this  in  turn  is  gen- 
erally an  unknown  quantity.  Furnacemen  habitually  speak  of  the 
number  of  cubic  feet  blown,  when  they  mean  the  cubical  displace- 
ment of  the  air  pistons,  without  knowing  accurately  the  amount 
lost  by  leaks  in  the  piston  packing,  at  valves,  at  tuyeres,  and 
at  joints.  With  engines  in  fair  condition  and  blowing  against  or- 
dinary pressures,  this  way  of  speaking  does  very  well  to  compare 
one  furnace  with  another,  but  it  will  hardly  suffice  as  a  basis  for  a 
determination  of  the  gas  produced  at  the  tunnel  head. 
'  The  composition  of  the  gas  varies  considerably,  but  usually  within 
well  denned  limits.  It  is  composed  almost  entirely  of  five  sub- 
stances, nitrogen,  hydrogen, carbonic  acid,  carbonic  oxide  and  steam. 
In  any  complete  investigation  of  the  blast  furnace  the  weight  of 
this  steam  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  for  it  carries  off  a 
considerable  amount  of  sensible  heat,  and  in  burning  the  gas  either 
in  the  stoves  or  under  boilers  allowance  must  be  made  for  the 
sensible  heat  carried  away  by  this  steam  in  the  products  of  com- 
bustion going  to  the  stack,  but  except  as  a  vehicle  ^of  sensible  heat 
it  hardly  affects  the  work  on  hand.  In  determining  the  composition 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  97 

of  the  gases,  steam  is  seldom  taken  into  account,  for  it  condenses 
in  the  cooling  tubes  and  therefore  does  not  appear  in  the  volumetric 
operations. 

Moreover,  the  amount  of  water  present  varies  so  greatly  and 
depends  so  much  upon  accidental  or  temporary  conditions  that  it  is 
impossible  to  say  what  is  a  fair  average.  In  wet  weather  the  coke 
and  the  ores  may  both  be  saturated,  while  in  dry  weather  they  may 
both  contain  very  little  moisture,  so  that  the  quantity  of  water  or 
.steam  present  in  the  gases  will  vary  through  a  wrde  range.  When 
it  is  considered  that,  as  above  stated,  the  effect  of  this  moisture  is 
very  slight,  it  may  be  well  to  ignore  its  presence  altogether. 

Hydrogen  is  present  in  very  variable  quantity  and  the  experiments 
of  Bell  shed  very  little  light  on  the  conditions  surrounding  its 
creation.  The  moisture  in  the  blast  is  without  doubt  all  disso- 
ciated in  the  zone  of  fusion,  but  most  of  the  hydrogen  caused  thereby 
is  oxidized  again  in  the  upper  parts  of  the  furnace.  A  certain 
amount  of  hydrogen  comes  from  the  small  proportion  of  volatile 
matters  in  the  coke.  From  these  and  possibly  other  causes  the  gas 
is  usually  found  to  contain  anywhere  from  five  tenths  of  one  per 
cent,  to  three  per  cent,  of  hydrogen  by  volume.  The  weight  of  this 
hydrogen,  however,  is  so  small  that  it  represents  a  very  small  amount 
of  oxygen  and  in  the  following  calculation  no  attention  will  be 
paid  to  the  reaction  by  which  it  is  produced.  It  will,  however,  be 
assumed  that  the  tunnel  head  .gases  contain  five-tenths  of  one  per 
cent,  of  free  hydrogen,  since  the  heating  power  of  this  small  quan- 
tity is  worthy  to  be  taken  into  account. 

-  The  nitrogen  which  constitutes  about  sixty  per  cent,  by  volume 
of  the  total  gases  comes  from  the  blast  and  from  nowhere  else. 
The  carbon  comes  from  the  coke  and  from  the  carbonic  acid  in  the 
limestone.  The  oxygen  comes  from  the  blast,  from  the  ore  and 
from  the  carbonic  acid  in  the  limestone.  Most  of  these  factors 
are  known  accurately  and  it  is  possible  to  calculate  just  what  the 
volume  of  tunnel  head  gases  will  be  when  the  weights  of  the  dif- 
ferent materials  going  in  at  the  top  are  known,  as  the  weight  of  the 
carbon  in  the  coke  and  the  stone  is  known  accurately  and  all  this 
carbon,  with  the  exception  of  what  is  combined  in  the  pig  iron, 
must  be  contained  in  the  gases.  Thus  if  we  know  the  ratio  of 
C02  to  CO  in  these  gases  we  may  know  just  how  much  carbon  exists 
as  C02,  and  how  much  as  CO,  and  from  this  we  may  calculate  the 
weights  of  these  two  gases  and  the  amount  of  oxygen. 


98  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

Taking  then  the  total  amount  of  oxygen  thus  determined  and 
subtracting  the  oxygen  added  by  the  ore  and  the  stone  we  have  the 
amount  of  oxygen  added  in  the  blast.  The  amount  of  oxygen  in  the 
stone  is  easily  found  as  it  is  only  necessary  to  account  for  the 
oxygen  in  the  carbonic  acid,  since  the  oxygen  combined  with  cal- 
cium will  remain  in  combination  with  the  slag.  The  amount  in 
the  ore  is  also  accurately  known,  for  no  matter  how  poor  or  how  rich 
the  ore  may  be,  every  ton  of  pig  iron  contains  about  95  per  cent, 
metallic  iron,  provided  it  is  a  low  phosphorus  pig  iron,  the  remain- 
ing five  per  cent  being  carbon  and  silicon,  and  this  95  per  cent,  of 
metallic  iron  existed  in  the  ore  in  the  form  of  iron  oxide,  either 
as  ferrous  or  ferric  or  magnetic  oxide.  In  either  case  the  amount 
of  oxide  per  unit  of  iron  can  be  determined.  In  the  present  case  it 
is  assumed  that  hematite  ore  is  used  and  the  iron  is  of  course  in 
the  form  of  Fe203. 

Calculating  in  this  way  I  have  given  in  Table  II-I  the  amount 
of  tunnel  head  gases  made  under  different  methods  of  practice. 
Thus,  for  instance,  in  practice  A  it  is  assumed  that  1600  pounds 
of  coke  and  600  pounds  of  stone  are  used  per  ton  of  iron  and  that 
the  gases  contain  1.5  per  cent.  CO  to  1  per  cent.  C02. 

In  practice  B,  1600  pounds  of  coke  and  1000  pounds  of  stone  are 
used  with  the  same  ratio  of  1.5  and  so  on  up  to  practice  I  which 
represents  conditions  with  a  very  lean  and  very  sulphurous  ore 
requiring  a  hot  working  furnace  with  Jarge  lime  additions  calling 
for  3000  pounds  of  coke  and  2000  pounds  of  stone,  this  assumption 
not  being  theoretical  at  all,  but  being  matched  in  practice.  It  is 
assumed  that  the  ratio  in  this  case  is  2.5.  Calculating  these 
different  conditions  we  find  the  volume  per  ton  of  iron  with 
the  heat  value  per  cubic  metre  and  by  multiplying  these  together,  we 
get  the  heat  value  of  the  gases  per  ton  of  iron.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  heat  value  per  cubic  metre  changes  very  little,  for  the 
percentage  of  CO  stays  reasonably  constant  and  it  is  the  percen- 
tage of  C02  that  varies,  but  the  value  of  the  gases  varies  very 
nearly  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  fuel  used  and  consequently  a 
furnace  using  a  large  proportion  of  fuel  has  a  chance  to  recover 
some  of  the  energy  that  is  wasted  in  the  large  quantity  of  gases 
escaping  from  the  tunnel  head,  since  these  gases  can  produce  a  large 
amount  of  power  if  properly  used. 

It  has  been  stated  by  Bell  that  we  cannot  hope^that  the  tunnel 
head  gases  will  contain  a  ratio  of  less  than  2  of  CO  to  1  C02,  but 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE. 

TABLE  II-I. 


99 


Volume' and  Composition  of  Tunnel  Head  Gases  under  Different 

Conditions. 

(Coke=87  per  cent,  carbon  ;  Limestone  =97  per  cent  CaCO.  • 
Assumptions  :1  Pig  Iron=95  per  cent.  Fe  and  3.75  per  centC  ' 

(Tunnel  Head  gas  contains  0.5  per  cent.  H. 


Per  Ton 
Pig  Iron 
Lbs. 

Carbon  Per  Ton  Iron. 

Carbon  in 
Gases  Per 
Ton  Iron, 
Kg. 

Weight  Per 
Ton  Iron, 
Kg. 

Oxygen   Per  Ton   Iron, 
Kg. 

8 

_o 

3 

& 

to 

• 

ft? 

. 

O 

§3 

g 

A 

M 

g 

§ 

if 

1 

O 

r^4 

o> 

"o  " 

£ 

O 

1 

8 

8 

i 

O 

8 

s« 

£ 

!' 

a 

OQ 

5 

£ 

G 
i—  i 

d 

3 

03 

8 

0 

O 

c 

I 

£ 

Sr 

A 

1.5 

1600 

600 

1464 

84 

1380 

627 

251 

376 

920 

877 

1170 

415 

88 

667 

B 

1.5 

16001000 

1512 

84 

1428 

649 

259 

390 

950 

910 

1211 

415 

147 

649 

C 

1.7 

19001000 

1773 

84 

1689 

768 

284 

484 

1041 

1129 

1402 

415 

147 

840 

T) 

2.0 

19001000 

1773 

84 

1689 

768 

256 

939 

1195 

1368 

415 

147 

806 

E 
F 

1.7 
2.0 

22001000 
22001000 

2034 
2034 

84 
84 

1950 
1950 

886 
886 

328 
295 

558 
593 

1203 
1082 

1302 
1384 

1619 
1580 

415 
415 

147 
147 

1057 
1018 

G 

2.25 

25001000 

2295 

84 

2211 

1005 

809 

696 

1133 

162 

1752 

415 

147 

1190 

H 

2.5 

25001000 

2295 

84 

2211 

1005 

287 

718 

1052 

1675 

1722 

415 

147 

1160 

I 

2.50 

3000 

2000 

2850 

84 

2766 

1258 

360 

898 

1320 

2095 

2157 

415 

296 

1446 

1- 

Volume  of  Gases  Per 
Ton  Iron;  Cubic 
Metres. 

Composition  of  Gases  ; 
Per  Cent. 

Volume  and  Heat  Value 
Per  Ton  Iron. 

ogl~$ 

Heat 

Heat 

o 

•ugH  2"§) 

Volume 

Value; 

Value 

1 

fifft 

CO2. 

CO. 

N. 

CO2. 

CO. 

N. 

Cubic 
Metres. 

Cals. 
Per 

Per  Ton 
Iron. 

£ 

* 

Cu.  M. 

Cals. 

A 

2208 

467 

702 

1752 

15.99 

24.03 

59.98 

2921 

'36 

2  150,000 

B 

2148 

482 

728 

1705 

16.54 

24.97 

58.49 

2915 

764 

2,227,000 

C 

2780 

528 

903 

2206 

14.52 

24.83 

60.65 

3637 

760 

2.764,000 

D 

2668 

477 

956 

2118 

13.43 

26.92 

59.65 

3551 

823 

2,922,000 

E 

3499 

611 

1042 

2778 

13.79 

23.51 

62.70 

4431 

720 

3,190,000 

F 

3370 

549 

1107 

2675 

12.68 

2.5.^6 

61.76 

4331 

782 

3,387,000 

G 

3939 

575 

1299 

3126 

11.50 

25.98 

62.52 

5000 

794 

3,970,000 

H 

3840 

534 

1340 

3048 

10.85 

27  23 

61.92 

4922 

826 

4,066,000 

4786 

670 

1676 

3798 

10.90 

27.28 

61.82 

6144 

818 

5,026,000 

there  are  plenty  of  instances  in  America  where  the  results  show  a 
better  record  than  this.  Thus  Whiting*  records  the  continuous 
operation  of  a  furnace  where  the  ratio  was  1.5.  He  does  not  give 
the  percentage  composition  of  the  gases,  but  as  he  gives  all  the 
other  data,  I  have  calculated  that  it  probably  ran  as  follows : 
C02  15.8  per  cent.  CO  23.7  per  cent.  N  60.5  per  cent. 

*  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XX,  p.  280. 


j 
100  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND  STEEL. 

At  one  of  the  large  steel  works  in  America  known  for  its  low 
fuel  consumption,  I  am  told  that  the  average  composition  of  the 
gases  gives  C02  14.5  per  cent.,  CO  27  per  cent,  and  N  58.5  per 
cent.  This  is  a  ratio  of  1.88. 

f  At  a  65-foot  furnace  at  the  Pennsylvania  Steel  Works  the  average 
composition  of  the  gases  for  one  and  a  half  hours  showed  as 
follows : 

C02  13.7  per  cent.     CO  23.7  per  cent.     N"  63.1  per  cent, 
giving  a  ratio  of  1.7  per  cent.     Samples  taken  on  three  other  days 
gave  very  nearly,  the  same  ratio,  one  being  less  and  the  other  two 
somewhat  more. 

i  By  referring  to  Table  II-I  it  will  be  seen  that  practice  A  ap- 
proaches very  close  io  the  data  given  by  Whiting  and  according 
to  his  figures  it  is  probable  that  he  used  about  1650  pounds  of  coke 
per  ton  of  iron  and  about  600  pounds  of  stone,  his  ratio  being  1.5. 
The  large  steel  works  referred  to  with  a  ratio  of  1.88  corresponds 
very  closely  to  either  practice  C  or  D,  while  the  furnace  at  the 
Pennsylvania  Steel  Works,  with  a  ratio  of  1.7  corresponds  very 
well  with  practice  C. 

It  will  be  found  that  in  every  case  the  heat  value  of  the  gases  gives 
approximately  50  per  cent,  of  the  heat  value  of  the  fuel  charge, 
which  was  the  conclusion  arrived  at  in  another  section. 

In  making  these  calculations,  it  is  recognized  that  certain  errors 
are  unavoidable  and  that  certain  conditions  have  been  omitted  that 
have  an  influence  on  the  result.  Thus  there,  is  a  certain  amount  of 
silicon  produced  from  the  silica  of  the  ore  and  coke  and  this  silicon 
when  it  is  reduced  gives  up  its  oxygen  to  the  gases.  In  the  same 
way  a  small  proportion  of  calcium  oxide  is  reduced,  the  calcium 
uniting  with  the  sulphur  as  sulphide  and  the  oxygen  escaping  with 
the  gases.  A  certain  amount  of  water  may  be  decomposed  and  the 
hydrogen  escape  in  the  form  of  free  hydrogen,  while  the  oxygen 
goes  off  in  the  gases,  and  the  oxygen  formed  by  these  three  reactions 
is  not  accompanied  by  any  nitrogen,  while  in  our  calculation  we  have 
assumed  that  the  oxygen  not  coming  from  the  ore  and  the  stone 
was  accompanied  by  the  proper  atmospheric  proportion  of  nitrogen. 

But  these  refinements  are  not  really  necessary  for  a  practical 
determination  as  the  results  are  much  more  accurate  than  would 
be  supposed  at  first  glance.  The  carbon  comes  from  the  stone  and 
from  the  fuel  and  from  them  alone,  and  the  important  point  in  all 
investigations  of  tunnel  head  gases  is  to  find  the  amount  of  carbon 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  1Q1 

escaping  as  C02  and  as  CO.  It  is  a  matter  of  very  little  moment 
how  much  or  how  little  nitrogen  accompanies  these  two  gases,  for  the 
only  gas  of  anyinterest  after  it  leaves  the  tunnel  head  is  the  carbonic 
oxide.  If  a  wrong  calculation  is  made  concerning  the  nitrogen,  the 
figures  will  merely  show  that  this  percentage  of  carbonic  oxide  is 
either  too  high  or  too  low.  If  our  error  shows  too  low  a  percentage 
of  carbonic  oxide  we  shall  have  a  reduced  calorific  value  per  cubic 
metre  and  a  larger  volume,  while  if  our  calculations  have  erred  in 
the  other  direction,  we  shall  have  too  high  a  calorific  value  per 
cubic  metre  and  too  small  a  volume.  In  either  case  the  product 
of  the  two,  which  will  give  the  value  of  the  tunnel  head  gas  per  ton 
of  iron,  will  be  a  constant. 

Having  thus  found  the  heat  value  per  ton  of  iron  escaping  in 
the  waste  gas  we  may  find  the  horse  power  represented  by 
that  gas,  and  it  is  shown  in  Table  II-I  that  according  to  the 
amount  of  fuel  used  the  value  will  vary  through  very  wide  limits, 
according  to  the  amount  of  fuel  used.  It  is  always  best  to  assume 
that  there  will  be  progress  in  fuel  economy,  and  this  is  the  same 
thing  as  saying  that  there  will  be  less  and  less  heat  value  per  ton 
of  iron  escaping  in  the  tunnel  head  gases.  Taking  therefore  the 
minimum,  which  is  practice  A  in  the  table,  we  have  2,150,000 
calories  produced  per  ton  of  iron,  which  is  equivalent  to  a  total 
production  of  645,000,000  calories  in  a  furnace  making  300  tons 
of  iron  in  twenty-four  hours.  It  is  an  accepted  fact  that  one 
horse  power  used  steadily  throughout  24  hours  represents  61,080 
British  thermal  units  or  15,394  calories,  so  that  the  total  energy 
represented  by  the  tunnel  head  gases  will  be  645,000,000, 
divided  by  15,394  or  about  42,000  horse  power  if  every  unit  of 
force  could  be  put  into  action.  As  a  matter  of  fact  fully  one  third 
of  the  gas  goes  to  the  stoves,  leaving  about  28,000  horse  power  for 
the  boilers.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  best  boilers,  when 
fired  with  coal  under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  can  absorb  80 
per  cent,  of  the  energy  in  the  fuel,  but  it  is  seldom  that  good  boilers, 
under  ordinary  conditions,  utilize  more  than  70  per  cent.  In  blast- 
furnace work,  the  results  are  often  much  worse  than  this,  since  the 
gases  vary  very  much  and  it  is  impossible  to  supply  the  air  in  just 
the  right  quantity.  Moreover,  the  gas  does  not  burn  readily  at  all 
times  and  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  either  a  loss  from  unburned 
carbon  or  a  carrying  away  of  heat  by  an  excess  of  air.  The  dust 
also  deposits  on  the  surface  of  the  boiler  and  retards  the  absorption 


102  METALLURGY   OF  IRON   AND  STEEL. 

of  heat,  while  the  low  temperature  of  the  gases  as  they  enter  the 
fire  chamber  preclude  the  best  utilization  of  energy. 

From  all  these  causes  it  is  probable  that  the  boilers  at  some  plants 
do  not  appropriate  more  than  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  energy  supplied 
to  them,  and  this  reduces  the  effective  energy  to  17,000  horse  power, 
and  as  a  compound  steam  engine  utilizes  only  10  per  cent,  of  the 
energy  delivered  to  it  in  steam,  it  follows  that  such  an  engine  can 
develop  1700  horse  power  from  a  blast  furnace  making  300  tons  of 
iron  per  day.  The  modern  blowing  engines  for  such  a  furnace  will 
require  not  over  1500  horse  power,  and  there  will  therefore  be  a 
slight  excess  of  steam  if  the  foregoing  assumptions  are  correct,  and 
a  considerable  excess  if  the  boilers  are  more  efficient  than  before 
assumed. 

It  will  be  granted  that  actual  results  prove  the  calculations  just 
elaborated,  and  that  the  available  engine  power  is  almost  exactly 
as  shown.  This  indicates  that  the  figures  are  correct,  and  they  may 
be  summarized  as  follows : 

(1)  From  3000  to  4000  cubic  metres  or  106,000  to  141,000  cubic 
feet  of  tunnel  head  gases  are  made  per  ton  of  pig-iron,  when  the 
fuel  consumption  is  from  1600  to  2000  pounds  per  ton  of  iron. 

(2)  About  one  third  of  the  gas  is  needed  to  heat  the  stoves. 

(3)  The  boilers  absorb  and  utilize  only  from  60  to  80  per  cent, 
of  the  real  heating  value  of  the  gases  going  to  them. 

(4)  The  blowing  engine  absorbs  only  ten  per  cent,  of  the  energy 
in  the  steam  going  to  it. 

(5)  If  a  gas  engine  be  used,  its  efficiency  must  be  compared  not 
with  the  steam  engine  alone,  but  with  the  boiler  and  steam  engine 
together. 

(6)  With  a  higher  coke  consumption,  the  heating  value  per 
cubic  metre  will  be  increased  somewhat  and  in  addition  the  total 
volume  of  gases  will  be  increase'd  nearly  in  proportion  to  the  weight 
of  fuel. 

(7)  The  heat  value  of  the  tunnel  head  gas  is  about  50  per 
cent,  of  the  total  heat  value  of  the  coke,  whether  the  consumption  of 
fuel  is  high  or  low. 

(8)  This  calculation  takes  no  account  of  wasteful  furnaces  or 
of  those  running  on  exceptionally  bad  ores,  or  on  coke  containing  a 
large  amount  of  hydrocarbons.     Thus  in  Stahl  un#  Eisen,  Nov.  1, 
1901,  Lurmann  gives  the  composition  of  gases  from  different  fur- 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  103 

naces  in  Germany.  A  Westphalian  furnace  gave  a  ratio  of  2.9  with 
4.0  per  cent,  hydrogen;  one  in  the  Minette  district  a  ratio  of  2.75 
with  3.0  per  cent,  hydrogen;  one  in  Silesia  gave  a  ratio  of  5.5  and 
another  contained  6.3  per  cent,  of  hydrogen.  With  very  poor  ores 
the  value  of  the  tunnel  head  gases  must  be  much  greater  than  with 
a  rich  burden  and  if  they  are  entirely  utilized  the  power  obtained 
from  them  will  atone  in  some  measure  for  the  greater  amount  of 
fuel  needed  to  smelt  the  leaner  mixture.  For  this  reason  the  use 
of  gas  engines  is  more  important  in  the  Minette  district  of  Germany 
than  in  the  United  States. 

SEC.  II j. — The  Utilization  of  the  Tunnel  Head  Gases. —  (a)  Use 
of  the  potential  heat  in  stoves  and  boilers. 

It  must  always  happen  that  in  the  combustion  of  the  tunnel  head 
gases,  a  great  deal  of  heat  is  lost.  One  cause  of  this  is  the  low  tem- 
perature of  the  gases  as  they  enter  the  combustion  chamber  of  either 
the  boiler  or  the  oven  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  flame  is  very  long 
and,  as  it  is  cooled  by  contact  with  the  surfaces  to  be  heated,  either 
some  CO  will  go  to  the  stack  unburned,  or  there  will  be  a  consider- 
able excess  of  air,  giving  a  certain  amount  of  free  oxygen  in  the 
escaping  gases  together  with  its  attendant  nitrogen;  sometimes 
there  will  be  both  a  certain  amount  of  CO  and  an  excess  of  air. 

Under  ordinary  conditions  of  fuel  consumption  it  is  possible 
to  calculate  quite  accurately  how  much  heat  is  lost  by  either  or 
both  of  these  conditions,  for  a  piece  of  coal  or  coke,  if  burned  with 
just- the  right  amount  of  air,  must  ultimately  give  a  certain  per- 
centage of  C02  and  a  certain  percentage  of  nitrogen,  and  it  makes 
no  difference  whether  this  combustion  is  all  done  in  one  place,  as 
for  instance  the  shallow  fire  of  a  cook  stove,  or  whether  it  is  parti- 
ally done  in  a  gas  producer  and  completed  in  a  heating  furnace. 
In  either  case  the  final  result  will  be  the  same. 

In  the  blast  furnace  we  have  certain  complicating  circumstances, 
for  oxygen  is  supplied  by  the  ore  without  nitrogen,  and  carbonic 
acid  is  supplied  by  the  limestone,  so  that  the  ratio  of  carbon  to 
oxygen  in  the  ultimate  products  of  combustion  is  entirely  different 
from  the  ratio  that  will  result  from  the  combustion  of  carbon  under 
usual  conditions,  and  it  will  be  evident  that  this  ratio  will  depend 
upon  the  amount  of  limestone  used  per  ton  of  coke,  and  upon  the 
amount  of  air.  In  this  way  the  composition  of  the  gas  will  vary  in 
different  districts,  and  with  different  furnaces,  for  if  one  uses 
2300  pounds  of  coke  per  ton  of  iron  the  amount  of  carbon  to  a 


104 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


pound  of  oxygen  in  the  products  of  combustion  will  be  greater  than 
in  a  furnace  running  on  the  same  ores  and  with  the  same  limestone 
and  using  2000  pounds  of  coke  per  ton  of  iron. 


TABLE  II-J. 

Percentages  of  C02  and  0  in  Products  of  Combustion  when  Gases 
A  and  I  (Table  II-I)  are  Burned  with  Varying  Amounts  of 
Air. 


Excess  of  Air. 

Per  cent.  CO2 

Per  cent,  free  O 

Gas  A 

Gas  I 

Gas  A 

Gas  I 

27.55 
19.75 

25.21 
17.64 

5.93 

6.30 

A  little  consideration,  however,  will  show  that  in  a  furnace  using 
a  regular  amount  of  coke  and  a  regular  amount  of  limestone  per 
ton  of  iron,  it  matters  not  at  all  how  complete  or  incomplete  the 
reactions  may  be  in  the  furnace,  and  how  much  as  a  consequence  the 
tunnel  head  gases  may  vary  in  composition  from  day  to  day,  the 
ultimate  products  of  combustion  from  the  burning  of  these  gases 
will  be  the  same.  It  will  also  be  shown  in  Table  II-J  that  although 
different  conditions  of  practice  give  unlike  gases  and  that  these 
may  give  unlike  products  of  combustion,  the  variations  in  these 
products  are  so  small  that  they  may  be  neglected  in  all  practical 
investigations  into  the  question  of  heat  utilization.  In  this  Table 
II-J,  we  have  taken  gases  A  and  I  from  Table  II-I  as  representing 
two  extremes  of  furnace  practice  and  twTo  very  different  types  of 
tunnel  head  gases.  The  first  line  gives  the  composition  when  the 
exact  theoretical  amount  of  air  is  supplied,  assuming  perfect  com- 
bustion, while  the  second  line  gives  the  composition  when  double 
the  needed  amount  of  air  is  used.  It  will  be  seen  that  as  far  as  prac- 
tical purposes  are  concerned  the  composition  of  the  products  is  the 
same  for  both  gas  A  and  gas  I,  and  it  is  therefore  unnecessary  to 
go  into  the  refinement  of  calculating  each  individual  blast  furnace 
gas  to  find  out  what  the  composition  of  the  products  will  be,  for  if 
two  extreme  cases  give  results  so  closely  alike,  we  may  safely  as- 
sume that  all  gases  will  bear  a  close  resemblance. 


THE    BLAST    FURNACE.  105- 

It  Ml  always  happen  in  burning  blast  furnace  gas  or  any  other 
fuel,  that  a  certain  amount  of  excess  air  must  be  added  to  insure 
perfect  combustion,  and  for  this  reason  the  composition  has  just 
been  given  of  the  products  with  a  large  excess  of  air.  It  is  very 
often  desirable  to  know  just  how  much  excess  is  added,  and  it 
has  been  the  custom  in  making  experiments  in  the  com- 
bustion of  coal  under  boilers  to  estimate  the  amount  from  the 
percentage  of  C02  in  the  products  of  combustion.  In  the  case  of 
burning  coal  this  method  is  not  far  in  error,  for,  as  before 
explained,  the  products  of  combustion  must  always  be  the  same 
for  a  given  excess  of  air;  but  blast  furnace  gas  is  not  constant, 
and  the  products  of  combustion  are  not  exactly  the  same  for  differ- 
ent gases.  A  very  much  better  exponent  of  the  amount  of  excess 
air  present  is  the  percentage  of  free  oxygen.  This,  of  course,  varies 
somewhat  with  different  gases,  but  in  Table  II-J  it  is  shown  that  a 
certain  percentage  of  excess  air  gives  about  the  same  percentage 
of  free  oxygen  in  the  products  of  combustion,  even  though  the 
initial  gases  were  quite  different. 

It  often  happens  that  a  certain  amount  of  CO  escapes  unburned, 
whereby  not  only  is  there  a  loss  of  energy,  but  the  composition  of 
the  products  of  combustion  is  changed  somewhat,  as  less  air  is 
needed  for  what  combustion  takes  place  and  therefore  the  volume 
is  decreased  and  the  ratio  of  the  different  components  is  altered. 
It  also  will  happen  under  these  circumstances  that  a  given  per- 
centage of  free  oxygen  will  represent  a  slightly  different  percentage 
of  excess  air  than  when  no  free  CO  is  present,  but  I  have  found  by 
calculation  that  the  error  thus  caused  is  so  slight  it  may  be  disre- 
garded. It  is  necessary,  however,  to  consider  the  amount  of  CO 
which  escapes  in  this  way,  and  in  Table  II-K  are  shown  the  results 
of  calculation  on  Gas  D  in  Table  II-I,  which  is  chosen  as  being  of 
average  composition.  The  general  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from 
these  results  are  as  follows :  , 

(1)  The  products  of  combustion  of  all  tunnel  head  gases  are  of 
approximately  the  same  composition,  and,  therefore,  the  volume 
and  weight  produced  per  unit  of  coke  charged  will  be  the  same. 

(2)  The  percentage  of  C02  in  the  products  is  not  a  good  meas- 
ure of  the  amount  of  excess  air. 

(3)  The  percentage  of  free  oxygen  in  the  products  is  a  good 
measure  of  the  amount  of  excess  air. 

(4)  When  CO  escapes  unburned  the  composition  of  the  prod- 


106 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


ucts  is  altered  not  only  by  the  presence  of  CO,  but  on  account  of 
the  smaller  amount  of  air  needed  for  the  imperfect  combustion. 

(5)  This  alteration  in  composition  is  not  sufficient  to  affect  ma- 
terially the  accuracy  of  the  estimation  of  the  amount  of  excess  air 
from  the  percentage  of  free  oxygen  present,  since  the  change  in  the 
proportion  of  oxygen  is  not  great  enough  to  invalidate  the  result. 

(6)  The  proportion  of  the '  unhurried  CO  in  the  products  is  a 
measure  of  the  proportion  of  the  original  CO  escaping. 

(7)  In  thus  estimating  the  proportion  of  CO  lost  in  the  pro- 
ducts it  is  unnecessary  to  make  any  allowance  for  the  percentage 
of  excess  air,  since  this  does  not  cause  sufficient  variation  within 
usual  limits,  to  seriously  affect  the  accuracy  of  the  result. 

(8)  The  presence  of  CO  in  the  products  indicates  a  loss  of  com- 
bustible matter  amounting  to  the  proportions  of  the  original  energy 
.shown  in  Table  II-K. 


TABLE  II-K. 


Loss  of  Heat  by  Presence  of  CO  in  Products  of  Combustion. 


Per  cent.  CO  in  products. 

Proportion  of  energy  lost. 

0.65  to  1.00 
100  to  2.00 
2.00  to  2  80 
2.80  to  3.80 
3.80  to  5.00 

5  per  cent. 
10  per  cent. 
15  per  cent. 
20  per  cent. 
25  per  cent. 

The  lower  percentages  apply  to  cases  where  no  excess  air  is  present,  and  the  higher  to 
those  where  there  is  100  per  cent,  excess. 

The  unburned  CO  in  the  products  of  combustion  represents  a 
certain  loss  of  heat  without  any  regard  to  the  temperature  at  which 
these  products  escape  to  the  stack,  but  in  addition  to  this  there  is 
a  cerain  loss  of  heat  from  excess  air,  this  loss  depending  entirely 
on  the  temperature  at  which  the  gases  escape.  If  the  products  of 
combustion  go  to  the  chimney  at  exactly  the  same  temperature  as 
the  air  and  gas  entered  the  combustion  chamber,  or  if  they  escape 
at  the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere,  then  there  will  be  no  loss 
of  heat,  no  matter  how  much  air  is  used  in  excess ;  but  the  products 
of  combustion  always  do  escape  at  a  higher  temperature  and,  by 
virtue  of  this,  they  carry  away  a  certain  amount  of  sensible  heat, 
and  that  loss  is  greater  just  in  proportion  to  the  temperature  of  the 
escaping  gases,  and  therefore  each  cubic  metre  of  air  which  is 


THE  BLAST   FURNACE.  107 

admitted  in  excess  of  the  theoretical  requirements  carries  away  in 
the  chimney  a  certain  amount  of  sensible  heat  for  every  degree 
of  temperature. 

Referring  to  Table  II-I  in  Section  Hi,  giving  the  composition 
of  different  tunnel  head  gases,  we  may  take  Gas  D  as  representing 
a  very  fair  coke  consumption  and  a  very  good  carbon  ratio.  This 
gas  is  as  follows : 

C02  13.43         CO  26.92        N  56.95 

Calculating  this  gas  as  burning  with  different  amounts  of  air 
we  have  Table  II-L.  The  volume  of  the  products  does  not  increase 
exactly  in  proportion  to  the  volume  of  air  supplied,  because  there 
is  a  certain  constant  shrinkage  due  to  the  combustion  of  the  origi- 
nal CO.  Perfect  combustion,  without  any  excess  of  air,  produces 
a  certain  volume  of  gases  and  any  excess  of  air  beyond  this  dilutes 
the  gases  by  an  exactly  similar  amount,  and  this  excess  air  carries 
with  it  a  certain  amount  of  sensible  heat.  It  is  possible  to  calcu- 
late the  loss  carried  away  by  this  excess  air  alone;  but  the  method 
adopted  in  this  table  is  to  give  the  total  loss  as  carried  away  by 
the  products  of  combustion,  including  the  excess  air.  It  will  be 
seen,  for  instance,  that  when  the  gas  is  burned  with  just  sufficient 
air  and  the  products  escape  at  200°  C.=390°  P.,  the  products  of 
combustion  carry  away  12.5  per  cent,  of  all  the  heat  produced, 
while  when  100  per  cent,  excess  air  is  present,  which  is  to  say  that 
air  is  supplied  in  double  the  quantity  theoretically  necessary,  the 
products  of  combustion  at  200°  C.  carry  away  17.4  per  cent,  of  all 
the  heat  supplied.  At  600°  C.,  which  is  just  below  a  red  heat, 
the  combustion  with  the  theoretical  amount  of  air  indicates  that 
the  products  of  combustion  carry  away  41.8  per  cent,  of  all  the 
heat  produced,  while  with  100  per  cent,  excess  air  the  products 
carry  away  56.9  per  cent.  Thus  100  per  cent,  excess  air  means  an 
additional  loss  of  5  per  cent,  when  the  products  escape  at  200°  C. 
and  15  per  cent,  when  they  escape  at  600°  C.  By  comparing  these 
results  with  the  figures  which  have  been  given  in  Table  II-K,  it 
will  be  found  that  as  long  as  the  products  escape  to  the  stack  at  a 
moderate  temperature,  a  very  large  excess  of  air  is  to  be  preferred 
to  the  escaping  of  a  small  quantity  of  CO ;  thus  it  was  shown  that 
the  presence  of  less  than  one  per  cent.  CO  indicated  a  loss  of  5 
per  cent,  of  all  the  heat  value,  while  Table  II-L  indicates  that  the 
escaping  gases  at  a  temperature  of  400°  C.  carry  away  26.6  per 


108 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


cent,  of  aii  the  heat  with  no  excess  air  and  30.6  per  cent,  of  all 
the 'heat  when  40  per  cent,  excess  air  is  present,  thus  showing  that 
40  per  cent,  excess  air  is  responsible  for  a  loss  of  only  4  per  cent, 
of  the  heat  produced.  Consequently  it  would  be  necessary  to  have 
50  per  cent,  excess  air  and  a  stack  temperature  of  400°  C.  in  order 
that  the  loss  from  such  excess  air  should  equal  the  loss  from  the 
presence  of  one  per  cent,  of  CO  in  the  products  of  combustion. 

TABLE  II-L. 
Data  on  Products  of  Combustion  of  Gas  D  (Table  II-I)'. 

NOTE— The  specific  heats  of  the  gases  were  calculated  for  0°  and  600°  and  for  no  excess 
of  air  and  for  100  per  cent,  excess.  Intermediate  points  are  interpolated.  Calorific  value  of 
gas  =  823  cals.  per  cu.  m. 


4 

a 

s 
& 

L 

i 

0 
20 
40 
60 
80 
100 

SL 
11 

"Sfe 

i* 

t 

Per  100  volumes 
of  gas  burned. 

Per  cent,  of  total  heat  generated  which  is  carried  away 
by  the  sensible  heat  of  the  products  when  these 
products  escape  at  different  temperatures  ;  also  the 
specific  heat  of  the  products  at  these  temperatures. 

Volume 
of  air 
Supplied. 

Volume 
of 
products. 

200°C  (390°F) 

400°C  (750°F) 

600°C  (1110°F) 

Specific 
heat  of 
gases. 

Per  cent, 
of  heat 
lost. 

Specific 
heat  of 
gases. 

Per  cent, 
of  heat 
lost. 

Specific 
heat  of 
gases. 

Per  cent, 
of  heat 
lost. 

0.00 
1.64 
3.05 
4.27 
5.33 
6.26 

64 
77 
90 
103 
116 
128 

151 
164 
176 
189 
202 
215 

.342 
.340 
.338 
.337 
.335 
.333 

12.5 
13.5 
14.5 
15.5 
16.5 
17.4 

.362 
.360 
.357 
.354 
.351 
.349 

26.6 
28.6 
30.6 
32.6 
34.6 
36.5 

.380 
.377 
.373 
.369 
.366 
.363 

41.8 
44.8 
47.8 
50.8 
53.8 
56.9 

It  will  be  found  that  the  gases  often  contain  both  an  excess  of 
air  and  a  certain  amount  of  CO.  If  the  mixture  during  its  com- 
bustion could  be  passed  through  an  indefinite  length  of  hot  pas- 
sages, it  would  hardly  be  possible  that  free  oxygen  and  free  CO' 
could  remain  uncombined  in  any  large  proportion,  but  there  is  a. 
limit  to  the  completeness  of  combustion  under  practical  circum- 
stances, as  in  burning  a  gas  under  boilers  the  flame  comes  in 
contact  with  cold  metallic  surfaces  which  check  or  retard  combus- 
tion in  the  same  way  that  a  cold  piece  of  iron  put  in  a  candle 
flame  will  stop  the  chemical  action  and  will  cause  carbon  and 
carbonaceous  compounds  to  be  deposited  upon  the  metal.  In  this 
way  a  certain  amount  of  carbon  and  oxygen  escape  from  the  stack 
without  uniting  one  with  the  other.  The  way  to  prevent  this  is 
to  cause  combustion  to  be  more  thoroughly  accomplished  before  it 
comes  in  contact  with  the  water  cooled  surface. 


THE   BLAST   FURNACE.  109 

It  is  necessary  to  note  that  in  comparing  analyses  of  products 
of  combustion  we  should  add  together  the  losses  shown  by  the 
excess  air  and  the  unburned  CO ;  thus  we  may  have  a  loss  of  seven 
per  cent,  caused  by  excess  air  as  indicated  by  free  oxygen,  and  at 
the  same  time  a  loss  of  two  per  cent,  indicated  by  the  presence 
of  a  certain  proportion  of  CO. 

Summarizing  the  foregoing  conclusions  and  interpolating  in  the 
tables  we  may  say  that  of  all  the  heat  produced,  the  losses  in  the 
products  of  combustion  will  be  in  round  numbers  according  to  the 
following  schedule: 

Ten  per  cent,  will  be  lost  by  any  one  of  the  following  condi- 
tions : 

(a)  By  the  sensible  heat  of  the  products  of  perfect  combustion 
escaping  at  160°  C.— 320°  F.  when  no  free  oxygen  is  present. 

(b)  By  the  sensible  heat  of  the  products  escaping  at  120°  C. 
=250°  F.  when  they  contain  from  6.0  to  7.0  per  cent,  of  oxygen 
•showing  100  per  cent,  excess  air. 

(c)  By  the  presence  of  from  1.3  to  1.9  per  cent.  CO. 
Twenty  per  cent,  will  ~be  lost: 

(a)  By  the  sensible  heat  of  the  products  escaping  at  300°  C. 
=570°  F.  when  no  free  oxygen  is  present. 

(b)  By  the  sensible  heat  of  the  products  escaping  at  250°  C. 
=480°  F.  when  they  contain  from  6.0  to  7.0  per  cent,  of  oxygen 
showing  80  per  cent,  excess  air. 

(c)  By  the  presence  of  from  3.0  to  4.0  per  cent.  CO. 
Thirty  per  cent,  will  be  lost: 

(a)  By  the  sensible  heat  of  the  products  escaping  at  450°  C. 
=840°  F.  when  no  free  oxygen  is  present. 

(b)  By  the  sensible  heat  of  the  products  escaping  at  330°  C. 
=630°  F.  when  they  contain  from  6.0  to  7.0  per  cent,  of  oxygen 
showing  100  per  cent,  excess  air. 

(c)  By  the  presence  in  the  products  of  6.0  per  cent,  of  CO. 
Forty  per  cent,  will  be  lost: 

(a)  By  the  sensible  heat  of  the  products  escaping  at  600°  C. 
=1110°  F.  when  they  have  been  burned  with  the  theoretical  amount 
of  air. 

(b)  By  the  sensible  heat  of  the  products  escaping  at  44( 
—820°  F.  when  they  contain  from  6.0  to  7.0  per  cent,  of  oxygen 
-'showing  100  per  cent,  of  excess  air. 

It  will  be  understood  that  a  large  percentage  of  loss  may  occur 


110  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

by  a  combination  of  any  two  of  these  factors,  as  for  instance,  when 
the  products  contain  both  free  oxygen  and  unburned  CO,  under 
which  conditions  the  total  loss  is  the  sum  of  the  two  factors. 

(b)  The  Use  of  Sensible  Heat  of  Gas  in  Stoves  and  Boilers. — 
When  the  tunnel  head  gases  are  taken  directly  to  the  stoves  or 
to  the  boilers  without  scrubbing,  all  the  sensible  heat  of  the  gas 
is  used  as  the  temperature  of  the  resulting  combustion  is  just 
that  much  higher  and  its  efficiency  just  that  much  greater.  When 
the  gas  is  scrubbed,  this  sensible  heat  is  lost  and  there  is  an  addi- 
tional disadvantage  in  the  water  vapor  that  will  be  carried  to  the 
stoves  or  boilers.  When  the  gases  are  taken  directly  from  the  tun- 
nel head  to  the  combustion  chamber  there  is  considerable  steam 
present,  but  it  is  in  the  form  of  a  gas,  and  if  this  is  subsequently 
dissociated  with  absorption  of  heat,  the  hydrogen  produced  is  again 
oxidized  into  steam  and  therefore  there  is  no  heat  lost,  but  in  the 
passage  through  a  scrubber  there  is  a  considerable  quantity  of 
water  carried  along  in  the  shape  of  fog  and  all  this  moisture  must 
be  converted  into  steam  in  the  stove  or  in  the  boiler. 

It  may  very  likely  be  advantageous  in  many  cases  to  scrub 
the  gas  in  spite  of  this  for  there  is  no  doubt  that  if  the  scrubbing 
were  perfectly  successful,  in  other  words  if  every  particle  of  for- 
eign matter  were  to  be  eliminated,  there  would  be  a  great  advan- 
tage in  having  a  clean  gas,  for  instead  of  the  crude  appara- 
tus in  use  for  burning  these  gases,  we  could  then  substitute  some- 
thing in  the  form  of  a  Bunsen  burner  and  get  almost  perfect 
combustion  in  exactly  the  place  wanted,  but  the  great  difficulty 
is  that  we  cannot  remove  the  last  traces  of  the  sublimate  and 
these  clog  the  action  of  any  Bunsen  burner  or  anything  approach- 
ing its  structure.  The  future  will  doubtless  see  a  very  much  better 
arrangement  for  burning  these  blast  furnace  gases  than  now  exists, 
and  it  is  possible  that  thorough  scrubbing  will  be  a  prerequisite 
to  the  introduction  of  such  methods. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  Gas  D,  in  Table  II-I,  represents 
a  very  good  fuel  consumption  and  a  good  carbon  ratio,  and  it 
was  shown  that  when  a  furnace  is  running  under  these  conditions 
it  produces  3551  cubic  metres  of  gas  per  ton  of  pig-iron.  Calcu- 
lating the  amount  of  air  needed  to  burn  this  we  find  that  2060 
cubic  metres  are  called  for  theoretically,  while  with  100  per  cent, 
excess  of  air,  just  double  that  quantity,  or  4120  cubic  metres,  will 
be  required.  It  is  shown  in  Section  Ilh  that  a  furnace  producing 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  Ill 

such  a  gas  requires  2687  cubic  metres  of  air  per  ton  of  iron  to 
be  supplied  by  the  blowing  engines,  and  it  is  clear,  therefore,  that 
if  the  tunnel  head  gases  are  burned  with  30  per  cent,  excess  air,  the 
amount  of  air  needed  for  their  combustion  in  the  stoves  and  boilers 
equals  the  amount  of  air  required  from  the  blowing  engines.  It 
is  probable  that  more  than  this  proportion  of  excess  air  is  generally 
used  so  that  the  air  needed  for  combustion  exceeds  the  amount  sup- 
plied in  the  blast. 

It  is  probable  that  few  f urnacemen  appreciate  this  fact,  or  will 
even  believe  it.  If  one-third  of  the  gas  is  taken  to  the  stoves 
then  the  stoves  are  receiving  more  than  one-third  of  the  amount 
of  air  delivered  by  the  blowing  engines,  and  if  the  boilers  are  re- 
ceiving two-thirds  of  the  tunnel  head  gases  then  the  air  inlets  at 
the  combustion  chamber  are  receiving  two-thirds  as  much  air  as  the 
blowing  engines  deliver  to  the  tuyeres.  It  is  almost  out  of  the 
question  to  pre-heat  all  this  air  for,  by  the  nature  of  the  case,  if 
the  volume  of  air  required  by  the  tunnel  head  gases  is  as  great  as 
the  volume  required  by  the  furnace,  it  would  require  as  large  an 
outfit  of  stoves  as  is  required  by  the  furnace,  and  there  is  no 
available  place  for  the  heat  to  come  from  except  from  the  com- 
bustion of  the  gases  themselves,  and  this  would  be  wasting  at  one 
end  and  gaining  at  the  other.  It  will  be  shown  later  that  the  in- 
troduction of  gas  engines  may  render  possible  the  preheating  of 
this  air  by  the  heat  of  the  waste  gases  escaping  from  the  cylinders 
of  the  engines. 

(c)   Use  of  tunnel  head  gases  in  gas  engines. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  blast  furnace  gas  can  be  used  in 
gas  engines  for  developing  power,  and  it  is  just  as  well  known 
that  a  given  amount  of  gas  will  develop  about  twice  as  much 
energy  in  a  gas  engine  as  it  will  if  burned  under  boilers  and  the 
resultant  steam  be  used  in  a  steam  engine.  High  authority  has 
stated  that  the  available  power  is  3.6  times  as  great,  under  prac- 
tical conditions.  I  prefer  for  purposes  of  illustration  to  make  the 
conservative  assumption  that  the  gas  engine  will  give  twice  the 
power. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  there  will  be  less  irregularity  if  the 
gas  is  burned  in  gas  engines  than  if  it  is  burned  under  boilers, 
because  the  real  calorific  power  of  blast  furnace  gas  does  not  vary 
as  much  as  is  generally  supposed.  It  does  often  for  a  considerable 
period  possess  a  strong  disinclination  to  burn  under  a  boiler,  this 


112  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

being  particularly  noticeable  when  the  furnace  is  very  hot,  for  the 
f  urnacemen  then  say  that  the  gas  is  "gray"  and  that  it  is  "poor," 
because  it  will  not  burn  with  a  clear  flame;  but  this  gas  is  of  the 
same  composition  as  free  burning  gas,  and  if  it  is  mixed  with  a 
proper  amount  of  air  in  the  cylinder  of  a  gas  engine  and  ignited  by 
an  electric  spark,  it  should  give  the  normal  amount  of  energy. 

In  Section  Hi  it  was  shown  that  under  certain  assumptions 
of  rather  low  fuel  the  tunnel  head  gases  contained  sufficient  energy 
to  produce  42,000  horse  power  if  every  unit  of  force  could  be 
utilized.  It  was  also  stated  that  under  usual  conditions  at  least 
one-third  of  the  gas  was  used  in  heating  the  stoves,  leaving  an 
equivalent  of  28,000  horse  power  in  the  gas  going  to  the  boilers, 
but  that  owing  to  the  losses  in  boilers  and  engines  we  found  that 
very  little  more  power  was  developed  than  was  necessary  to  run  the 
blowing  engine.  It  is  possible  to  increase  this  surplus  somewhat 
by  having  a  better  boiler  plant  than  was  assumed,  and  it  has  been 
shown  that  a  furnace  using  a  greater  proportion  of  fuel  will  fur- 
nish a  much  greater  surplus  of  power,  but  it  was  considered  best  to 
presuppose  a  reasonable  economy  of  fuel  with  a  fair  outfit  of  boilers. 
In.  order  to  compare  a  given  set  of  conditions  where  steam  engines 
are  used  with  similar  conditions  where  gas  engines  are  installed,  it 
will  be  assumed  that  the  gases  available  after  the  stoves  are  supplied 
contain  28,000  horse  power.  If  the  plant  is  equipped  with  an 
extra  good  boiler  plant,  the  steam  will  represent  75  per  cent,  of  the 
energy  in  the  gas,  or  21,000  horse  power,  and  if  good  compound 
engines  are  used  it  will  be  possible  to  develop  from  this  about 
2100  horse  power,  so  that  if  the  blowing  engine  calls  for  1500 
horse  power  there  will  be  a  surplus  of  600  horse  power  available 
for  pumping  and  for  outside  uses. 

If  it  is  supposed  that  just  enough  steam  is  produced  to  run  the 
blowing  engines  and  the  surplus  gas  is  diverted  to  gas  engines, 
•and  if  it  is  supposed  that  twice  as  much  surplus  power  is  developed 
in  this  way,  it  follows  that  each  300-ton  furnace  will  furnish  1200 
excess  horse  power.  This  increase  is  important,  and  seems  to 
fill  the  minds  of  many  men  as  one  of  the  coming  economies,  but  as 
a  matter  of  fact  it  is  merely  the  beginning,  for  the  first  step  in  true 
•economy  is  the  operation  of  the  blowing  engine  by  gas,  since  in  this 
way  instead  of  developing  a  total  of  2100  horse  power  there  will 
be  a  total  of  4200  horse  power,  and  after  subtracting  the  1500 
necessary  for  blowing  there  will  remain  a  surplus  of  2700  horse 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  113 

power  for  outside  uses.  Thus  the  use  of  gas  engines  for  auxiliaries 
only  gives  just  double  the  amount  of  power  available  for  outside 
uses,  but  the  use  of  gas  for  blowing  engines  gives  four  and  one-half 
times  as  much  surplus  as  furnished  by  a  steam  plant. 

This  calculation  presupposes  that  the  steam  engine  utilizes  7.5 
per  cent,  of  all  the  energy  contained  in  the  gases  supplied  to 
the  boiler,  and  that  the  gas  engine  utilizes  15.0  per  cent.  The 
best  steam  plants  do  better  than  this,  but  it  must  be  considered  that 
blast  furnace  gas  is  not  the  most  desirable  kind  of  fuel  and  that  the 
operation  of  a  blowing  engine  against  a  varying  load  does  not  pre- 
sent the  best  conditions  for  steam  economy.  For  the  same  reasons 
the  efficiency  of  the  gas  engine  is  taken  considerably  below  what  has 
been  done  under  favorable  conditions.  . 

Taking  the  figures  just  found  it  is  shown  that  for  each  300 
tons  of  pig-iron  produced  there  will  be  a  surplus  of  2700  horse 
power,  and  in  a  steel  plant  making  two  thousand  tons  of  pig  iron 
per  day  this  is  equivalent  to  18,000  horse  power,  which  is  ample 
to  run  all  the  converting  plants  and  rolling  mills  necessary  to 
finish  this  quantity  of  pig-iron  into  rails,  or  into  the  ordinary  forms 
of  finished  material.  In  order  to  utilize  this  source  of  supply 
to  the  best  advantage,  it  will  doubtless  be  necessary  to  install  a 
central  electric  station  in  which  all  the  gas  is  used  to  develop 
electric  power  which  is  then  distributed  to  motors  that  drive  the 
rolling  mills.  If  this  plan  can  be  carried  out,  no  boilers  will  be 
used  in  the  entire  steel  works,  the  only  fuel  being  that  used  for 
heating. 

The  importance  of  this  problem  has  been  long  recognized  and 
it  may  be  well  to  record  the  steps  that  have  been  taken  to  reach  a 
solution,  and  then  explain  why  the  introduction  of  gas  engines  is 
so  long  delayed.  The  historical  facts  may  be  thus  summarized : 
^  In  May,  1894,  B.  TL  Thwaite  applied  for  a  patent  in  England 
which  was  granted  in  May,  1895  (No.  8670),  for  a  method  of 
purifying  blast  furnace  gas  for  use  in  gas  engines;  acting  along 
the  lines  laid  down  by  Thwaite,  the  first  gas  engine  driven  by 
furnace  gas  was  set  to  work  in  February,  1895,  by  James  Riley, 
manager  of  the  works  at  Wishaw,  Scotland.  This  motor  was  a 
success  and  was  in  operation  four  years  later.  At  this  time  the 
importance  of  the  work  was  understood,  calculations  being  made 
on  the  saving  to  be  expected,  and  from  that  time  until  now,  various 
gas  engine  builders  have  experimented  in  this  field.  With  one 


114  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   A3TD   STEEL. 

exception  the  cleaning  of  the  gas  has  been  considered  necessary, 
this  exception  being  the  Cockerill  Co.,  which  announced  that  the 
gas  could  be  used  in  its  engines  without  scrubbing,  but  the  results 
have  not  been  entirely  satisfactory  and  the  washing  of  the  gas  is 
now  looked  upon  as  a  necessity  by  the  company  at  Seraing.  In 
1899  it  was  promulgated  far  and  wide  that  the  whole  problem  was 
solved  and  American  engineers  were  looked  upon  as  being  behind 
the  times  for  not  equipping  their  plants  with  gas  engines.  During 
that  year  I  visited  every  gas  engine  in  Europe  which  was  operated 
by  furnace  gas.  Every  builder  was  anxious  to  show  his  engine 
as  an  example  of  successful  construction,  and  most  managers  of 
works  were  willing  to  exhibit  their  plants  as  evidence  of  their  pro- 
gressiveness,  but  nevertheless  I  put  on  record  in  an  official  report 
the  following  conclusions : 

(1)  That  there  was  not  a  thoroughly  satisfactory  installation 
in  existence. 

(2)  That  some  engines  then  in  operation  and  construction  were 
structurally  weak,  while  others  were  too  complicated  and  would 
easily  be  deranged  by  dust. 

(3)  That  in  spite  of  all  assertions,  the  gas  must  be  cleaned  to 
give  good  results,  and  that  no  method  then  in  use  did  wash  the 
gas  satisfactorily  or  sufficiently. 

(4)  That  gas  engines  could  be  made  simple  in  construction, 
and  strong  in  design ;  that  some  way  would  soon  be  found  to  wash 
the  gas;  and  when  this  was  done,  gas  engines  would  come  to  stay. 

Having  confidence  in  the  future,  we  operated  a  gas  engine  at 
Steelton  for  some  months  in  the  year  1900,  but  the  dust  gave 
rise  to  troubles  which  might  easily  be  obviated  with  a  different 
type  of  construction.  This  was  the  first  engine  in  America  driven 
by  furnace  gas,  and  the  only  other  engine  up  to  the  present  time 
is  one  of  small  size  operated  in  the  early  part  of  1902  by  the  Mary- 
land Steel  Co.,  very  satisfactory  results  being  obtained. 

I  believe  that  history  has  proven  the  correctness  of  the  above 
judgment  of  European  engines  in  1899,  an  opinion  shared  by  other 
American  engineers  who  saw  the  facts  just  as  clearly  and  decided  to 
wait.  Those  who  rushed  into  the  breach,  on  the  Continent,  deserve 
the  thanks  of  the  engineering  world,  but  they  have  paid  dearly  for 
their  glory.  At  times  when  the  papers  have  been  giving  drawings 
and  pictures  of  new  installations,  and  when  these  plants  have  been 
held  up  as  examples  for  American  engineers  to  follow,  these  same 


THE    BLAST    FURNACE. 


115 


plants,  almost  before  the  ink  on  the  pictures  was  dry,  have  been 
shut  down  with  their  cylinders  cut  to  destruction,  or  with  parts 
crippled  by  breakage. 


^HCW^OOOW^ ~^° 

£*'  ^T1  C  Q   c^fD   O  ef-  ''I   "^Ocoo 


fif! 


. 
IllifS'i 

<-i  o>  ^<W(B  ^ 


- 


3S  tO  1     O       *&&>  I     00 


:  :  ft:  g:  :  :  :  8 


O  ^ 


Kind  of  Engine. 


Germany. 


Luxemburg. 


France. 


Belgium. 


Austria. 


England. 


Spain. 


Russia. 


Italy. 


Total. 


Total  for  Each 
Type. 


O 
HI 

Q 


<.    l_l 

S.  5' 


It  was  not  until  the  latter  part  of  1901  that  the  gas  engine 
could  be  called  a  success,  breakages  having  been  so  frequent  that 
builders  were  obliged  to  replace  with  stronger  constructions  while 


116  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

the  destructive  work  of  dust  has  led  to  the  development  at  Dude- 
lingen  and  Differdingen  of  the  cleaning  device  where  the  gas  is 
drawn  into  a  centrifugal  fan  provided  with  an  internal  spray  of 
water.  Table  II-M  gives  a  list  of  the  engines  now  in  operation  in 
Europe,  while  America  has  none.  It  is  not  a  proud  position  that 
American  engineers  have  occupied  in  waiting  for  others  to  do  the 
work,  but  it  may  safely  be  stated  that  we  are  richer  than  if  we  had 
been  building  gas  engines. 

A  most  important  point  which  bears  upon  the  matter  to-day 
is  the  fact  that  up  to  the  present  time  a  thoroughly  well  built  gas 
engine,  with  its  scrubbers,  its  reserve  units,  and  reserve  producers, 
has  cost  so  much  more  than  a  steam  engine  that  the  fuel  saved 
would  no  more  than  pay  the  interest  and  depreciation  on  the  extra 
investment.  These  conditions  are  changing  and  the  price  of  engines 
will  inevitably  decrease  as  makers  adapt  their  shops  to  the  new 
work  and  as  the  risks  of  loss  in  starting  new  machines  becomes  less 
formidable.  It  is  now  expected  that  before  many  months,  one  of 
the  new  American  plants  will  follow  the  lead  of  some  of  the  foreign 
works  and  will  offer  something  more  than  mathematical  calculations 
on  the  benefits  of  blowing  engines  driven  by  gas.  In  view  of  the 
possibility  of  such  developments  it  may  be  well  to  review  briefly  the 
fundamental  principles  of  gas  engine  construction. 
-^When  the  piston  of  a  steam  engine  arrives  at  the  end  of  its 
stroke,  the  valves  open  and  a  connection  is  thereby  made  directly 
with  the  boiler,  and  with  what  may  be  considered  an  inexhaustible 
supply  of  power.  That  is  to  say,  a  steady  pressure  is  immediately 
put  upon  the  piston  head,  and  no  matter  how  fast  or  slow  the 
piston  moves,  this  pressure  follows,  like  a  perfect  spring,  just  as 
far  as  desired.  In  practice,  the  cut-off  is  about  one-third  the 
length  of  the  cylinder,  and  during  that  time,  and  for  that  space, 
the  pressure  in  the  cylinder  and  against  the  piston  is  nearly  equal  to 
the  pressure  in  the  boiler,  while  beyond  that  point,  the  piston  is 
carried  forward  by  the  expansive  force  of  the  steam  and  finally  at 
the  end  of  the  stroke  by  the  momentum  of  the  flywheel. 

The  point  of  cut-off  in  modern  engines  is  controlled  by  the 
governor,  so  that  the  amount  of  steam  admitted  to  the  cylinder 
is  exactly  in  proportion  to  the  work  to  be  accomplished.  In  older 
and  more  wasteful  types  the  same  end  is  reached  by  the  throttle 
valve,  which  indirectly  regulates  the  pressure  of  the  steam 
admitted,  but  in  either  case  the  initial  pressure,  by  which  is  meant 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  117 

the  maximum  pressure  at  the  beginning  of  the  stroke,  can  never 
exceed  the  boiler  pressure,  unless  we  imagine  a  completely  dis- 
ordered condition  of  valves,  whereby  the  cylinder  is  filled  with 
steam  at  high  pressure  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  piston,  creating 
a  great  compression. 

A  gas  engine  differs  radically  in  its  principles  from  this  descrip- 
tion. It  is  a  cannon,  with  its  projectile  fastened  to  a  crank  shaft, 
and  this  cannon  is  required  to  explode  every  second  and  keep  ex- 
ploding indefinitely,  without  getting  hot  or  deforming  even  a  valve. 

In  addition  to  the  structural  problem  concerned  in  this  state- 
ment, there  are  certain  thermal  and  chemical  questions : 

(1)  There   must   be   something   corresponding  to   a   governor, 
whereby  the  speed  is  controlled,  and  this  must  regulate  either  the 
amount  of  gas  entering  on  each  stroke,  or  the  number  of  admis- 
sions per  minute.     The  latter  plan,  the  "hit  or  miss,"  is  a  common 
one,  it  being  arranged  that  when  the  engine  runs  over  a  certain 
speed,  the  gas  valve  fails  to  open,  and  the  fly  wheel  does  the 
work.  >_. 

(2)  In  using  gas  of  poor  quality,  like  producer  or  blast  furnace 
gas,  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  get  much  power  out  of  an  engine, 
that  the  explosive  mixture  should  be  compressed  before  ignition. 

(3)  The  pressure  obtained  after  ignition  will  evidently  depend 
very  much  upon  the  pressure  before  ignition  and  as  the  cubical 
content  of  the  exploding  chamber  is  a  constant,  it  is  evidently  impos- 
sible to  have  a  constant  pressure  before  explosion,  if  there  is  any 
variation  in  the  volume  of  gas  and  air  added.     It  is  for  these 
and  other  reasons  that  the  "hit  or  miss"  system  has  been  generally 
adopted. 

(4)  The  "hit  or  miss"  system  is  wrong,  because  it  produces 
irregularities  in  speed  of  revolution.     Supposing  that  the  engine  is 
a  mere  shade  too  fast  and  the  admission  "miss,"  then  the  whole 
cycle  must  be  completed  of  perhaps  two  complete  revolutions  be- 
fore another  explosion  can  occur,  and  the  flywheel  must  do  all  the 
work  in  that  time.     If  the  work  is  variable  it  may  reach  its  maii- 
mum  during  this  idle  period  and  the  speed  decrease  far  below 
what  would  be  allowable  for  many  purposes,  as  for  instance,  in  the 
production  of  an  alternating  current. 

(5)  The   above  mentioned   period  of  two   revolutions   is   not 
true  of  all  engines,  but  in  order  to  understand  any  gas  engine 
it  is  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  this  original  Otto  cycle. 


118  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

(a)  Explosion,   high   initial   pressure,   forward    stroke   of 
piston,  ending  with  a  cylinder  full  of  dead  products  of  com- 
bustion which  will  not  condense,  but  must  be  removed  before 
the  next  supply  of  gas  enters. 

(b)  The  backward  stroke  of  piston  sweeping  out  the  dead 


(c)  Forward  stroke  of  piston,  sucking  in  a  new  supply  of  gas 
and  air  in  measured  quantities. 

(d)  Backward  stroke  of  piston  with  all  valves  closed,  com- 
pressing the  mixture  of  gas  and  air  just  admitted,  the  result- 
ant back  pressure  being  dependent  upon  the  cubical  content  of 
the  space  left  for  the  exploding  chamber,  and  the  amount  of 
gas  and  air  admitted. 

Thus  in  a  single  cylinder  engine,  working  on  the  Otto  cycle, 
there  is  only  one  impulse  for  two  complete  revolutions,  and 
this  impulse  is  an  explosion  throwing  a  great  strain  on  all  the 
working  parts. 

(6)  The  very  high  pressure  caused  by  the  explosion  is  accom- 
panied by  a  very  high  temperature,  and  it  is  difficult  to  make  valves 
which  will  stand  the  work,  while  cylinders  are  always  water  jack- 
eted and  even  pistons  are  sometimes  so  cooled. 

(7)  If  too  high  a  back  pressure  be  attempted,  the  explosive 
mixture  may  spontaneously  ignite  before  the  piston  reaches  the 
end  of  the  stroke,  with  the  production  of  enormous  strains  on  all 
parts  of  the  mechanism. 

(8)  If  too  low  a  pressure  be  used  the  gas  may  fail  to  ignite, 
and  the  igniters  be  covered  with  dust,  which  is  pretty  sure  to 
cause  other  failures  to  ignite  in  subsequent  admissions. 

(9)  The  presence  of  mineral  dust  in  blast  furnace  gas  increases 
these  difficulties,  not  simply  by  the  wear  on  sliding  surfaces,  but 
by  the  interference  with  all  valve  adjustments  and  seats,  giving 
rise  to  leakages  and  back  explosions. 

(10)  The  limitations  just  described  concerning  the  admission 
of  varying  amounts  of  gas  and  air,  and  the  control  of  compression, 
render  it  impossible  in  most  engines  to  get  good  fuel  economy  under 
varying  loads,  although  some  of  the  later  types  attempt  to  attain 
this  end. 

With  a  modern  steam  engine  rated  at  1000  horse  power,  the 
consumption  of  steam  is  nearly  proportional  to  the  load  whether 
the  engine  is  developing  1200  or  800  horse  power,  while  the  waste 


THE    BLAST    FURNACE. 


119 


will  not  be  prohibitory  even  if  the  load  falls  to  500  or  rises  to 
1500  horse  power. 

On  the  other  hand  most  gas   engines,  under  such  variations, 

FIG.  II-F. — INDICATOR  CARDS  FROM  GAS  AND  STEAM  ENGINES. 

. — 100  Ibs. 


32"x  48"CORLISS  CONDENSING  ENGINE. 


— 100  Ibs. 


40  x  48  PORTER-ALLEN  ENGINE. 


15"x22"THREE-CYLINDER  WESTINGHOUSE  GAS-ENGINE. 

;show  a  much  greater  consumption  of  fuel  than  with  their  normal 
load,  and  they  give  an  unsatisfactory  speed  regulation.  It  may 
also  be  said  that  no  overload  is  practicable,  for  the  rating  is  the 
maximum  capacity.  The  indicator  cards  given  in  Fig.  II-F,  will 


120  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

exhibit  the  difference  between  the  work  of  a  steam  engine  and  an 
ordinary  gas  motor.  The  term  "ordinary"  gas  motor  is  used  as 
the  Letombe  engine  aims  to  overcome  this  difficulty ;  under  a  light 
load  this  engine  takes  a  small  quantity  of  gas  and  a  very  large 
quantity  of  air,  say  to  a  total  volume  of  100,  and  compresses  the 
mixture  to  a  pressure  of  say  300  before  ignition.  Under 'a  full 
load  it  takes  a  larger  amount  of  gas  and  the  proper  amount  of  air 
to  give  the  best  explosion,  the  total  volume  being  say  70,  and  this 
is  compressed  to  a  pressure  of  say  200.  These  figures  are  not  accu- 
rate, but  they  will  illustrate  the  principle  of  getting  a  higher  com- 
pression for  the  poorer  mixture,  and  thus  always  obtaining  a  sharp 
explosion. 

(11)  In  a  gas  engine  there  is  probably  an  accentuation  of  a  con- 
dition existing  to  some  extent  in  heavy  steam  engines.  When  the 
weight  of  the  reciprocating  parts  is  very  great,  the  force  of  the 
steam  at  the  beginning  of  the  stroke  is  absorbed  by  the  inertia 
of  the  reciprocating  parts  and  the  effect  upon  the  crank  pin  may 
sometimes  be  negative.  It  would  seem  probable  that  in  a  gas 
engine  this  condition  should  be  more  strongly  marked,  as  the 
part*  are  very  heavy  and  the  ratio  of  crank  to  connecting  rod  is 
larger  than  in  the  steam  engine. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  will  be  seen  that  there  are  many 
difficulties,  but  the  foreign  engineers  have  struggled  with  them. 
The  greatest  bugbear  is  the  old  four  cycle  system,  giving  only  one 
impulse  in  two  revolutions,  thereby  reducing  the  horse  power  of 
the  engine  and  giving  a  variable  speed.  The  most  radical  depar- 
ture is  in  what  is  known  as  the  Oechelhauser  motor,  first  installed 
at  Horde  and  shown  in  Fig.  II-Gr.  In  this  construction  the 
cylinder  is  open  at  both  ends  and  is  a  true  cylinder  throughout, 
save  the  opening  near  either  end  for  gas,  air  and  exhaust.  There 
are  two  pistons  working  in  opposite  directions,  the  piston  rods 
projecting  out  through  the  two  open  ends.  When  they  are  nearest 
together  the  space  between  them  is  the  ignition  chamber,  and  the 
explosion  forces  one  piston  in  one  direction  and  the  other  in  the 
opposite  way,  nothing  being  exposed  to  the  force  of  this  explosion 
cave  the  smooth  walls  of  the  cylinder  and  the  heads  of  the  pistons. 
When  the  pistons  reach  the  end  of  their  stroke  they  uncover  pas- 
sages in  the  walls  of  the  cylinder  which  connect  with  the  exhaust 
and  then  with  both  air  and  gas,  the  latter  being  under  pressure. 
Air  is  blown  through  from  one  end  to  the  other  to  wash  out  the 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE. 

FIG.  II-Gr. — OECHELHAUSER  GAS  ENGINE. 


121 


122  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

dead  products  of  combustion,,  and  furnish  air  for  the  next  explo- 
sion, and  then  a  measured  quantity  of  gas  is  forced  in.  All  this  is 
done  quickly  and  then  the  two  pistons  on  the  return  stroke  close 
these  openings  and  pass  over  them  and  slide  toward  each  other, 
compressing  the  mixture  between  them  ready  for  the  electric  spark. 
An  impulse  on  every  revolution  is  thus  obtained  and  the  valves  are 
removed  from  all  heat  and  all  shock. 

The  one  inherent  fault  in  this  type  of  machine  is  the  system  of 
crank  shaft  and  connecting  rods.  It  is  evident  that  both  pistons 
must  be  connected  with  the  same  shaft,  and  this  makes  necessary 
that  one  piston  rod  .must  be  supplied  with  a  cross  head  and  two 
very  long  connecting  rods,  and  that  the  main  shaft  itself  be  of  a 
very  complicated  construction  with  a  number  of  bearings.  The 
•earlier  engines  of  this  kind  were  not  strong  enough  and  the  later 
examples  have  been  made  much  heavier.  The  Koerting  engine, 
shown  in  Fig.  II-H,  is  designed  to  take  an  impulse  on  each  and 
every  stroke,  a  compressor  being  used  to  force  the  gas  and  air  into 
the  cylinders. 

(d)  Preheating  the  air  going  to  stoves. 

Under  steam  engine  practice  the  sensible  heat  of  the  tunnel 
head  gases  is  completely  used  except  what  is  lost  by  radiation,  for 
a  warm  gas  entering  the  stoves  or  boilers  means  a  correspondingly 
increased  production  of  heat.  When  the  gas  goes  to  scrubbers 
on  the  way  to  the  gas  engines,  this  sensible  heat  is  wholly  lost, 
and  it  may  be  worth  while  inquiring  whether  this  heat  can  be 
used  to  preheat  the  air  going  to  the  stoves. 

If  one  third  of  all  the  gas  goes  to  the  stoves  and  3551  cubic 
metres  of  gas  are  made  per  ton  of  iron,  then  1284  cubic  metres 
of  gas  go  to  the  stoves  per  ton  of  iron,  and  if  30  per  cent,  excess 
air  be  added,  then  about  1060  cubic  metres  of  air  must  be  supplied. 
The  other  two-thirds  of  the  gas  will  go  to  the  gas  engines  and 
we  will,  therefore,  have  the  sensible  heat  of  about  2270  cubic  metres 
of  gas  available  for  heating  1060  cubic  metres  of  air.  Assuming 
that  the  air  be  heated  to  practically  the  same  temperature  as  the 
gases,  i.  e.  from  16°  C= 60°  F.  to  120°  C=250°  F.  the  heat 
thereby  given  to  the  air  will  be 

1060X.307X104=33880  calories 

while  the  total  heat  created  by  the  combustion  of  the  gas  in  the 
stoves  will  be 

1284X823=1,067,000, 


THE   BLAST   FURNACE. 


123 


FIG.  II-H. — KOERTING  DOUBLE-ACTING  GAS  ENGINE. 


124  METALLURGY    OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

so  that  the  gain  from  thus  preheating  the  air  is  a  little  over  3  per 
cent,  of  the  total  heat  produced  in  the  stoves.  If  the  tunnel  head 
gases  were  much  hotter  the  gain  would  be  cprrespondingly  in- 
creased, but  with  a  cold  top  the  gain  will  not  warrant  any  expendi- 
ture of  capital. 

It  is  quite  possible,  however,  that  the  exhaust  from  gas  engines 
can  profitably  be  employed  in  this  work.  If  two-thirds  of  the 
gases  are  used  in  engines  the  products  of  combustion  will  far  ex- 
ceed the  volume  of  air  going  to  the  stoves,  and  if  these  products 
escape  at  a  high  temperature  the  air  for  the  stoves  could  be 
heated  very  nearly  to  that  temperature  by  a  suitable  system  of 
pipes  and  a  great  improvement  made  in  the  efficiency  of  the  ovens, 
while  the  amount  of  gas  needed  by  them  could  be  decreased. 

SEC.  Ilk — The  Relation  Between  the  Physical  and  Chemical! 
Qualities  of  Cast  Iron. — The  pig  iron  used  in  the  great  steel  works 
of  the  country  is  valued  entirely  according  to  its  chemical  com- 
position, and  little  or  no  account  is  taken  of  it's  physical  appear- 
ance, commonly  known  as  its  "fracture/5  save  as  a  rough  and  ready 
way  of  estimating  in  advance  its  chemical  formula.  Within  com- 
paratively few  years  there  has  been  a  strong  movement  among 
pig-iron  users  and  manufacturers  to  adopt  the  same  system  through- 
out the  general  trade,  but  it  is  difficult  to  alter  the  prejudices  of 
generations,  and  it  is  hard  for  uneducated  foundrymen  to  cast 
away  all  their  knowledge  of  fractures  gained  by  years  of  obser- 
vation, and  rely  on  tables  of  analyses  with  mystic  decimals  show- 
ing the  proportions  of  elements  of  whose  very  existence  they  have 
been  ignorant. 

The  matter  is  not  made  better  by  the  fact  that  there  are  many 
things  not  fully  understood  concerning  the  relation  between  the 
chemical  and  physical  qualities,  one  instance  in  point  being  the 
superiority  of  charcoal  cast-iron,  and  the  better  quality  obtained 
by  melting  in  air  furnaces.  As  long  as  such  phenomena  are  not 
fully  explained  by  the  scientists,  or  as  long  as  they  disagree  in 
their  explanations,  so  long  must  the  aforesaid  foundrymen  be  par- 
doned for  clinging  to  their  convictions. 

The  trouble  is  that  most  of  the  deductions  concerning  cast-iron 
have  been  made  without  complete  data,  and  by  men  who  did  not 
know  that  the  data  were  incomplete;  who,  for  instance,  took 
no  account  of  manganese  since  it  was  not  given  in  the  report  of  the 
chemist ;  or  who  accepted  glaring  palpable  errors  like  those  pointed 


THE   BLAST    FURNACE.  125 

out  by  Prof.  Howe,  where  an  average  of  a  whole  class  of  iron  is 
reported  as  containing  nearly  15  per  cent,  of  carbon,  with  one  speci- 
men holding  over  16  per  cent,  of  graphite.  When  such  absurdities 
are  put  into  the  hands  of  unscientific  foundrymen  it  is  no  wonder 
that  the  conclusions  are  slightly  erratic. 

The  most  scientific  discussion  of  the  constitution  of  cast-iron 
has  been  contributed  by  Prof.  Howe.  His  opinions  are  not  neces- 
sarily right  because  they  are  enunciated  in  scientific  language,  or 
because  they  embody  the  latest  results  of  microscopic  investiga- 
tion, but  they  are  very  likely  to  be  right,  as  the  reader  may  feel 
quite  sure  he  is  not  being  misled  by  any  fallacy.  In  reading  any 
such  paper  on  abstruse  subjects,  it  is  easy  to  be  sidetracked 
and  to  overlook  the  continuity  of  the  line  of  thought,  for  we  are 
asked  to  concentrate  into  a  few  minutes  the  work  of  months,  but 
the  investigator  who  has  worked  for  months  or  years  is  supposed 
to  consider  every  sidelight  and  every  difficulty,  and  the  weight 
of  his  conclusions  oftentimes  depends  fully  as  much  upon  his  repu- 
tation for  clear  thought  as  upon  the  extent  of  his  practical  experi- 
ence. 

The  argument  of  Prof.  Howe  is  that  pig-iron  and  steel  form 
a  continuous  series;  that,  from  one  point  of  view,  steel  is  a  grade 
of  cast-iron  and  cast-iron  a  grade  of  steel.  This  is  an  assumption 
which  needs  no  justification  to  the  open-hearth  melter,  who  is  ac- 
customed to  see  a  bath  of  pig-iron  change  by  insensible  grada- 
tions through  a  thousand  intermediate  stages  from  the  richest 
pig  to  the  condition  of  finished  steel. 

It  is  shown  in  Chapter  XV  that  steel  is  a  mixture  or  alloy  of 
two  components,  ferrite  and  cemeniite,  but  that  these  two  sub- 
stances combine  together  in  one  definite  proportion  and  in  one 
proportion  only  to  form  pearlite.  The  proportion  is  seven  parts 
of  ferrite  to  one  of  cementite,  so  that  pearlite  contains  neces- 
sarily about  0.80  per  cent,  of  carbon.  It  follows  that  steel  or 
iron  containing  more  than  0.80  per  cent,  of  carbon  cannot  all  be 
pearlite,  but  that  the  pearlite  which  is  present  will  contain,  if  the 
metal  is  cooled  slowly,  the  full  quantity  of  carbon  represented  by 
0.80  per  cent,  of  the  mass,  and  that  the  rest  of  the  carbon  will 
exist  in  some  other  form.  Part  may  exist  in  combination  with 
\  the  iron  as  cementite,  and  part  may  exist  in  the  free  state  as 
graphite.  Steel  containing  0.90  per  cent,  of  carbon  if  cooled 
slowly  will  be  mostly  pearlite,  but  will  usually  contain  a  trace  of 


12G  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

graphite  and  a  certain  amount  of  cementite.  Metal  containing- 
4  per  cent,  of  carbon  cannot  contain  any  more  pearlite  than  the 
steel  just  mentioned,  but  there  will  be  just  so  much  more  carbon 
to  form  either  graphite  or  cementite. 

The  amount  of  graphite  will  depend  upon  several  conditions. 
A.  hot  blast-furnace  will  give  a  higher  percentage  than  a  cold 
furnace,  and  high  silicon  will  also  cause  the  separation  of  free 
carbon,  while  manganese  and  sulphur  will  cause  the  carbon  to 
remain  combined.  After  subtracting  the  graphite  from  our  cal- 
culation, the  remaining  carbon  and  iron  form  a  matrix  which 
may  be  assumed  to  follow  the  laws  that  hold  good  for  all  the  grades 
that  are  usually  known  as  steel. 

Thus,  as  stated  by  Prof.  Howe,  cast-iron  with  1.25  per  cenfl 
combined  carbon  is  really  steel  of  1.25  per  cent,  carbon,  but  weak- 
ened and  embrittled  by  graphite.  In  the  same  way  he  regards 
cast-iron  with  3  per  cent,  of  combined  carbon  plus  1  per  cent,  of 
graphite  as  essentially  a  mechanical  mixture  of  two  substances; 
(1)  99  parts  white  cast-iron,  containing  3  per  cent,  of  combined 
carbon,  and  (2)  1  part  of  graphite. 

The  contention  that  graphite  "weakens  and  embrittles"  cast- 
iron  is  directly  opposed  to  the  views  of  most  practical  men,  but  it 
seems  as  if  he  has  made  a  good  argument,  for  his  reasoning  is 
founded  on  the  undeniable  fact  that  ordinary  pig-irons,  when  con- 
taining about  the  same  proportion  of  silicon,  manganese  and  sul- 
phur, carry  the  same  proportion  of  total  carbon,  no  matter  whether 
they  are  gray  or  white.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  an  increase  in 
the  proportion  of  graphite  means  a  corresponding  decrease  in 
the  proportion  of  combined  carbon,  and  since  one  quarter  of  the 
total  carbon  is  in  the  form  of  pearlite,  and  since  cementite  must 
contain  6.57  per  cent,  of  carbon,  it  follows  that  if  much  carbon 
exists  as  graphite,  the  proportion  of  cementite  present  rapidly 
decreases  and  the  proportion  of  soft  ferrite  rapidly  increases,  with 
a  consequent  toughening  of  the  mass.  This  toughening  is  usually 
ascribed  to  graphite,  when  in  reality  the  graphite  weakens  the  iron 
by  destroying  its  continuity,  but  the  injury  caused  in  this  way  is 
entirely  overshadowed  by  the  fact  that  as  long  as  it  exists  as  graph- 
ite, it  cannot  at  the  same  time  exist  as  cementite. 

Thus  an  element  like  silicon  will  toughen  iron  because  it  drives 
the  carbon  into  the  condition  of  graphite,  while  manganese  will 
make  it  brittle,  because  it  causes  it  to  combine.  It  is  a  generally 


THE    BLAST    FURNACE. 


127 


accepted  theory,  although  not  undisputed,  that  charcoal  pig-iron 
contains  less  carbon  than  coke-iron,  and  if  this  is  true,  the  better 
quality  of  charcoal-iron  could  easily  be  explained  by  a  low  propor- 
tion of  cementite  and  also  a  low  proportion  of  graphite,  two  con- 
ditions which  can  seldom  be  found  in  iron.  This  would  also 
explain  why  melting  charcoal-iron  in  cupolas  takes  awav  its  superi- 
ority, for  the  iron  absorbs  carbon  in  melting  until  it  is  of  the  same 
composition  as  irons  made  in  a  coke  furnace,  so  that  to  retain  its 
quality  it  is  necessary  to  melt  it  in  an  air  furnace.  It  is  necessary, 
however,  to  consider  that  the  lower  proportion  of  carbon  in  char- 
coal-iron is  not  an  established  fact,  for  some  authorities,  like  Stead, 
aver  that  the  opposite  is  the  case,  and  Prof.  Howe,  in  a  private  com- 
munication, after  reading  this  manuscript,  states  that  the  evidence 
on  this  point  is  inconclusive,  and  that  the  lower  content  may  be- 
assumed  only  as  a  probability. 

TABLE  II-N". 
Composition  of  Various  Pig-irons  and  Spiegels. 


<K* 

op. 
dg 

*A 
i 

2 
3 

5 
6 
7 
8 
0 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 

10 

Chemical  Composition,  Per  Cent. 

Kind  of  Iron. 

Authority. 

Fe 

Graph 
ite. 

Comb. 
Carb. 

Si 

P 

S 

Mn 

92.37 
92.31 
94.66 
94.48 
94.68 

3.52 
2.99 
2.50 
2.02 

0.13 
0.37 
1.52 

1.98 
8.83 
4.27 
4.78 
5.63 
6.53 
7.20 
3.56 
2.56 
1.85 
.98 
.30 
.05 
.06 
.23 
.11 

2.44 
2.52 
.72 
.56 
.41 
1.10 
.52 
.42 
.97 
.14 
4.90 
4.20 
10.74 
12.60 
15.94 
8.77 
11.20 
14.00 
17.80 

1.25 
1.08 
.26 
.19 
.04 

.02 
.02 
tr. 
.08 
.02 

.28 
.    .72 
.34 
.67 
.98 
8.11 
19.74 
41.82 
80.04 
80.04 
23.90 
50.00 
19.64 
19.74 
24.36 
2.42 
2.78 
1.95 
1.07 

No.  1  Gray, 
No.  2  Gray, 
No.  3  Gray, 
Mottled, 
White, 
Spiegel, 

Ferro-manganese, 
u 
Silico-spiegel, 
« 

Ferro-silicon, 

« 

)    Hart  man. 
Jour.  Frank. 

\S6b»9 

J        p.  132. 

Hadfleld, 
Journal 
I.  and  S.  /"., 
Vol.  11,1889, 
p.  226. 

1 

•   • 

.33 
.67 
.90 
2.35 
1.85 
1.20 
J55 

.   . 

In  Table  II-N  are  given  a  few  samples  of  pig-irons  and  spiegeJs, 
showing  in  a  general  way  the  composition  of  the  different  grades 
and  the  effect  of  silicon  and  manganese.  Silicon,  when  present 
in  large  proportions,  reduces  very  considerably  the  total  carbon 
and  compels  whatever  amount  is  present  to  be  mainly  in  the  form 
of  graphite.  Manganese  exerts  an  exactly  opposite  influence,  in- 
creasing the  total  carbon  and  keeping  it  in  the  combined  form. 
Sulphur  seems  also  to  keep  the  carbon  combined,  but  whether  it 


128  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

increases  the  total  amount  is  not  certain.  Phosphorus  probably 
exerts  little  influence  upon  the  total  carbon  content  or  upon  ita 
condition,  but  in  itself  and  by  virtue  of  its  own  action  it  increases 
the  fluidity  of  the  iron,  which  is  a  valuable  property  in  the 
foundry,  but  increases  also  its  brittleness  which  is  objectionable. 
Irons  with  three  per  cent,  of  phosphorus  are  in  demand  for  ad- 
mixtures with  other  irons,  so  as  to  give  an  average  content  01  about 
one  per  cent.,  but  such  a  high  proportion  is  not  allowable  in  a 
great  deal  of  work  where  the  castings  are  exposed  to  shock.  It  is 
hard  to  state  just  what  effect  silicon,  manganese  and  sulphur  have 
in  themselves,  as  their  action  is  obscured  by  the  influence  they  have 
in  determining  the  condition  of  the  carbon  and  thereby  altering 
the  whole  character  of  the  metal. 


CHAPTER    III. 

WROUGHT    IRON. 

SECTION  Ilia. — General  Description  of  the  Puddling  Process. — 
When  pig-iron  is  melted  on  a  hearth  of  iron  ore  and  is  exposed 
after  fusion  to  the  continued  action  of  the  flame,  there  is  a  rapid 
oxidation  of  the  metalloids  contained  in  the  iron.  The  silicon, 
manganese,  sulphur  and  phosphorus  unite  with  oxygen  and  iron 
oxide  to  form  a  slag,  while  the  carbon  escapes  with  the  products  of 
combustion  as  carbonic  oxide  and  carbonic  acid.  By  the  departure  of 
these  alloyed  elements,  the  iron  becomes  very  much  less  fusible,  and 
when  the  operation  is  conducted  in  an  ordinary  reverberatory  fur- 
nace the  heat  is  not  sufficient  to  keep  the  mass  liquid.  It  first  be- 
comes viscous,  then  pasty,  and  finally  is  worked  into  balls,  taken 
from  the  furnace,  and  squeezed  or  hammered  into  a  bloom  fit 
for  rolling. 

The  crude  puddle-ball,  when  drawn  from  the  furnace,  is  made 
up  of  an  innumerable  number  of  globules  of  nearly  pure  iron, 
while  the  interstices  between  the  particles  are  filled  with  slag. 
By  the  action  of  the  squeezer  much  of  this  slag  is  expelled, 
and  each  subsequent  rolling  removes  a  further  quantity,  but  it 
is  impossible  to  get  rid  of  all  the  cinder,  and  it  forms  a  skeleton 
which  permeates  the  entire  mass  of  the  finished  bar,  forming 
planes  of  separation  between  the  particles  of  metallic  iron. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  these  films  must  weaken  the  ma- 
terial by  destroying  the  continuity  of  the  structure  and  the  cohesion 
of  the  particles,  and  in  this  respect  the  slag  is  an  injury.  In 
other  ways  it'  is  of  incalculable  benefit,  for  the  sulphur  and  phos- 
phorus are  never  entirely  removed  in  the  process  of  puddling, 
and  there  is  usually  a  sufficient  percentage  of  them  left  in  the 
product  to  give  bad  results  if  they  were  able  to  exert  their  full 
effect  in  producing  crystallization,  but  the  network  of  slag  pre- 
vents in  great  measure  the  tendency  to  crystallize  and  thus  allows 
the  presence  of  a  considerable  proportion  of  these  elements. 

129 


130  METALLURGY    OE    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

bar-iron  be  melted  in  a  crucible,  the  slag  separates  and  the  impuri- 
ties have  a  chance  to  exert  their  full  force.  Some  pure  irons  will 
successfully  undergo  this  test,  but  most  brands,  including  many 
of  high  reputation  for  quality,  give  a  perfectly  worthless  metal 
after  fusion,  owing  to  the  high  percentages  of  impurities  they 
contain.  The  quality  of  the  finished  metal,  therefore,  is  not  en- 
tirely dependent  upon  its  composition,  but  upon  the  way  in  which 
it  has  been  heated  and  worked. 

The  piece  of  iron  made  in  the  first  rolling  of  the  puddle-ball 
is  a  rough,  crude  product  known  as  muck  bar.  For  the  making  of 
merchant  iron,  this  intermediate  product,  together  with  miscel- 
laneous wrought-iron  scrap,  is  bundled  into  "piles"  so  as  to  give  a 
bloom  of  proper  sectional  area,  and  this,  after  being  heated  to 
a  welding  heat,  is  rolled  into  the  desired  shape.  If  the  pile  were 
square  and  were  made  up  of  similar  pieces  of  equal  length,  each 
layer  being  at  right  angles  to  the  one  below,  and  if  the  bloom  were 
rolled  equally  in  each  direction,  it  is  evident  that  the  plate  would  be 
as  strong  in  the  line  of  its  length  as  of  its  breadth ;  but  as  the  bars 
from  which  the  pile  is  formed  have  been  made  by  stretching  the 
material  in  one  way,  and  as  most  practical  work  requires  a  piece  of 
greater  length  than  width,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  finished  product 
will  show  much  better  results  when  tested  in  the  direction  of  its 
length  than  of  its  width.  The  result  will  also  depend  upon  the 
skill  with  which  the  pile  has  been  constructed,  upon  the  perfection 
of  the  welding  as  influenced  by  the  heating  and  the  rapidity  of 
handling,  and  upon  the  freedom  of  the  iron  from  thick  layers  of 
slag.  ' 

SEC.  Illb. — Effect  of  Silicon,  Manganese  and  Carbon  upon  the 
Operation  of  Puddling. — Aside  from  these  important  considera- 
tions of  content  of  slag  and  amount  of  work,  the  character  of 
the  product  will  depend  upon  its  chemical  composition,  and  this 
in  turn  depends  upon  the  composition  of  the  pig-iron  from  which 
it  is  made  and  upon  the  care  and  skill  with  which  the  operation 
has  been  conducted.  There  are  five  elements  commonly  found  in 
pig-iron  which  have  an  important  bearing  on  the  character  of  the 
finished  material  and  on  the  work  of  puddling,  and  these  will  be 
considered  separately. 

Silicon.— This  element  is  present  to  greater  or  less  extent  in 
all  pig-irons,  and  may  be  regarded  as  an  almost  unmitigated  evil, 
since  its  oxidation  produces  silica  and  this  is  just  what  is  not 


WROUGHT   IRON.  131 

wanted  to  produce  a  basic  slag.  Moreover,  its  union  with  oxygen 
does  not  form  a  gas,  and  during  its  elimination  the  bath  lies  dead 
and  sluggish.  It  is  true  that  metallic  iron  is  set  free  by  the  absorp- 
tion of  oxygen  from  the  ore,  but  this  gain  is  more  than  offset  by 
the  iron  oxide  which  is  held  prisoner  by  the  silica.  Some  silicon 
is  oxidized  during  the  melting,  so  that,  with  a  low  initial  percentage 
in  the  iron,  the  boil  begins  very  soon  after  melting.  With  work- 
men accustomed  to  high  silicon  iron,  there  is  danger  of  consider- 
able waste  in  using  a  lower  grade,  because  the  latter  melts  at  a 
higher  temperature,  and,  since  there  is  not  enough  silica  produced 
from  the  portions  first  melted  to  give  a  proper  quantity  of  slag, 
the  bare  metal  is  exposed  after  melting  to  a  hot  flame,  with  the 
result  that  copious  fumes  of  iron  oxide  escape  to  the  stack.  The 
same  trouble  is  sometimes  experienced  in  changing  from  a  pig- 
iron  which  has  been  cast  in  sand  to  one  which  has  been  cast  in 
chills,  but  careful  practice  has  shown  that  this  loss  in  both  cases 
can  be  avoided  by  regulating  the  operation  so  that  all  the  iron 
is  melted  at  one  time,  and  by  keeping  the  metal  covered  with  a 
fluid  cinder,  better  results  being  obtained,  both  in  time  and  waste, 
than  with  an  iron  containing  a  higher  percentage  of  silicon,  or 
one  which  carries  a  quantity  of  adhering  sand. 

Manganese. — Although  acting  in  the  same  way  as  silicon  in 
giving  a  dead  bath,  manganese  is  not  quite  as  objectionable,  for 
its  oxide  is  a  base  which  replaces  and  saves  an  equal  quantity  of 
iron  oxide,  and  it  also  aids  in  the  elimination  of  sulphur. 

Carbon. — Unlike  silicon,  which  varies  in  different  forge- 
irons  from  0.25  to  1.25  per  cent.,  and  manganese,  which  is 
present  in  all  proportions  from  a  trace  to  1.5  per  cent.,  pig- 
iron  of  all  kinds  contains  a  considerable  proportion  of 
carbon.  Leaving  out  of  the  question  irons  very  high  in  silicon 
or  manganese,  and  speaking  only  of  ordinary  forge-irons,  it 
may  be  said  that  the  carbon  runs  from  3.0  to  4.0  per  cent.  It 
is  often  supposed  that  a  mottled  or  white  iron  will  necessarily  be 
low  in  this  element,  but  such  is  by  no  means  a  certainty,  for  the 
close  grain  may  arise  from  low  silicon  which  is  an  advantage, 
from  high  manganese  which  is  a  disadvantage,  or  from  sulphur 
which  is  a  decided  injury. 

Low  carbon,  moreover,  is  not  such  an  extremely  important  mat- 
ter, for  although  the  elimination  of  this  element  lengthens  the 
period  of  the  boil,  it  must  be  considered  that  the  carbon  facilitates 


132  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

fusion,  and  that  its  union  with  the  oxygen  of  the  ore  reduces  me- 
tallic iron  without  forming  any  objectionable  component  of  the 
slag. 

SEC.  IIIc. — History  of  sulphur  and  phosphorus  in  the  puddling 
furnace. — The  elements  which  have  thus  far  been  found  to  be  fac* 
tors  in  the  operation  are  silicon,  manganese  and  carbon.  In  the 
case  of  reasonably  pure  irons,  like  those  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
ordinary  acid  Bessemer  and  open-hearth  steels,  these  are  all  that  it 
would  be  necessary  to  discuss,  for  with  such  irons  it  would  suffice 
to  eliminate  these  three  elements  in  the  presence  of  any  ordinary 
basic  slag,  and  by  balling  and  working  the  pasty  mass,  produce  a 
wrought-iron  of  good  quality.  These  pure  irons,  however,  are  not 
always  obtainable  at  as  low  a  cost  as  those  containing  a  greater 
percentage  of  phosphorus  and  sulphur,  so  that  it  is  necessary  to 
consider  the  effect  of  these  impurities. 

Sulphur. — It  was  explained  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  the 
content  of  sulphur  in  pig-iron  is  determined  much  more  by  the 
working  of  the  blast-furnace  than  by  the  nature  of  the  ore ;  but  the 
continual  demand  for  a  low-silicon,  low-carbon,  close-grained  iron 
for  the  puddler  puts  the  furnaceman  between  two  fires,  and  the 
not  infrequent  result  is  a  pig  containing  from  .10  to  .50  per  cent. 
of  sulphur.  This  is  materially  reduced  in  the  process  of  puddling 
by  passing  away  as  sulphurous  acid  in  the  waste  gases  and  by 
being  carried  off  in  the  cinder  in  combination  with  iron  and  man- 
ganese. ^  f 

Phosphorus. — It  has  also  been  explained  that  the  content  of 
phosphorus  in  pig-iron  is  not  determined  in  any  appreciable  degree 
by  the  furnaceman,  for  under  ordinary  conditions  almost  all  that 
exists  in  the  ore  and  fuel  is  found  in  the  product.  In  the  puddle- 
furnace,  on  the  contrary,  this  metalloid  is  under  more  or  less  con- 
trol, and  it  may  be  roughly  stated  that  three-quarters  of  the  total 
content  may  be  eliminated,  this  broad  formula  being  profoundly 
influenced  by  the  skill  of  the  puddler  and  the  purity  of  the  re- 
agents. The  presence  of  phosphorus  in  the  ore  used  for  fettling 
the  hearth  must  necessarily  detract  just  so  much  from  the  purifying 
power  of  the  slag  made  from  it,  while  the  silica  in  the  ore  decreases 
the  basicity  of  the  slag  and,  therefore,  its  capacity  for  absorbing 
phosphorus;  needless  to  say  that  silicon  in  the  iron,  producing 
silica  by  oxidation,  acts  in  the  same  way.  A  rough  sketch  of  the 
chemical  history  of  the  puddling  process  is  shown  by  Table  III-A, 


WROUGHT  IRON. 


133 


which  gives  the  composition  of  metal  and  slag  at  various  stages  of 
the  operation. 

TABLE  III-A. 

Elimination  of  the  Metalloids  in  the  Puddling  Process. 


Nature  of 
Sample. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

Metal. 

Slag. 

Si 

Carbon 

a 
S 

P 

S 

SiOa 

810, 

I 

FeO 

MnO 

P.O. 

PIG  IRON  No.  1, 
Refined, 
Finished  bar, 

2.80 
.12 
.19 

3.12 
2.50 
tr. 

1.47 

.11 

.84 
.27 

tr. 
tr. 

PIG  IRON  No.  2, 
After  melting. 
During  the  boil 
«        «     « 

Finished  bar, 

1.236 
.821 
.200 
.051 
.098 

3.180 
2.830 
2.800 
1.170 
.150 

1.494 

.111 

'.  • 

.913 
.582 
.519 
.452 

.096 

PIG  IRON  No.  3, 
Refined, 
Forming  into 
grain, 
Dropping  on 
frain, 
shed  bar, 

1.36 
.07 

.04 

.04 

.07 

3.20 
2.00 

1.90 

1.15 

.05 

1.39 
.32 

.20 

.30 
.33 

.17 
.06 

.02 

tr. 
.04 

PIG  IRON  No.  4, 
After  melting, 
Bath  growing 
thicker, 
Coming  up  on 
boil, 
Beginning  to 
drop. 
Dropped;  in- 
fusible, 
Balling, 
Finished  bar, 

1 

_6 

1 

0 

1.11 
.14 

0.61 
1.89 
1.75 
1.57 

1.10 
.25 
.16 

1.75 
tr. 

.78 
tr. 
.09 
tr. 

tr. 
tr. 

.07 

.36 
.25 

.26 
.23 

.23 
.25 
.09 

24.04 
27.17 
27.77 
27.46 

25.72 
15.79 

18.74 
5.28 
4.81 
4.19 

4.20 
9.21 

51.22 
59.56 
59.95 
58.41 

60.61 
69.52 

4.42 
5.17 

5.29 
55.45 

4.65 
2.81 

1.30 
2.12 
2.19 

2.22 

2.07 
1.66 

.74 
1.01 

1.37 
.91 
.28 

NOTE. The  data  on  pig-irons  Nos.  1,  2  and  3  are  taken  from  investigations 

by  Bell ;  see  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  Iv  1877,  pages  120  and  122. 

Those  on  No.  4  are  from  a  paper  by  Louis,  Journal  I.  and  8.  L,  Vol.  I,  1879, 
p.  222,  it  being  stated  that  after  the  fourth  test  it  was  impossible  to  get  a  fair 
average  owing  to  the  viscosity  of  the  mass,  and  hence  the  analyses  must  be  con- 
sidered only  approximately  representative. 

The  abbreviation  tr.  signifies  trace,  while  comb,  and  graph,  stand  for  com- 
bined and  graphitic  carbon. 

SEC   Hid— Effect  of  the  temperature  of  the  furnace  upon  the 
yuddling  process.-The  temperature  of  the  furnace  has  an  impoi 
tant  bearing  o*  the  character  of  the  product,  particularly  when 
much  carbon  is  present.    Experiments  are  cited  by  Stead*  showing 

*  Journal  L  and  S.  7,  Vol.  II,  1877,  p.  372. 


134  METALLURGY  'OF    IRON    AXD   STEEL. 

that  in  the  refining  process,  which  corresponds  to  the  first  part  of 
the  puddling  process,  the  elimination  of  phosphorus  was  inversely 
as  the  temperature,  ranging  from  46  per  cent,  in  hot  charges  to  91 
per  cent,  with  cold  working,  in  each  case  about  96  per  cent,  of  the 
silicon  and  30  to  40  per  cent,  of  the  carbon  being  oxidized.  For 
many  years  the  phenomenon  was  explained  by  supposing  that  phos- 
phorus would  not  unite  with  oxygen  at  high  temperatures,  and  this 
was  deemed  to  be  conclusively  proven  by  the  fact  that  phosphorus 
was  not  burned  in  the  acid  Bessemer  converter.  It  is  now  known 
that  the  reduction  of  phosphorus  by  high  heat  in  the  puddling- 
furnace  is  due  to  the  very  simple  fact  that  carbon  has  a  greater 
affinity  for  oxygen  as  the  temperature  rises,  so  that  it  reduces  the 
phosphate  of  iron  and  returns  the  phosphorus  to  the  metal.  Thus 
there  is  an  inversion  of  the  relative  attraction  of  carbon  and  phos- 
phorus for  oxygen  rather  than  a  negation  of  affinities.  These  facts 
are  now  thoroughly  understood  in  the  metallurgical  world,  and,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  refinery  produces  a  dephosphorized  high-carbon 
metal  by  carrying  on  the  oxidation  in  a  cool  furnace,  while  on  the 
other  the  basic  Bessemer  eliminates  phosphorus  at  the  highest 
temperatures  by  the  use  of  irreducible  bases. 

It  is  the  practice  at  most  works  to  remove  part  of  the  slag  while 
the  metal  is  high  in  carbon,  the  product  so  made  being  called  "boil- 
ings," while  the  slag  which  is  left  in  the  furnace  at  the  end  of  the 
operation  and  which  is  sometimes  tapped  from  the  bottom  is  called 
"tappings."  This  last  cinder  is  often  allowed  to  remain,  or,  if 
tapped,  is  charged  with  the  next  heat  in  order  to  furnish  a  rich 
slag  in  the  early  part  of  the  process,  since  the  fettling  of  iron  ore 
is  so  infusible  that  it  cannot  furnish  a  cinder  until  a  high  tempera- 
ture is  attained.  The  removal  of  the  "boilings"  during  the  opera- 
tion hastens  the  work,  gives  less  cutting  of  the  bottom,  and  renders 
the  "balling"  easier.  It  also  follows  that  it  aids  dephosphoriza- 
tion,  for  during  the  first  part  of  the  operation  the  charge  is  natur- 
ally at  a  low  temperature,  and  the  slag,  therefore,  carries  a  higher 
percentage  of  phosphorus  than  it  would  retain  if  it  were  kept  in 
the  furnace  and  exposed  to  a  high  temperature  and  the  reducing 
action  of  carbon.  By  tapping  during  the  first  part  of  the  boil,  the 
greater  part  of  the  silica  and  phosphorus  is  removed  and  there  is  an 
opportunity  to  make  a  new  slag  richer  in  iron  and  of  greater  de- 
phosphorizing power. 

It  is  the  first  slag  which  is  generally  known  as  puddle  or  mill 


WROUGHT   IRON. 


135 


winder  and  which  is  often  used  in  the  blast-furnace.  It  is  very 
variable  in  composition,  as  will  be  evident  from  Table  III-B,  which 
gives  analyses  from  various  sources  indicating  the  general  nature  of 
the  material. 

TABLE  III-B. 

Analyses  of  Puddle  or  Mill  Cinder. 


Where  Made. 

Authority. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

SiO, 

Fe 

P 

Mn 

8 

Harrisburg,  Pa., 
(i 

Troy,  N.  Y., 
Ironton,  Ohio, 
Marietta,  Ohio, 

Three  English  Works, 
"  Boilings," 

Three  English  Works, 
"  Tappings," 

Author. 
« 
« 
« 
Trans.  A.T.M.  E.. 
Vol.  IX,  p.  14, 
Trans.  A.  I.M.E., 
Vol.  IX,  p.  14, 
Trans.  A.  f.M.E., 
Vol.  IX,  p.  14, 

J.  and  8.  J.,  Journal 
Vol.  1,  1891,  p.  119 

J.  and  8.  1.,  Journal 
Vol.  1,  1891,  p.  119 

19.91 
11.64 
19.58 
21.38 

13.81 
30.00 
21.58 

19.45 
15.47 

49.07 
60.86 
65.06 
56.04 

53.44 
50.59 
51.42 

53.55 
59.29 

1.10 
1.07 
1.81 
1.41 

1.91 
0.54 
1.40 

2.76 
1.71 

1.27 

'  3.62  ' 

0.24 

.... 

SEC.  Hie. — Effect  of  ivork  upon  the  physical  characteristics  of 
wrought-iron. — The  influence  of  the  different  elements  upon  the 
quality  of  wrought-iron  has  never  been  fully  discovered  owing  to 
the  many  disturbing  conditions,  foremost  among  which  is  the 
effect  of  varying  amounts  of  work  upon  the  finished  material.  This 
question  arises  in  the  case  of  steel,  but  it  is  much  more  important 
in  wrought-iron,  since  the  strength  of  the  bar  will  depend  in  great 
measure  upon  the  thoroughness  with  which  the  separate  pieces 
forming  the  mass  have  been  welded  and  forced  together.  With 
well-constructed  piles  and  sufficient  reductions,  the  tests  on  thick 
plates  are  fully  as  good  as  on  thin  sheets. 

In  Table  III-C  are  given  a  few  averages  of  results  obtained  at  the 
Central  Iron  and  Steel  Works  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  from  plates 
rolled  on  their  ordinary  three-high  train,  and  from  those  made  on  a 
25-inch  universal  mill.  The  better  figures  for  the  latter  mill  are 
due  to  the  more  complete  development  of  fibre  by  the  continuous 
rolling  in  one  direction. 

The  width  was  about  alike  for  similar  thicknesses,  and  no  dif- 
ference was  found  in  the  universal  plates  whether  they  were  9  or 
42  inches  in  width.  The  above  results  are  too  few  for  a  valid  com- 
parison, but  they  are  corroborated  by  the  regular  practice  at  this 


136 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


works  where  the  universal  plates  are  superior  to  the  product  of  the 
shear  mill.  In  all  these  cases,  the  stock  from  which  the  iron  was 
made  was  the  same,  and  the  tensile  strength  is  constant  for  all 
thicknesses.  Moreover,  there  seems  to  be  a  better  elongation  as  the 
thickness  increases,  while  the  reduction  of  area  is  fully  as  high. 

TABLE  III-C. 
Tests  on  Wrought-Iron  Plates  from  Shear  and  Universal  Mills. 


Sheared  Plates. 


Universal  Mill  Plates. 


o 

It 
JS 


o 

o  a 
S  o> 
ow 


ss 


II 


II 

C  £ 


32 

if 


82400 


51800 


11.2 


18.9 


81180 
80775 
80400 


49760 
50200 
49050 


14.2 
15.5 
16.0 


22. 

22.5 

22.4 


32100 
31050 
81100 


81470 


51000 
50650 
50530 
50830 
52570 


13.0 
14,6 
17l8 
17.2 
19.0 


19.9 
21.6 


24.6 


With  less  careful  work  there  is  a  constant  retrogression  in  quality 
as  the  size  of  the  finished  piece  increases,  and  this  is  usually  recog- 
nized in  specifications,  as  will  be  seen  by  Table  III-D,  which  is 
copied  from  a  paper  by  A.  E.  Hunt.* 

SEC.  Illf. — Heterogeneity  of  wr ought-iron. — The  most  com- 
plete investigation  on  the  subject  of  wrought-iron  is  a  report  by 
Holleyf  on  the  work  of  a  Board  appointed  by  the  United  States 
Government  to  test  material  for  chain  cables.  It  was  found  that 
the  tenacity  of  2-inch  bars  for  chain  cables  should  be  from  48,000 
to  52,000  pounds  per  square  inch,  while  1-inch  bars  should  show 
53,000  to  57,000  pounds.  This  conclusion  is  reached  after  very 
careful  reasoning,  and  it  illustrates  the  profound  influence  of  this 
one  item  of  reduction  in  rolling.  It  will  be  evident  that  unless  the 
history  of  the  bar  is  known,  ordinary  chemical  analysis  will  fail  to 
give  any  information  as  to  whether  it  has  been  rolled  from  a  pile  4 
inches  square  or  from  one  7  inches  square.  In  the  making  of 
rounds,  which  was  the  only  shape  tested  by  the  Board,  there  is  op- 

*On  the  Inspection  of  Materials  of  Construction  in  the  United  States.  Journal 
I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1890,  p.  299. 

t  The  Strength  of  Wrought-Iron  as  Affected  by  its  Composition  and  ty  its  Re- 
duction in  Rolling.  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  yi,  p.  101. 


WROUGHT   IRON. 


137 


portumty  for  very  bad  practice  in  beginning  to  form  the  piece 
too  early  in  the  operation,  for  there  is  a  much  better  chance  to 
work  and  weld  the  iron  in  closed  rectangular  passes  than  in  the 


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^        *  P 


1 1 1 1|! 

I  6  I  |a| 

2    o     o"    a?» 


fill 

p    °     P     P 

|  g    8    8 

5    I*     P     P 


r   r 


Limit  of  elasticity, 
Ibs.  per  square  in. 


Ultimate  strength, 
Ibs.  per  square  in. 


Elongation  in  8  in., 
per  cent. 


Reduction  of  area, 
per  cent. 


Angle  of  bend. 


l! 


§ 


sr 

ir 

^    w 

f  B 

•s-  5 

is 

P 


formation  of  round  sections.  Usually,  a  bar  which  has  not  re- 
ceived  sufficient  work  will  contain  an  abnormal  percentage  of  slag, 
and  this  can  be  determined  in  the  laboratory;  but  a  slight  excess- 


138 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


does  not  necessarily  imply  that  the  iron  has  not  been  well  worked, 
for  it  may  arise  from  viscosity  of  the  cinder,  rendering  its  expulsion 
difficult.  In  any  event,  it  will  be  seen  that,  although  a  certain 
quantity  may  benefit  the  metal  by  preventing  crystallization,  any- 
thing beyond  this  must  decrease  the  cohesion  of  the  particles  of 
iron. 

In  the  investigation  just  mentioned,  it  was  found  that  the  slag 
varied  from  0.192  per  cent,  to  2.262  per  cent,  of  the  total  weight 
of  the  iron ;  and  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  tests  were  made 
on  material  destined  for  a  service  calling  for  the  best  product  of 
the  mill.  Some  makers  may  have  supposed  that  the  presence  of 
slag  would  facilitate  welding,  but  the  investigation  did  not  bear 
this  out,  for  it  is  distinctly  stated  in  the  report  that,  while  "slag 
should  theoretically  improve  welding,  like  any  flux,  its  effect  in 
these  experiments  could  not  be  definitely  traced."  On  the  con- 
trary, the  iron  which  was  highest  in  slag  (2.26  per  cent.)  "welded 
less  soundly  than  any  other  bar  of  the  same  iron,  and  below  average 
as  compared  with  the  other  irons." 

TABLE  III-E. 

Variations  in  the  Character  of  Different  Specimens  of  the  Same 
Brands  of  Wrought-Iron  and  of  Different  Irons  as  Submitted 
to  the  United  States  Board  for  Testing  Chain  Cables. 


Subject. 

Same  Iron. 

All  Irons. 

Min. 

Max. 

Min. 

Max. 

Carbon,  per  cent., 

.026 
.042 

.064 
.512 

.015 

.512 

Phosphorus,  per  cent., 

.065 
.095 

.232 
.250 

.065 

.817 

Silicon,  per  cent., 

.028 
.182 

.182 
.821 

.028 

.821 

Manganese,  per  cent., 

tr. 
.021 

.059 
.097 

tr. 

.097 

Slag,  per  cent., 

0.674 
1.248 

1.738 
2.262 

0.192 

2.262 

Ultimate  strength,  pounds  per  square  inch, 

56201 
47478 

69779 
57867 

47478 

69779 

Elongation  in  8  inches,  per  cent., 

11.7 
14.1 

20.6 
82.5 

6.5 

82.7 

Reduction  of  area,  per  cent., 

27.7 
16.0 

59.8 
81.5 

7.7 

59.8 

The  percentage  of  slag  not  only  varied  in  different  brands  of 
iron,  but  in  pieces  of  the  same  make.     This  was  true  also  of  all 


WROUGHT    IROX.  139 

the  factors  investigated.  Table  III-E  shows  the  variations  in  the 
same  make  of  iron,  two  extreme  cases  being  given  under  each  head. 
It  also  gives  the  maximum  and  minimum  individual  records. 

SEC.  Illg. — Conditions  affecting  the  welding  properties  of 
wrought-iron. — These  conditions  of  varying  work,  percentages  of 
slag,  and  irregularity  of  the  same  irons,  not  to  mention  the  possible 
overheating  of  piles  in  the  laudable  effort  to  produce  a  perfect  weld, 
complicate  so  fundamentally  the  relation  between  the  chemical  com- 
position and  the  physical  properties,  that  it  need  not  be  wondered 
that  the  committee  could  not  find  the  exact  influence  of  each  chemi- 
cal component.  There  was  formulated,  however,  the  following  very 
valuable  conclusion:  "Although  most  of  the  irons  under  consid- 
eration are  much  alike  in  composition,  the  hardening  effects  of 
phosphorus  and  silicon  can  be  traced,  and  that  of  carbon  is  obvious. 
Phosphorus  up  to  .20  per  cent,  does  not  harm  and  probably  im- 
proves irons  containing  silicon  not  above  .15  per  cent,  and  carbon 
not  above  .03  per  cent.  None  of  the  ingredients,  except  carbon  in 
the  proportions  present,  seem  to  very  notably  affect  the  welding  by 
ordinary  methods/' 

Regarding  this  last  clause  it  should  be  said  that  the  highest 
ivilphur  in  any  sample  was  .015  per  cent.,  which  is  very  low;  but 
that  copper  was  present  in  one  instance  up  to  .43  per  cent. ;  nickel 
up  to  .34  per  cent.,  and  cobalt  up  to  .11  per  cent.  Moreover,  the 
high  percentages  of  these  three  elements  were  coincident  in  one 
"bar,  yet  welding  gave  fair  results,  notwithstanding  that  phosphorus 
was  higher  than  was  found  advisable.  A  careful  reading  of  the 
evidence,  however,  indicates  that  the  experiments  were  far  from 
conclusive  as  to  these  elements. 

This  matter  of  welding  power  was  of  special  moment  in  iron  for 
chain  cables,  but  it  is  also  the  very  root  of  the  entire  process,  for 
the  integrity  of  the  finished  bar  depends  upon  the  completeness  of 
the  welds  between  the  different  particles.  In  Chapter  XIX  the 
welding  of  iron  and  steel  will  be  discussed  at  greater  length. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

STEEL. 

SECTION  IVa. — Definition  of  steel. — Although  it  seems  a  per- 
fectly simple  matter  to  give  a  definition  of  steel,  the  task  has  never 
yet  been  accomplished  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned.  A  true 
formula  must  apply  not  only  to  all  the  metals  commonly  designated 
by  the  term,  but  to  all  compounds  which  ever  have  been,  or  ever 
will  be,  worthy  of  the  name,  including  the  special  alloys  made  by 
the  use  of  chromium,  tungsten,  nickel  and  other  elements  intro- 
duced to  give  peculiar  qualities  for  special  purposes.  Moreover  it 
has  been  shown  in  Sec.  Ilk  that  the  latest  researches  show  no 
dividing  line  between  the  softest  steel  and  the  ordinary  grades  of 
pig-iron. 

Prior  to  the  development  of  the  Bessemer  and  open-hearth  pro- 
cesses there  was  little  room  for  disagreement  as  to  the  dividing  line 
between  steel  and  iron.  If  it  would  harden  in  water,  it  was  steel ; 
if  not,  it  was  wrought-iron.  When  the  modern  methods  were  in- 
troduced, a  new  metal  came  into  the  world.  In  its  composition 
and  in  its  physical  qualities  it  was  exactly  like  many  steels  of 
commerce,  and  naturally  and  rightly  it  was  called  steel.  By  de- 
grees these  processes  widened  their  field,  and  began  to  make  a  soft 
metal  which  possessed  many  of  the  characteristics  of  ordinary 
wrought-iron,  and  which  was  not  made  by  any  radical  change  in 
methods,  but  simply  by  the  use  of  a  rich  ferromanganese.  Not- 
withstanding this  fact,  some  engineers  claimed  that  the  new  metal 
was  not  steel,  but  iron.  The  makers  replied  that  it  was  made  by 
the  same  process  as  the  hard  steel,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to 
draw  a  line  in  the  series  of  possible  and  actual  grades  of  product 
which  they  made. 

The  problem  rppidly  became  of  great  importance,  since  the 
filling  of  engineering  contracts  and  the  interpretation  of  tariff 
schedules  depended  upon  the  application  of  the  one  term  or  the 
other  to  the  soft  product  of  the  converter  and  the  melt'ing-f urnace. 

140 


STEEL. 

At  this  juncture  an  international  committee  was  appointed  from 
the  leading  metallurgical  societies  of  the  world,  and  a  list  of  the 
members  shows  us  a  formidable  array  of  well-known  names :  Hoi- 
ley,  Bell,  Wedding,  Tunner,  Akernian,  Egleston  and  Gruner. 

This  committee  reported  in  October,  1876,  to  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Mining  Engineers,  the  following  resolution : 

(1)  That  all  malleable  compounds  of  iron  with  its  ordinary 
ingredients,  which  are  aggregated  from  pasty  masses,  or  from  piles, 
or  from  any  forms  of  iron  not  in  a  fluid  state,  and  which  will  not 
sensibly  harden  and  temper,  and  which  generally  resemble  what  is 
called  "wrought-iron,"  shall  be  called  weld  iron. 

(2)  That   such   compounds,   when  they  will  from  any   cause 
harden   and   temper,    and    which    resemble   what   is   now   called 
"puddled  steel/'  shall  be  called  weld  steel. 

(3)  That  all  compounds  of  iron  with  its  ordinary  ingredients 
which  have  been  cast  from  a  fluid  state  into  malleable  masses,  and 
which  will  not  sensibly  harden  by  being  quenched  in  water  while 
at  a  red  heat,  shall  be  called  ingot  iron. 

(4)  That  all  such  compounds,  when  they  will  from  any  cause 
so  harden,  shall  be  called  ingot  steel. 

The  Institute,  in  accordance  with  its  rules,  declined  to  promul- 
gate any  official  opinion  on  the  subject,  but  did  recommend  that 
the  proposed  nomenclature  be  used  in  all  future  papers  presented 
at  its  meetings. 

It  is  fortunate  that  no  more  positive  action  was  taken  in  forcing 
into  use  a  system  which  was  radically  wrong.  This  classification 
disregarded  a  primal  necessity  of  business,  for  it  is  necessary  to 
have  a  name  for  the  material  while  in  process  of  manufacture. 
As  a  practical  maker  of  a  certain  material  used  in  the  arts,  I  wish 
a  title  by  which  to  call  it.  I  cannot  give  orders  to  make  a  heat  of 
-  and  wait  until  it  is  made,  rolled,  chilled  in  water,  and 
tested  for  hardness  before  it  can  have  a  generic  name.  The  word 
"steel"  was  in  use  for  this  very  purpose  in  every  Bessemer  and 
open-hearth  plant  in  the  country  and  when  the  name  was  once 
given  at  the  converter  or  the  furnace,  it  clung  throughout  its  his- 
tory in  the  rolling  mills  and  shops  just  as  the  term  is  used  in  the 
steel  works  of  Germany  in  defiance  of  the  official  classification. 

To-day  nothing  is  heard  about  this  proposed  nomenclature,  its 
sole  panegyric  together  with  an  unwilling  eulogy  having  been  writ- 
ten by  Professor  Howe.  He  opens  his  great  work,  published  four- 


142  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

teen  years  after  the  committee  had  issued  its  manifesto,  by  saying 
this:*  "The  terms  Iron  and  Steel  are  employed  so  ambiguously 
and  inconsistently  that  it  is  to-day  impossible  to  arrange  all  vari- 
eties under  a  simple  and  consistent  classification."  And  he  adds, 
with  some  triumph  in  the  memory  of  forensic  victories,  but  more 
pathos  over  the  record  of  disappointed  hopes,  that  the  result  would 
have  been  quite  different  "could  the  little  band,  which  stoutly  op- 
posed the  introduction  of  the  present  anomaly  and  confusion  into 
our  nomenclature,  have  resisted  the  momentum  of  an  incipient  cus- 
tom as  successfully  as  they  silenced  the  arguments  of  their  oppo- 
nents." He  closes  by  completely  surrendering  to  the  enemy  in  these 
words:  "So  firmly  has  this  (generic)  sense  of  the  word  become 
established  that,  unfortunately,  it  were  vain  to  oppose  it." 

It  is  a  pity  that  after  this  acknowledgment  of  the  final  judg- 
ment of  the  metallurgical  world,  he  should  commend  the  practice 
of  calling  malleable-iron  castings  by  the  name  of  steel,  f  simply 
because  they  coincide  with  a  definition  he  has  just  branded  as  obso- 
lete, for  in  so  doing  he  sanctions  what  is  to-day  one  of  the  greatest 
frauds  in  the  business.  Steel  castings  are  made  by  pouring  melted 
steel  into  a  flask.  This  steel  must  be  made  either  in  a  crucible,  an 
open-hearth  furnace,  or  a  Bessemer  converter,  for  it  is  impossible 
to  melt  scrap  in  a  cupola  and  have  good  steel  run  from  the  taphole. 
It  is  either  ignorance  or  crime  to  call  by  the  name  of  steel  castings 
the  hybrid  metal  made  by  melting  a  mixture  of  pig-iron  and  steel 
scrap  in  a  cupola,  and  it  is  just  as  far  from  truth  to  apply  the  term 
to  malleable  iron.  Any  definition  of  steel  which  gives  room  for 
these  mistakes  writes  its  own  epitaph  as  erroneous  and  absurd. 

SEC.  IVb. — Cause  of  failure  of  certain  proposed  definitions. — 
One  reason  has  already  been  given  why  the  projected  renaissance 
of  a  decayed  nomenclature  was  a  failure,  but  although  the  lack 
of  any  other  general  term  to  denote  the  product  of  the  converter 
was  a  most  formidable  obstacle,  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  this  could 
have  been  overcome.  The  whole  structure,  however,  lacked  a 
foundation,  because  there  can  be  no  satisfactory  definition  as  to 
what  constitutes  hardening.  It  will  not  do  to  prescribe  any  test 
with  a  file,  for  there  is  too  much  chance  for  personal  equation  in 
such  a  trial,  not  to  mention  the  impossibility  of  having  every  file 
of  exactly  the  same  hardness.  It  will  not  do  to  make  a  quench 
bend,  for  the  success  of  such  a  test  is  determined  in  too  great  a 

*  Metallurgy  of  Steel,  p.  1.  t  Loc.  cit. 


STEEL. 

measure  by  certain  variable  conditions  of  the  preheating  not  fully 
understood,  and  by  the  manipulations  of  the  smith. 

All  these  points  were  fully  understood  by  practical  men  at  the 
time  the  committee  was  at  work,  and  the  arguments  were  ably 
presented  by  Park  and  Metcalf.*  They  asked  for  a  definition  as  to 
what  constituted  hardening,  and  received  the  answer  that  a  divid- 
ing line  is  unnecessary.  Prof.  Akermanf  recommends  that  it  be 
placed  where  the  quenched  piece  cannot  be  scratched  by  feldspar. 
He  recognizes  that  small  variations  in  many  elements  other  than 
carbon  will  determine  the  amount  of  hardening,  and  also  mentions 
the  difference  caused  by  the  temperature  of  the  water  and  the  way 
in  which  the  piece  is  immersed,  and  whether  it  is  held  still  or 
moved.  If  the  learned  professor  had  wished  to  condemn  his  case, 
he  could  have  done  little  more.  Laboratory  experiments  on 
quenching  and  scratching  with  feldspar  are  well  enough  for  some 
purposes,  but  when  these  must  be  performed  before  the  material 
can  have  a  name,  and  when  such  work  gives  us  simply  the  name 
and  no  other  information  at  all,  then,  surely,  the  matter  presents 
itself  in  the  form  of  a  reductio  ad  absurdum. 

It  is  true,  as  argued  by  Prof.  Howe,  that  many  of  the  common 
products  of  metallurgy  and  art  shade  imperceptibly  into  one  an- 
other ;  but  it  is  surely  extraordinary  when  the  dividing  line  cannot 
be  drawn  even  in  theory,  much  less  in  practice;  when,  wherever 
it  falls,  it  must  divide,  not  intermediate,  but  finished  products, 
used  in  enormous  quantities,  and  blending  into  one  another  by 
insensible  gradations,  and  when  every  shade  of  these  variations  is 
the  subject  of  rigorous  engineering  specifications. 

It  is  customary  and  necessary  in  ordering  steel  to  give  a  certain 
margin  in  filling  the  specifications,  and  it  will  be  evident,  no 
matter  how  close  this  margin  is,  that  if  a  line  could  be  drawn,  it 
would  not  infrequently  happen  that  he  who  ordered  ingot  iron 
would  receive  steel,  and  he  who  ordered  steel  would  receive  ingot 
iron. 

Many  different  tests  have  been  proposed  at  various  times  for 
determining  the  mechanical  properties  of  steels,  but  although  some 
of  them  are  of  value  in  special  cases,  the  one  method  of  investiga- 

•  Can  the  Commercial  Nomenclature  of  Iron  6e  Reconciled  to  the  Scientific 
Terms  Used  to  Distinguish  the  Different  Classes t  Metcalf.  Trans.  A.  I.  M 

°t'on  Hardening  Iron  and  Steel;  Its  Causes  and  Effects.  Journal  I.  and  8.  ?.. 
Vol.  II,  1879,  p.  512. 


144 


METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 


tion  which  has  become  well-nigh  universal  is  to  break  by  a  tensile 
stress  and  measure  the  ultimate  strength,  the  elastic  limit,  the 
elongation,  and  the  reduction  of  area.  Strictly  speaking,  none  of 
these  properties  has  any  direct  connection  with  hardness,  and  it  is 
also  true  that  in  special  instances,  as  with  very  high  carbons,  hard- 
ening may  reduce  the  tensile  strength  by  the  creation  of  abnormal 
internal  strains;  but  in  all  ordinary  steels,  it  is  certain  that  hard- 
ening is  accompanied  by  an  increase  of  strength,  by  an  exaltation 
of  the  elastic  limit,  and  a  decrease  in  ductility. 

Now,  if  it  is  conceded  that  no  practical  test  defining  hardening 
has  ever  been  devised,  and  if  it  can  be  shown  that  sudden  cooling 
produces  a  very  marked  increase  in  ultimate  strength,  an  exaltation 
of  the  elastic  limit,  and  a  decrease  in  ductility  even  in  the  softest 
products  of  the  converter  and  the  open-hearth  furnace,  then  we  are 
partially  justified  in  assuming  that  hardening  has  occurred  on  the 
ground  that  the  more  easily  recognized  correlated  phenomena  con- 
tinue in  unbroken  order  down  the  scale  of  the  various  iron  products. 
The  conclusion  is  weak  in  logic,  I  will  admit,  but  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  engineer  of  to-day,  who  grades  everything  by  the  ten- 
sile test,  and  who  makes  "strong"  steel  and  "hard"  steel  inter- 
changeable terms,  I  claim  good  ground  for  my  position  in  calling 
isteel  hardened  when  it  is  strengthened. 

TABLE  IV-A. 

Effect  of  Quenching  on  the  Physical  Properties  of  Different  Soft 

Steels. 

NOTE. — Bars  were  2"x%"  flats,  rolled  from  a  6"x6"  ingot,  and  were  chilled  at  a 

dull  yellow  heat. 


Number  of  test-bar. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Composition^per  cent- 

Carbon, 
Manganese, 
Phosphorus, 
Sulphur, 

.09 
.44 
.011 
.033 

.12 
.82 

.004 
.027 

.11 
.43 

.010 
.010 

.12 
.82 

.004 
.027 

.09 
.89 
.017 
.031 

.10 
.16 
.010 
.019 

Ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per  sq.  inch, 

Natural, 
Quenched, 

49390 
66080 

48960 
65670 

48960 
66300 

48260 
63640 

49760 
62280 

46250 
58380 

Elastic  limit  ;  pounds 
per  square  inch. 

Natural, 
Quenched, 

83220 
47310 

83390 
und. 

33010 
und. 

82340 
50170 

81040 
46580 

29830 
40500 

Elastic  ratio,  per 
cent. 

Natural, 
Quenched, 

67.26 
71.60 

68.20 
und. 

67.42 
und. 

67.01 

78.83 

62.88 
74.79 

64.50 
69.38 

Elongation  in  8  in.  ; 
•  )  per  cent. 

Natural, 
Quenched, 

29.75 

18.75 

81.00 
16.25 

32.50 
15.00 

82.50 
17.75 

81.25 
23.75 

87.75 
27.50 

Reduction  of  area; 
per  cent. 

Natural, 
Quenched, 

50.80 
56.50 

52.50 
63.27 

54.10 
63.47 

55.75 
64.47 

49.00 
65.15 

68.88 
68.97 

STEEL. 


145 


The  fact  that  common  soft  steel  is  materially  strengthened  by 
Chilling  has  been  widely  recognized  for  many  years,  but  the  extent 
of  the  alteration  in  physical  properties  in  the  softest  and  purest 
metals  is  not  generally  understood.  Table  IV-A  gives  a  series  of 
tests  that  I  have  made,  which  may  shed  some  light. on  this  point. 

As  the  bars  were  rolled  from  a  small  test  ingot,  the  elongation  is 
much  less  than  the  normal,  but  the  consequences  of  the  quenching 
are  well  marked.  Additional  tests  were  made  on  another  sample 
of  soft  basic  open-hearth  metal.  The  original  piece  was  a  rolled 
flat,  4  inches  wide  and  5-16  inch  thick.  This  was  cut  lengthwise 
into  two  strips  1%  inches  wide  by  5-16  inch  thick,  and  these  strips 
were  again  cut  into  18-inch  lengths,  so  that  the  whole  bar  gave  12 
test-pieces.  Six  of  these  were  taken  from  alternate  sides  of  the 
original  bar  throughout  its  length  and  tested  without  treatment, 
while  the  other  six  were  broken  after  chilling  at  different  tempera- 
tures. The  results  are  given  in  Table  IV-B. 

TABLE  IV-B. 
Effect  of  Quenching  the  Same  Steel  at  Different  Temperatures. 

Bars  l%"xTy;   Composition,  per  cent.;  C     (by  combustion)   .057;  Mn  .33; 
P  .006 ;  S  .019. 


^1 

id 

si- 

Is 

o 

Heat  treatment. 

Iff  j 

S«§ 

|£f 

1*4 

.28 

.§£53 
H-£&£ 

III 

o  a® 

-d£S 

0>  03  O 

II 

& 

H 

3 

W 

H 

Natural  state;  average  of  6  bars 
Chilled  at  a  dull  red  heat  

46098 
49740 

33825 

33800 

35.37 

70.00 
70.00 

78.37 
67.95 

"  dark  cherry  red  .  . 
"  medium  cherry  red 
"  cherry  red  
"           "  low  bright  red  ...      . 
"            "  bright  red  

56500 
51100 
57240 
58200 
62640 

38830 
84570 
89060 
89930 
88860 

Ir 
III 

63.80 
70.80 
66.10 
64.80 
68.10 

68.73 
67.65 
68.24 
68.61 
62.04 

There  is  possibly  a  mixture  of  tests  in  the  case  of  the "  dark  cherry 
red"  and  "medium  cherry  red/'  or  perhaps  an  error  in  estimating 
temperature,  but  I  give  the  results  as  they  were  recorded.  The 
elongation  is  not  given,  for  the  pieces  persisted  in  breaking  near 
the  grips.  This  may  have  arisen  from  the  fact  that  the  ends  of  the 
bars  as  they  lay  in  the  muffle  were  not  as  hot  as  the  middle,  and 
hence  did  not  receive  so  severe  a  chilling,  but  the  difference  is  not 
enough  to  invalidate  the  nature  of  the  results.  The  reduction  of 
area  is  lessened  somewhat,  but  this  seems  to  be  affected  much 
hy  chilling  than  the  other  properties,  a  fact  which  is  also  shown  in 
Table  TV-A. 


146  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

The  untreated  bars  show  that  the  metal  was  of  extreme  softness, 
while  the  chilled  specimens  prove  that  each  change  in  the  quench- 
ing temperature  is  reflected  in  the  physical  condition  of  the  chilled 
bar. 

SEC.  IVc. — The  American  nomenclature  of  iron  products. — The 
classification  by  hardening  is  a  dead  issue  in  our  country.  It  had 
quietly  passed  away  unnoticed  and  unknown  before  the  Committee 
of  the  Mining  Engineers  had  met,  and  the  best  efforts  of  that  bril- 
liant galaxy  of  talent  could  only  pronounce  a  kindly  eulogy. 

Strictly  speaking,  some  mention  must  be  made  of  hardening  in  a 
complete  and  perfect  definition,  for  it  is  possible  to  make  steel  in  a 
puddling  furnace  by  taking  out  the  viscous  mass  before  it  has 
been  completely  decarburized ;  but  this  crude  and  unusual  method 
is  now  a  relic  of  the  past,  and  may  be  entirely  neglected  in  practical 
discussion.  No  attempt  will  be  made  here  to  give  an  ironclad  for- 
mula, but  the  following  statements  portray  the  current  usage  in 
our  country: 

(1)  By  the  term  wrought-iron  is  meant  the  product  of  the 
puddle  furnace  or  the  sinking  fire. 

(2)  By  the  term  steel  is  meant  the  product  of  the  cementation 
process,  or  the  malleable  compounds  of  iron  made  in  the  crucible, 
the  converter,  or  the  open-hearth  furnace. 

This  nomenclature  is  not  founded  on  the  resolutions  of  com- 
mittees or  of  societies.  It  is  the  natural  outgrowth  of  business 
and  of  fact,  and  has  been  made  mandatory  by  the  highest  of  all 
statutes — the  law  of  common  sense.  It  is  the  universal  system 
among  engineers  not  only  in  America,  but  in  England  and  in 
France.  In  other  lands  the  authority  of  famous  names,  backed  by 
conservatism  and  governmental  prerogative,  has  fixed  for  the  pres- 
ent, in  metallurgical  literature,  a  list  of  terms  which  I  have  tried 
to  show  is  not  only  deficient,  but  fundamentally  false. 

The  foregoing  discussion  has  taken  no  cognizance  of  the  micro- 
scopical structure  of  steel,  because  the  investigations  thus  far  made 
in  this  field  of  research  do  not  give  any  limits  by  which  we  can 
form  a  definition.  It  is  rather  indicated,  as  pointed  out  in  Sec. 
Ilk,  that  there  is  no  dividing  line  between  the  softest  steel  and  the 
hardest  pig-iron.  In  Chapter  XV  will  be  found  further  informa- 
tion on  this  subject. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HIGH-CARBON   STEEL. 

SECTION  Va.— Manufacture  of  cement  and  crucible  steel— By 
the  use  of  reasonably  pure  ores  and  by  skillful  puddling,  it  is  quite 
possible  to  produce  wrought-iron  in  which  the  phosphorus  shall 
not  exceed  .02  per  cent.  This  bar  of  soft  pure  iron  may  be  con- 
verted into  hard  steel  by  placing  it  in  fine  charcoal  and  exposing 
it  to,  a  yellow  heat.  By  a  slow  process,  called  cementation,  the 
carbon  penetrates  the  metal  at  the  rate  of  about  one-eighth  inch 
every  24  hours,  so  that  a  bar  five-eighths  of  an  inch  thick  is  satu- 
rated about  48  hours  after  it  arrives  at  a  proper  temperature. 
This  operation  is  carried  on  in  a  large  retort  where  many  tons  of 
bars  are  treated  at  one  time,  so  that  it  will  always  happen  that 
some  parts  of  the  furnace  arrive  at  a  full  heat  much  sooner  than 
others,  and  remain  longer  at  that  temperature.  Consequently, 
when  such  a  retort  is  opened,  it  is  necessary  to  break  all  the  bars 
and  grade  them  by  fracture  according  to  their  degree  of  carburiza- 
tion.  The  point  of  saturation  is  about  1.50  per  cent,  of  carbon, 
but  the  average  of  the  whole  will  be  about  one  per  cent. 

The  steel  thus  produced  is  known  as  blister  or  cement  steel.  Its 
use  is  limited  by  the  fact  that  it  always  contains  seams  and  pits  of 
slag  which  were  present  in  the  wrought-iron,  and  these  defects  are 
of  fatal  moment  in  the  manufacture  of  edged  tools.  To  avoid  this 
trouble,  cement  steel  may  be  melted  in  crucibles,  out  of  contact  with 
the  air,  and,  being  thus  freed  from  the  intermingled  slag,  can  be 
cast  into  ingots  and  hammered  or  rolled  into  any  desired  shape. 
This  double  process  is  expensive,  and  a  cheaper  and  more  common 
method  is  to  put  a  proper  quantity  of  charcoal  into  the  crucible 
with  crude  bar  iron,  the  absorption  of  carbon  progressing  with  great 
rapidity  when  the  metal  is  fluid.  This  practice  is  almost  universal 
in  America,  and  it  is  claimed  by  men  whose  word  must  carry 
weight  in  the  metallurgical  world,  that  it  gives  a  steel  equal  in 
every  respect  to  the  older  method ;  but  against  this  must  be  put  the 
work  of  firms  whose  name  is  synonymous  with  most  excellent  pro- 

147 


148  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AXD   STEEL. 

duct  and  who,  at  much  extra  cost,  use  a  certain  proportion  of 
cemented  bar  for  the  most  expensive  steels.  It  is  difficult  to  say 
how  much  of  the  extra  quality  is  due  to  the  method  of  manufac- 
ture and  how  much  to  the  strictest  care  in  working  and  inspecting, 
and  it  is  also  hard  to  find  out  whether  the  conservatism  does  not 
arise  from  the  laudable  desire  to  supply  old  customers  with  ex- 
actly the  same  metal,  in  name  as  well  as  in  fact,  that  has  been 
furnished  them  in  the  past. 

In  deference  to  time-honored  tradition,  it  may  be  well  to  quote 
without  approval  or  further  dispute  the  following  dictum  of  See- 
bohm,*  which  expresses  the  ancient  doctrines:  "The  best  razor 
steel  must  be  melted  from  evenly  converted  steel.  It  will  not  do 
to  mix  hard  and  soft  steel  together,  or  to  melt  it  from  pig  let  down' 
with  iron,  for  it  will  not  then  possess  the  requisite  amount  of  body 
and  the  edge  of  the  razor  will  not  stand." 

A  third  variation  is  the  melting  of  wrought-iron  with  a  proper 
proportion  of  pig  to  raise  the  carbon  to  the  desired  point,  while  in 
still  another,  used  in  Sweden,  the  charge  of  the  crucible  consists  of 
pig  and  iron  ore.  The  aim  of  all  methods  is  to  obtain  a  malleable 
metal  containing  from  .60  to  1.40  per  cent,  carbon,  and  free  from 
blowholes.  For  certain  purposes  some  special  element  like  chrom- 
ium, or  tungsten,  may  be  used  as  an  alloy,  but  with  this  exception 
every  other  ingredient  may  be  regarded  as  an  impurity. 

SEC.  Vb. — Chemical  reactions  in  the  steel-melting  crucible. — 
The  best  tool  steel  must  be  as  tough  as  possible,  and,  therefore,  the 
phosphorus  should  not  be  over  .02  per  cent.  Sulphur,  which  does 
not  appreciably  affect  brittleness,  but  which  does  decrease  forge- 
ability,  is  not  quite  so  important,  but  should  not  exceed  .04  per 
cent.  Manganese  may  be  present  in  larger  quantity,  and  it  is  not 
an  uncommon  practice  to  put  into  the  pot  a  mixture  of  manganese 
ore  and  carbon  so  that  metallic  manganese  may  be  reduced  and 
confer  better  forging  qualities.  If  the  percentage  does  not  exceed 
.20  it  has  very  little  bad  effect;  if  much  above  this,  it  will  cause 
brittleness  and  liability  to  crack  in  quenching. 

As  in  every  branch  of  industry,  a  simple  outline  of  operations 
such  as  is  given  above  may  be  elaborated  indefinitely  by  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  variations  in  practice  which  have  been  developed  in  dif- 
ferent works.  Some  such  details  seem  absolutely  essential  to  the 

*  On  We  WctiKlacture  of  Crucible  Cast-Steel.  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  II, 
1884,  p.  372. 


HIGH-CARBON    STEEL.  149 

originators,  but  they  may  be  unknown  at  other  equally  successful 
establishments. 

There  is  one  feature,  however,  known  as  "killing,"  which  is  in 
universal  use.  Just  after  the  steel  is  melted  there  is  more  or  less 
action  in  the  crucible,  since  there  are  several  rearrangements  to  be 
consummated.  Thus,  in  addition  to  the  iron  and  charcoal  in  the 
pot,  there  is  a  small  amount  of  glass  or  similar  material  to  give  a 
passive  slag;  there  is  also  a  little  air,  some  slag  and  oxide  of  iron 
in  the  puddled  bar,  the  scale  and  rust  on  the  surface  of  each  piece 
of  metal,  and  silica,  alumina  and  carbon  from  the  scorification  of 
the  walls.  A  little  time  is  necessary  after  fusion  for  the  various 
reactions  to  occur  between  these  factors  and  for  the  attainment  of 
chemical  equilibrium.  Aside  from  these  general  reactions,  the  spe- 
cial work  of  the  "killing"  epoch  is  the  reduction  of  silicon  from  the 
slag  and  lining  in  accordance  with  the  following  equation : 

Si02+2C=Si+2CO. 

The  carbon  is  drawn  either  from  the  charcoal,  from  the  metal, 
or  from  the  walls  of  the  crucible.  In  the  case  of  graphite  pots  the 
supply  from  the  latter  source  will  be  more  than  ample,  while  even 
clay  pots  furnish  quite  an  amount  from  the  coke  which  is  mixed 
with  the  clay  in  their  manufacture.  This  process  of  reduction 
goes  on  until  the  steel  contains  from  .20  to  .40  per  cent,  of  silicon 
and  the  metal  lies  quiet  and  "dead."  The  pot  is  then  taken  from 
the  furnace  by  means  of  tongs,  and  the  contents  are  cast  into  ingot 
form.  The  crucible  lasts  from  four  to  six  heats,  and  the  weight  of 
a  melt  is  about  80  pounds  when  the  crucible  is  new,  the  subsequent 
charges  being  regulated  according  to  the  strength  of  the  scorified 
walls,  and  by  the  desire  to  lower  the  level  of  the  slag  line  to  the 
less  affected  portions. 

SEC.  Vc. — Chemical  specifications  on  high  steel. — In  olden  times 
all  springs,  tools,  dies,  and  the  like,  were  made  from  either  cement 
or  crucible  steel,  but  in  late  years  large  quantities  of  high-carbon 
metal  have  been  produced  in  the  Bessemer  converter  and  used  for 
many  common  purposes,  although,  ordinarily,  the  steel  made  by 
this  process  contains  too  much  phosphorus  to  make  it  suitable  for 
the  best  work.  The  manganese  in  Bessemer  steel  is  much  higher 
than  in  crucible  metal,  and  this  has  a  tendency  to  cause  cracks  in 
quenching.  Formerly  a  content  of  .75  to  1.10  per  cent,  was  not 


150 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 


uncommon,  but  the  demands  of  the  trade  have  forced  an  improve- 
ment in  this  respect,  and  it  is  now  customary  to  keep  the  manganese 
below  .80  per  cent. ;  it  is  impracticable  to  have  it  much  below  .50 
per  cent,  on  account  of  red-shortness. 

It  is  possible  to  make  a -much  better  selection  of  the  stock  for  an 
open-hearth  furnace  and  to  produce  a  steel  which  is  low  in  man- 
ganese, phosphorus,  and  sulphur.  The  relative  merits  of  open- 
hearth  and  crucible  steel  have  been  the  subject  of  vigorous  discus- 
sions, but,  as  in  many  similar  cases,  the  critics  who  are  loudest  in 
expressing  their  opinions  are  the  least  competent  to  judge.  Often- 
times a  comparison  is  made  between  a  pure  crucible  steel  and  an 
open-hearth  metal  containing  about  .07  per  cent,  of  phosphorus  and 
.60  per  cent,  of  manganese,  and  on  the  strength  of  this  comparison, 
and  taking  the  word  of  some  ignorant  or  untruthful  open-hearth 
maker  as  to  the  quality  of  his  product,  the  conclusion  is  formulated 
that  crucible  steel  is  undeniably  superior.  Such  generalizations  on 
insufficient  evidence  constitute  the  large  majority  of  those  made  in 
our  tool  shops,  but  it  is  evident  that  no  comparison  is  valid  unless 
the  steels  are  of  the  same  composition,  and  in  this  latter  respect  it 
will  not  do  to  accept  the  unproven  statements  even  of  makers  who 
rank  as  virtuous.  To  show  that  this  last  clause  is  not  meaningless, 
Table  Y-A  gives  analyses  of  three  grades  of  steel,  furnished  by  one 
of  the  large  and  well-known  steel  manufacturers  of  the  country. 
The  first  column  shows  the  name  by  which  the  maker  billed  it. 

TABLE  V-A. 

Examples  of  Commercial  High  Steels  which  are  not  in  Accord- 
ance with  Specifications. 


Nature  of  sample  as  marked  by 
maker. 

Composition;  percent. 

C 

P 

Mn 

Si 

8 

"Crucible"  . 

1.00 
.94 
.80 

.04 
.065 
.072 

.83 

.56 
.64 

.02 
.23 
.19 

.025 
.125 
.155 

"Pennsylvania  Railroad  spring"  . 
Low  phosphorus  spring  "  

Needless  to  say  that  the  carbon  content  in  these  metals  is  right, 
for  otherwise  they  would  be  entirely  unsuitable,  but  each  sample 
shows  discrepancies  between  actual  composition  and  name.  Cru- 
cible steel  may  and  often  does  contain  as  much  as  .04  per  cent,  of 
phosphorus,  but  no  purchaser  expects  to  have  that  amount  when  hp 


HIGH-CARBON    STEEL.  151 

buys  the  product  of  the  pot,  and  when  this  figure  is  considered  in 
connection  with  the  high  manganese,  and  above  all  with  the  absence 
of  silicon,  the  natural  conclusion  is  that  the  metal  ran  from  the 
taphole  of  an  open-hearth  furnace.  The  second  sample  was  sup- 
posed to  fill  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  specifications  for  springs 
which  at  that  time  called  for  phosphorus  below  .05  per  cent.,  man- 
ganese below  .50  per  cent.,  and  sulphur  below  .05  per  cent.,  but  a 
glance  will  show  the  liberties  that  were  taken.  The  "low  phos- 
phorus" spring  steel  contains  .072  per  cent,  of  that  element,  an 
amount  slightly  under  the  average  of  common  rails,  but  which  can 
by  no  stretch  of  words  be  called  "low"  for  hard  metal.  The  sulphur 
is  extraordinarily  high,  but  where  there  are  no  specifications  on 
this  element,  there  is  not  much  ground  for  criticism,  since  it  has 
little  influence  on  the  cold  properties. 

SEC.  Vd. — Manufacture  of  high  steel  in  an  open-hearth  furnace. 
— It  is  perfectly  possible  to  make  regularly,  in  open-hearth  fur- 
naces, a  steel  of  any  carbon  desired  from  .05  to  1.50  per  cent.,  with 
phosphorus  below  .04  per  cent.,  with  manganese  below  .50  per  cent., 
and  with  sulphur  below  .04  per  cent. 

During  the  last  few  years  this  steel  has  come  into  use  in  enor- 
mous quantities  and  all  the  car  springs  used  in  the  country  and 
almost  all  similar  articles  are  of  open-hearth  steel.  It  is  to-day 
being  used  very  extensively  under  the  name  "cast  steel,"  a  term 
which  is  both  a  truth  and  a  lie.  It  is  the  truth  because  the  steel 
is  cast ;  it  is  a  lie  because  "cast  steel"  is  a  trade  name  dating  back 
a  century,  and  meaning  the  product  of  the  crucible. 

There  are  one  or  two  minor  points  about  this  material  which 
should  be  recognized  by  maker  and  user.  First;  there  is  not  as 
good  an  opportunity  to  get  a  "dead  melt"  in  the  furnace  as  in  the 
pot,  and  hence  there  is  more  liability  of  blowholes  in  the  ingots 
and  seams  in  the  bar.  For  making  razors,  watch  springs  and 
other  delicate  instruments,  no  expense  is  too  great  in  the  avoiding 
of  minute  defects,  but  when  these  imperfections  are  few  and  not 
of  such  vital  importance,  there  must  inevitably  be  a  tendency  to 
economize  in  the  cost  of  the  raw  material. 

Second ;  a  heavy  heat  of  open-hearth  steel  must  be  cast  in  masses 
which  are  very  large  in  comparison  with  the  4-inch  ingot  of  the 
crucible  works,  and  the  chances  for  segregation  are  correspondingly 
increased,  although  Table  V-B  will  indicate  that  with  proper  pre- 
cautions there  is  very  little  danger  of  trouble  from  this  cause. 


152 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


TABLE  Y-B. 

Composition  of  Clippings  taken  from  the  Top*  and  Bottom  Blooms 
of  Each  Ingot  of  a  High  Carbon  Open-Hearth  Heat,  Made 
by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company. 


Number  1 
of  Ingot. 

Part  of  Ingot. 

Composition;  per  cent. 

Carbon 
by  Com- 
bustion. 

P 

Mn 

S 

Si 

Cu 

1 

Top             

1.009 
1.080 

.030 
.031 

.80 
.29 

.027 
.026 

.14 
.18 

.10 
.10 

Bottom 

2 

Top             

1.046 
1.006 

.029 
.026 

.29 
.29 

.027 
.027 

.15 
.18 

.10 
.10 

Bottom. 

8 

Top          

1.042 
0.933 

.031 
.030 

.29 
.30 

.028 
.029 

.11 
.14 

.10 
.10 

Bottom  

4 

Top 

1.090 
1.027 

.032 
.034 

.28 
.29 

.028 
.025 

.09 
.12 

.10 
.10 

Bottom 

5 

Top 

0.948 
1.089 

.035 
.036 

.32 
.29 

.026 
.027 

.17 
.10 

.10 
.10 

Bottom  

6 

Top  

1.065 
1.086 

.030 
.033 

.28 
.29 

.026 
.026 

.11 
.11 

.10 
.10 

Bottom         .  . 

7 

Top   

1.073 
1.043 

.030 
.028 

.29 
.30 

.025 
.028 

.11 
.15 

.09 
.10 

Bottom 

8 

Top                .  . 

0.982 
0.953 

.029 
.032 

.30 
.29 

.025 
.026 

.12 
.13 

.10 
.08 

Bottom  

9 

Top                      . 

1.044 
0.915 

.031 
.032 

.29 

.28 

.026 
.027 

.11 
.13 

.09 
.10 

Bottom  

Test. 

1.073 

.030 

.28 

.033 

.12 

.07 

Some  very  interesting  experiments  were  made  by  Wahlberg, 
who  took  tests  from  the  top  and  bottom  of  high  carbon  ingots 
made  at  four  well  known  works  in  Sweden.  The  variations  in  the 
results  obtained  by  different  chemists  have  already  been  shown  in 
Table  I-C  and  need  not  be  discussed  here.  The  original  paper 
gives  full  information,  from  which  we  find  that  one  analyst  found 
a  difference  in  the  carbon  content  of  the  outer  skin  of  the  ingot  at 
the  top  and  at  the  bottom  amounting  in  the  four  different  ingots 
to  the  following  in  per  cent. : ' 


.13 


.06 


.09 


.09 


The  differences  at  the  center  of  the  ingot  between  top  and  bottom 
were  respectively  .19,  .05,  .13  and  .09  per  cent. 

*  The  piece  from  the  upper  bloom  was  from  a  point  corresponding  to  one- 
quarter  way  from  the  top  of  the  ingot,  and  was  therefore  near  the  point  of 
maximum  segregation.  The  sample  was  the  usual  clipping  produced  in  cutting 
a  billet  under  the  hammer. 


HIGH-CARBON   STEEL. 


isa 


There  is  one  important  point  which  is  not  discussed  in  the  origi- 
nal paper.  Wahlberg  gives  in  each  case  the  carbon  as  "branded" 
on  the  bar,  by  which  we  may  assume  that  the  steel  would  have 
been  sold  as  having  that  particular  amount  of  carbon.  It  may  be 
well  to  compare  this  with  the  results  obtained  by  the  chemists,  and 
Table  V-C  gives  this  information,  the  maximum  and  minimum  in 
each  case  being  obtained  by  some  one  chemist  from  the  top  and 
bottom  of  the  same  ingot,  and  it  should  be  stated  that  in  each  case 
I  have  selected  the  chemist  whose  results  gave  the  widest  variation. 

TABLE  V-C. 
Variations  in  Swedish  Steel. 


Carbon  per  cent. 

Brand. 

Maximum. 

Minimum. 

50 

46 

49 

50 

53 

61 

50 

49 

55 

62 

59 

69 

90 

88 

106 

100 

88 

105 

110 

107 

119 

124 

114 

131 

In  the  Case  of  the  Steelton  steels,  concerning  which  the  fullest 
information  is  given,  the  variations  in  phosphorus,  sulphur,  man- 
ganese and  copper  are  trifling,  while  those  of  silicon  are  unimpor- 
tant. In  carbon  the  difference  between  extremes  is  16  points,  and 
while  this  may  seem  to  be  a  great  variation  in  one  charge,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  variations  in  each  separate  ingot  were  less  than 
in  the  Swedish  steel.  The  average  variation  between  the  top  and 
bottom  of  a  Steelton  ingot  was  .07  per  cent. 

It  is  necessary  to  consider  that  a  true  comparison  is  not  between 
one  small  ingot  of  crucible  steel  and  a  heat  of  open-hearth  metal, 
but  between  equal  amounts  of  each.  In  other  words,  the  question 
must  be  asked,  whether  the  irregularities  are  greater  in  a  lot  of 
ten  tons  of  crucible  steel  than  in  ten  tons  of  open-hearth.  This 
cannot  be  satisfactorily  answered,  since  so  much  depends  upon  the 
care  with  which  the  stock  is  selected,  but  Table  V-D  gives  some 
analyses  of  different  bars  of  one  lot  of  crucible  steel,  sold  under  one 
mark  and  of  uniform  size  by  one  of  the  leading  firms  in  the  United 


154 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND  STEEL. 


States;  it  will  be  evident  that  uniformity  can  by  no  means  be 
assumed. 

TABLE  Y-D. 

Variations  in  Composition  between  Different  Bars  of  one  Lot  of 
Crucible  Steel  Rounds. 


No.  of  Bar 

Composition,  per  cent. 

Carbon 
by  color. 

P 

Mn 

S 

1 
2 
3 
4 
6 

.85 
.85 
1.05 
.98 
.90 

.013 
.011 
.010 
.018 
und. 

.20 
.20 
.17 
.21 

.28 

018 
014 
010 
.012 
.010 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  ACID  BESSEMER  PROCESS. 

SECTION  Via. — Construction  of  a  Bessemer  converter.  The  acid 
^Bessemer  process  consists  in  blowing  air  into  liquid  pig-iron  for 
the  purpose  of  burning  most  of  the  silicon,  manganese  and  carbon 
<of  the  metal,  the  operation  being  conducted  in  an  acid-lined  vessel, 
.and  in  such  a  manner  that  the  product  is  entirely  fluid. 

The  way  in  which  the  air  is  introduced  is  a  matter  of  little  im- 
portance as  far  as  the  character  of  the  product  is  concerned.  In 
the  earlier  days  there  were  many  experimental  forms  of  apparatus, 
the  air  being  blown  sometimes  from  the  side  and  sometimes  from 
the  top,  while  the  tuyeres  were  plunged .  beneath  the  surface  or 
raised  entirely  above  it.  These  forms  have  given  way  in  all  large 
plants  to  the  method  of  blowing  the  air  upward  through  the  metal, 
trusting  to  the  pressure  of  the  blast  to  keep  the  liquid  from  run- 
ning into  the  holes  in  the  bottom,  but  in  cases  where  converters 
;are  used  for  making  steel  castings  the  method  of  side  blowing  is 
employed,  for  it  is  found  that  with  intermittent  work  and  where 
there  is  difficulty  in  getting  the  metal  hot,  the  side  blast  over  the 
-surface  is  an  advantage. 

The  converters  vary  widely  in  size  according  to  the  desired  out- 
put of  the  plant,  in  exceptional  cases  holding  less  than  one  thou- 
sand pounds,  but  the  common  size  for  what  are  known  as  "small" 
plants  treats  five  tons  at  a  time,  while  in  the  "large"  plants  the 
•capacity  is  from  ten  to  twenty  tons.  In  Fig.  VI-A  are  given  draw- 
ings of  the  18-ton  vessels  in  use  at  the  works  of  the  Maryland  Steel 
Company,  at  Sparrow's  Point,  Md. 

It  is  the  almost  universal  practice  to  rotate  the  converters  on  a 
central  axis  by  means  of  an  hydraulic  rack  and  pinion  in  order  to 
allow  the  turning  down  of  the  vessel  as  soon  as  the  charge  is  decar- 
burized,  so  that  the  metal  may  lie  quietly  in  the  belly,  the  tuyeres 
l^eing  above  the  metal,  as  shown  in  the  figure.  It  is  in  this  way  only 
that  a  blast  from  the  bottom  can  be  suddenly  stopped  without  fill- 

155 


156 


METALLURGY   OF   IKON   AND   STEEL. 
I 


FIG.  VI-A. — SECTION  OF  BESSEMER  CONVERTER  IN  UPRIGHT  POSI- 
TION. 


.  VI-A. — SECTION  OF  BESSEMER  CONVERTER  WHEN  TURNED 
DOWN,  SHOWING  BATH  OF  METAL.    - 


THE  ACID  BESSEMER  PROCESS. 


157 


ing  the  tuyeres  and  air  box  with  molten  metal.  If  bottom  blast  be 
used  with  a  stationary  vessel,  the  blast  must  be  continued  during 
all  the  time  required  to  open  the  taphole  and  drain  out  the  metal, 
so  that  under  the  best  of  practice  the  results  will  be  more  irregular 
than  with  a  rotary  form.  This  fault  may  be  partly  overcome  by 
having  the  blast  introduced  from  the  upper  surface,  but  experience 
shows  that  the  waste  of  iron  is  greater,  and  this  extra  expense  com- 
pletely wipes  away  all  advantages  of  a  reduced  cost  of  installation. 

TABLE  VI-A. 
Chemical  History  of  an  Acid-Bessemer  Charge. 

Illinois  Steel  Company,  South  Chicago,  111.,  August  13,  1890,  F.  Julian. 
Barometer,    29.79   inches;    temperature,   36°    C.    (96.8°   F.)  ;   blast  pressure,   27 
pounds  to  the  square  inch.     In  calculations  on  volume  of  air,  no  allowance 
is  made  for  leakage  or  clearance.     Weight  of  pig  and  scrap,  22,500  pounds. 
Weight  of  spiegel,  2500  pounds. 


Subject. 

Initial 
Charge. 

Time  of  Blowing. 

2m.  Os. 

8m.  20s. 

6m.  Ss. 

8m.  8s. 

9m.  10s. 

After 
SpiegeL 

Carbon    .... 

2.98 
0.94 
0.43 
.10 
.06 

2.94 
0.63 
0.09 
0.104 
0.06 
42.40 
5.63 
40.29 
4.31 
6.54 
1.22 
0.36 
0.008 
0.009 

Silicon 
flame. 

84502 

2.71 
0.33 
0.04 
0.106 
0.06 
50.26 
5.13 
84.24 
0.96 
7.90 
0.91 
0.34 
0.008 
0.009 

bright- 
ening. 

80628 

1.72 
0.03 
0.03 
0.108 
0.06 
62.54 
4.06 
21.26 
1.93 
8.79 
0.88 
0.84 
0.010 
0.014 
m'der'te 
carbon 
flame. 
53481 

0.53 
0.03 
0.01 
0.107 
006 
63.56 
3.01 
21.39 
2.63 
8.88 
0.90 
0.36 
0.014 
0.008 
full 
carbon 
flame. 
45365 

0.04 
0.02 
0.01 
0.108 
0.06 

0.45 
0.088 
1.15 
0.109 
0.059 
62.20 
2.76 
17.44 
2.90 
1872 
0.87 
0.29 
0.010 
0.011 

Silicon    

Manganese  .... 

Phosphorus 

Silica 

Alumina    

Ferrous  oxide 

Ferric  oxide   .... 

Manganese  oxide  . 
Lime 

Magnesia  

Phosphorus           . 

Sulphur        t  • 

Flamo               •      • 

flame 
drops. 

26480 

CtiWcfeet  of  air  .  . 

The  lining  is  made  of  stone,  brick,  or  other  refractory  material 
and  is  about  one  foot  thick.  The  bottom  is  made  either  of  brick  or 
rammed  plastic  material,  the  tuyeres  being  almost  invariably  of 
brick,  from  20  to  26  inches  in  length,  and  with  holes  from  three- 
eighths  to  one-half  inch  in  diameter.  The  total  tuyere  area  varies 
at  different  works  from  2.0  to  2.5  square  inches  per  ton  of  charge. 
The  blast  pressure  may  be  30  pounds  per  square  inch  during  the 
first  period  of  the  blow,  but  during  the  last  few  years  there  has 
been  a  tendency  toward  greater  tuyere  area  and  a  reduction  in  the 
pressure  to  about  20  pounds.  In  the  case  of  a  very  hot  charge,  or  if 
the  slag  is  sloppy,  the  pressure  must  sometimes  be  reduced  to  1C 


158 


METALLUEGY   OF   IRON   AND  STEEL. 


pounds  after  the  flame  "breaks  through"  ({.  e.f  after  the  carbon 
begins  to  burn),  to  prevent  the  expulsion  of  metal  from  the  nose. 
The  blowing  engine  and  the  tuyere  openings  being  proportionate 
to  the  work  in  hand,  the  heats,  whether  heavy  or  light,  are  usually 
blown  in  from  7  to  12  minutes. 

SEC.  VIb. — Chemical  history  of  an  acid  Bessemer  charge. — The 
chemical  history  of  a  typical  charge  was  investigated  by  F.  Julian 
at  the  South  Chicago  Works  of  the  Illinois  Steel  Company,  and  his 
results  are  given  in  Table  VI- A.  which  is  copied  from  a  most  admir- 
able paper  by  Prof.  Howe.* 

TABLE  VI-B. 
Calculations  on  Weights  of  Bessemer  Slags.     (See  Table  VI-A.) 


Method  of  Calculation. 

"Weight  of  Slag  in  pounds. 

After 
blowing 
2m.  Os. 

After 
blowing 
3m.  20s. 

After 
blowing 
6m.  8s. 

After 
blowing: 
8m.  8s. 

From  content  of  CaO. 

1024 
1389 
746 

480 
1514 

1374 
1471 

819 

624 
1443 

1420 
1471 
1034 

911 
1331 

1385 
1385 
1385 

1385 
1385 

From  content  of  MgO. 

From  content  of  A1,O3;  no  increase  assumed 
From  content  of  A12O3  ;  15  pounds  increase 
assumed  . 

From  content  of  MnO  

The  weight  of  the  slag  is  not  recorded,  but  apparently  all  the 
data  are  given  that  are  necessary  to  calculate  the  complete  history, 
for  the  amount  of  manganese  that  burns  is  known,  and,  from  the 
percentage  which  this  forms  of  the  total  cinder,  the  deduction  may 
be  made  that  the  slag  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  period  weighs  138 £ 
pounds.  This  figure  seems  quite  probable,  and,  with  it  as  a  basis, 
it  seems  possible  to  calculate  the  conditions  at  earlier  stages  of  the 
blow.  One  method  of  doing  this  is  founded  on  the  content  of  liine 
and  magnesia.  The  presence  of  both  of  these  factors  must  arise 
from  the  introduction  of  small  quantities  of  cupola  or  blast-furnace 
slag  into  the  converter,  and,  since  there  is  no  possible  source  of 
supply  of  either  during  the  process  of  blowing,  they  must  be  in 
constant  quantity  throughout  the  operation.  Another  method  is 
founded  on  the  content  of  alumina,  but  this  determination  would  be 
less  reliable,  for  there  is  a  certain  constant  increase  in  the  quantity 
present,  owing  to  the  scorification  of  the  bottom. r  In  the  present 
case  the  calculation  has  been  made  by  two  different  hypotheses; 

•  Votes  on  the  Bessemer  Process.    Journal  I.  and  8.  /.,  Vol.  II,  1890,  p.  102. 


THE   ACID   BESSEMER   PROCESS.  159 

first,  that  no  alumina  is  added  to  the  slag  during  the  blow ;  second, 
that  15  pounds  enters  the  cinder  between  the  beginning  and  end  of 
the  operation.  A  third  method  is  founded  on  the  quantity  of  man- 
ganese in  the  slag;  this  amount  is  changing  continually,  but  as 
none  can  enter  the  slag  save  from  the  iron,  and  as  the  composition 
of  the  metal  is  given  for  each  stage  of  the  process,  it  would  seem 
that  reasonably  accurate  results  might  be  obtained  from  this  source. 
Table  VI-B  shows  the  figures  thus  determined. 

A  little  consideration  will  show  that  there  are  radical  errors  in 
the  data,  since  the  results  do  not  agree  among  themselves;  in 
the  second  calculation,  on  the  basis  of  MgO,  and  in  the  fifth, 
on  the  basis  of  MnO,  the  work  is  palpably  wrong,  since  the  figured 
weight  of  the  first  slag  is  greater  than  that  of  the  final.  Without 
doubt,  some  of  the  trouble  arises  from  the  incorporation  of  slag 
which  was  left  sticking  to  the  sides  of  the  converter  from  previous 
heats,  and  which  melted  gradually  as  the  blow  progressed.  There 
is  also  great  difficult}^  in  procuring  a  true  sample  of  slag  at  any 
intermediate  stage  of  the  operation  owing  to  its  viscous  nature. 
These  conditions,  coupled  with  a  certain  error  caused  by  the  slop- 
ping of  slag  from  the  converter,  render  it  impossible  to  write  the 
chemical  history  from  the  data  of  one  charge.  The  above  attempt 
is  recorded  to  show  the  limits  which  bound  any  such  series  of 
analyses. 

Similar  discrepancies  will  be  found  between  the  amount  of 
oxygen  theoretically  necessary  to  burn  the  metalloids,  and  the  quan- 
tity actually  supplied.  Up  to  the  fifth  test  the  oxygen  needed  for 
the  combustion  of  the  silicon,  manganese  and  carbon  (to  CO) 
should  be  1148  pounds.  To  this  must  be  added  about  67  pounds 
which  is  absorbed  by  the  iron  in  the  slag,  giving  a  total  of  1215 
pounds.  The  volume  of  air  actually  supplied  was  190,406  cubic 
feet,  containing  2732  pounds  of  oxygen.  Allowing  a  very  gener- 
ous margin  for  leakage  and  inefficiency  of  blowing  cylinders,  it  is 
evident  that  the  errors  are  so  great  that  no  instruction  can  be 
gained  by  calculations  of  the  separate  periods. 

The  presence  of  traces  of  phosphorus  in  the  slag,  given  in  Table 
VI-A,  has  been  commented  upon  by  Prof.  Howe,*  who  attributes 
the  phenomenon  to  a  local  contamination  by  shot  mechanically  held. 
This  is  probably  not  the  whole  story,  for  I  have  found  that  acid 
open-hearth  slag  with  50  per  cent.  Si02  may  carry  0.04  per  cent. 

*  Notes  on  the  Bessemer  Process.    Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1890,  p.  101. 


160  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AXD   STEEL. 

of  phosphorus,  and  this  could  not  all  come  from  shot,  but  must 
arise,  in  part  at  least,  from  an  absorption  of  phosphorus  by  oxide 
of  iron.  The  failure  of  the  silica  to  break  up  the  resultant  phos- 
phate of  iron  may  easily  be  explained  by  the  persistence  with  which 
traces  of  elements  refuse  to  be  eliminated  under  conditions  which 
suffice  for  the  removal  of  all  but  an  inconsiderable  proportion.  I 
have  elsewhere*  dwelt  upon  this  fact  at  some  length. 

SEC.  Vic. — Variations  in  the  chemical  history  due  to  different 
contents  of  silicon. — With  a  low  initial  heat,  the  elimination  of 
silicon  is  almost  complete  before  the  carbon  is  seriously  affected, 
but  there  is  a  certain  critical  temperature  where  the  relative  affin- 
ities of  silicon  and  carbon  for  oxygen  are  reversed,  and,  when  this 
is  attained,  no  matter  at  what  stage  of  the  operation,  the  silicon 
immediately  ceases  to  have  preference,  and  the  carbon  seizes  the 
entire  supply  of  oxygen.  This  continues  until  the  carbon  is  re- 
duced to  about  .03  per  cent.,  but  beyond  this  it  is  very  difficult  to 
go,  for  these  last  traces  hold  on  .even  though  the  blast  be  continued 
with  oxidation  of  iron. 

If  the  metal  has  contained  silicon  during  the  burning  of  carbon 
owing  to  an  excessively  high  temperature,  the  blowing  may  be  kept 
up  after  the  drop  of  the  carbon  flame  and  the  silicon  will  be  oxi- 
dized in  preference  to  iron,  but  in  ordinary  practice  silicon  is 
eliminated  early  in  the  operation,  for  scrap  is  added  to  the  charge 
in  sufficient  quantity  to  utilize  the  excess  of  heat  and  prevent  the 
attainment  of  the  critical  thermal  altitude.  The  same  cooling 
effect  may  be  attained  by  the  injection  of  steam  into  the  air  supply, 
but  this  is  less  economical  than  adding  scrap,  for  by  the  latter 
method  a  part  of  the  charge  is  melted  without  any  extra  cost. 

It  has  been  the  practice  at  many  foreign  works,  particularly  in 
Germany,  to  have  the  pig-iron  at  a  very  high  temperature  in  the 
manufacture  of  rail  steel,  and  blow  "hot"  in  order  to  produce  a 
decarburized  metal  containing  silicon.  The  steel  is  cooled  to  a 
proper  casting  temperature  by  the  addition  of  scrap  in  the  ladle, 
and  large  quantities  of  rails  and  other  products  have  been  thus 
made  with  from  0.3  to  0.6  per  cent,  of  silicon. 

Some  pig-iron,  notably  in  Germany  and  Sweden,  contains  a  con- 
siderable proportion  of  manganese;  this  burns  in  some  measure  ai: 
the  same  time  as  the  silicon,  and  is  usually  all  eliminated  before 
the  carbon  begins  to  oxidize,  but  at  high  temperatures,  as  well  as 

*  The  Open-Hearth  Process.     Trans.  A:  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  462. 


THE   ACID  BESSEMER   PROCESS. 


161 


when  the  manganese  is  present  in  large  quantity,  the  carbon  has 
preference.  In  Sweden  this  fact  is  made  use  of  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  tool  steels,  the  operation  being  stopped  when  the  bath  is 
high  in  carbon,  the  metal  still  containing  a  sufficient  proportion 
of  manganese  to  insure  good  working.  This  renders  necessary 
that  the  silicon  content  be  kept  low  in  the  pig-iron  in  order  that 
none  may  be  left  in  the  steel. 

SEC.  VId. — Swedish  Bessemer  practice. — The  Swedish  practice, 
which  stands  on  an  entirely  different  footing  from  American  and 
English  work,  has  been  thoroughly  discussed  by  Akerman,*  and 
many  of  the  following  statements  are  founded  on  his  authority. 
The  pig-iron  is  made  with  silicon  not  much  over  1.0  per  cent."  to 
insure  that  the  product  shall  be  free  from  this  metalloid  even  if 
the  blow  be  interrupted  when  high  in  carbon.  The  charge  is  taken 
in  a  molten  state  from  the  blast-furnace  to  the  converter,  a  prac- 
tice which  has  been  in  general  use  in  Sweden  since  the  first  trials 
of  the  process  in  1857,  so  that  our  most  modern  plants  in  their  use 
of  "direct  metal"  are  simply  copying  a  system  which  for  many 
years  was  looked  upon  as  too  primitive  for  advanced  metallurgy. 


TABLE  VI-C. 

Analyses  of  Manganiferous  Bessemer  Pig-irons  and  the  Resulting 
Baths  and  Slags. 


Name  of 
Works. 

Sample. 

Time  to 
begin- 
ning of 
boil. 

Time  of 
blowing 
when 
samples 
were 
taken. 

Composition  of 
Metal;  percent. 

Composition  of  Slag; 
per  cent. 

C 

Si 

Mn 

SiOa 

FeO 

MnO 

A1.0, 

£anghyt- 
tan. 

Pig-Iron. 
Bess,  bath 
«          « 
«          « 

2m.  45s.' 

'  2m.  15s.  ' 
4m.  80s. 
5m.  80s. 

8.94 
4.20 
1.10 
.05 

1.14 
.04 
.03 
.01 

.64 
.12 
.12 
.06 

48J6 
59.82 
48.48 

84172 

21.08 
85.82 

13.95 
15.48 
12.29 

'  '.78 
.98 
.72 

Ny- 
kroppa. 

Pig-Iron. 
Bess,  bath 

«          « 
««          « 

4.35 
4.10 
1.00 
.08 

.88 
.10 
.05 
.04 

1.15 
.15 
.15 
.08 

1m.  30s. 

2m.  80s. 
5m.  80s. 
6m.  80s. 

53.26 
62.34 
44.52 

13.50 
9.54 
80.60 

29.76 
28.70 
21.89 

2.28 
8.90 
2.14 

Westanf- 
ors. 

Pig-iron. 
Bess,  bath 

«          « 
«          « 

4.22 
4.20 
1.80 
.56 

1.06 
.43 
.12 
.07 

5.12 
8.26 

.85 
.43 

45.87 
39.07 
87.63 

Y.20 
6.24 
9.45 

46!S8 

52.26 
48.92 

's!o8 

2.40 
2.94 

2m.  80s. 

4m.  15s. 
8m.  85s. 
9m.  20s. 

The  slow  working  and  small  charges  which  must  always  char- 
acterize the  Bessemer  practice  of  Sweden,  renders  necessary  a  hot- 
blowing  metal,  and  since  the  silicon  cannot  be  high  without  danger 

•  Bessemer  Process  as  Conducted  in  Sweden.  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXII, 
p.  265. 


162 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND  STEEL. 


of  leaving  some  in  the  product,  it  is  customary  to  have  from  1.5  to 
4.0  per  cent,  of  manganese  in  the  pig.  Table  VI-C  gives  analyses 
of  metals  and  slags  at  different  periods  of  the  operation,  the  data 
being  taken  from  the  paper  by  Akerman  just  referred  to. 

It  will  be  seen  that  when  manganese  was  present  in  large  propor- 
tion, there  was  quite  an  amount  left  in  the  steel  after  the  boil  had 
begun  and  even  after  most  of  the  carbon  had  been  eliminated. 
This  will  be  further  illustrated  by  Table  VI-D,  which  gives  addi- 
tional results  from  the  Westanfors  Works,  and  which  is  also  taken 
from  the  paper  by  Akerman. 

TABLE  VI-D. 

Examples  of  Bessemer  Steel  Made  from  High-Manganese  Pig- 
iron  by  Interrupting  the  Blast  before  Complete  Eemoval 
of  Carbon/ 

Pig-Iron  with  4  per  cent.  Mn  and  1  per  cent.  81. 


Element. 

Composition,  per  cent.,  of  various  heats. 

Sn  :  :  : 

Si  .... 

1.3 
0.6 
0.06 

1.1 

0.55 
0.05 

0.9 
0.5 
0.045 

0.7 
0.4 
0.045 

0.5 

0.3 

0.04 

0.3 
0.2 
0.03 

0.2 
0.15 
0.02 

0.15 
0.12 
0.015 

Pig-iron  with  5  to  6  per  cent.  Mn  and 
1  per  cent.  Si. 


Element. 

Composition,  per  cent.,  of 
various  heats. 

C  .  .  .  . 
Mn  .  .  . 
Si  .... 

1.3 
1.25 
0.25 

1.1 
1.05 
0.2 

0.0 

0.9 
0.15 

0.7 
0.7 
0.12 

0.6 
0.6 
0.1 

The  presence  of  oxide  of  manganese  renders  the  slag  more  fluid 
and  also  reduces  the  content  of  iron  oxide,  as  is  clearly  shown  by 
the  analyses  of  the  Westanfors  slags.  This  is  in  accord  with  the 
theory  elsewhere  advanced  concerning  the  composition  of  open- 
hearth  slags,  that  after  a  certain  basicity  and  fluidity  are  attained, 
the  demand  for  more  bases  is  not  urgent.  (See  Section  Xc.) 

SEC.  Vie. — History  of  the  slag  in  the  converter. — Akerman  dis- 
cusses, with  considerable  fullness,  the  part  which  the  slag  plays 
in  the  oxidation  of  the  metalloids,  but  I  have  ventured  to  dis- 
agree with  him  on  this  point.*  In  the  open-hearth  process,  the 
history  of  the  slag  is  the  history  of  the  operation,  for  all  the  changes 

*  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  667. 


THE  ACID  BESSEMER  PROCESS. 


163 


in  the  composition  of  the  metal  must  of  necessity  be  done  through 
the  mediation  of  the  slag,  but  in  the  Bessemer  the  blast  enters  from 
the  bottom  and  passes  upward  through  the  metal  before  it  ever 
comes  in  contact  with  the  slag.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  charge 
is  in  a  state  of  violent  ebullition  and  that  the  slag  is  constantly 
carried  down  into  the  metal,  but,  nevertheless,  such  a  mixing  does 
not  seem  to  be  a  necessary  and  inherent  part  of  the  operation,  for, 
when  the  heat  is  first  turned  up,  the  silicon  is  immediately  oxidized, 
although  no  slag  is  present.  In  short,  the  question  almost  resolves 
itself  into  a  reductio  ad  ahsurdum,  for  it  is  the  oxidation  of  the 
silicon  which  first  creates  the  slag,  and  hence  it  can  hardly  be  that 
slag  is  necessary  for  the  oxidation  of  silicon.  It  is  quite  true 
that  the  slag  does  automatically  adjust  its  own  composition,  and 
will  do  so  even  after  the  addition  of  large  quantities  of  iron  oxide, 
but  probably  with  much  less  precision  than  in  the  open-hearth 
furnace. 

In  American  practice  no  attention  is  paid  to  the  composition  of 
the  slag,  for  at  most  works  the  iron  contains  only  a  trace  of  man- 
ganese, while  at  others  it  hardly  ever  exceeds  0.50  per  cent.,  this 
amount  rendering  the  slag  somewhat  more  fluid,  while,  with  a  con- 
tent much  above  this,  there  is  considerable  loss  of  metal  by  slop- 
ping. Whether  the  initial  metal  contains  manganese  or  not,  there 
will  always  be  a  certain  proportion  in  the  final  slag  from  the  reac- 
tion with  the  recarburizer.  An  average  sample  was  taken  of  about 
100  heats  at  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company's  works,  and  the 
results  are  given  in  Table  VI-E  in  comparison  with  the  analysis  of 
Chicago  slag,  as  given  in  Table  VI-A.  No  attempt  was  made  to 
separate  the  different  iron  oxides,  the  metal  being  all  calculated 
as  FeO. 

TABLE  VI-E. 
Composition  of  American  Bessemer  Slags. 


Composition,  Per  Cent. 

Origin  of  Sample. 

SiOa 

FeO 

Fe20, 

MnO 

62.20 
59.70 

69.50 

17.44 
19.30 

15.34 

2.90 

13.72 
12.00 

9.37 

Chicago  (See  Table  VI-A  .) 
Steelton  100  heats. 
(  Steelton  100  heats;  pig  iron 
\     =2.50  to3.OOpercent.Si. 

164  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

The  composition  of  the  slag  is  sometimes  greatly  changed  in  one 
or  more  charges  by  the  practice  of  blowing. with  the  vessel  partly 
tipped  over  while  the  carbon  is  burning.  This  position  brings 
some  of  the  tuyeres  above  the  level  of  the  metal,  so  that  the  blast 
rushes  over  the  surface,  oxidizing  considerable  iron,  and  also  burn- 
ing part  of  the  CO  to  C02.  Under  ordinary  conditions,  the  gases 
escaping  from  the  mouth  of  the  converter  during  the  boil  consist 
mainly  of  N"  and  CO,  but  when  a  part  of  the  air  enters  just  abova 
the  metal  and  the  rest  from  below,  as  it  will  do  if  the  vessel  is 
inclined,  there  will  be  a  greater  calorific  development,  so  that  this 
method  is  taken  to  raise  the  temperature  of  a  cold  charge  at  the 
expense  of  a  greater  waste  of  iron,  and  a  greater  wear  of  the  lining. 

These  cold  charges  may  arise  from  too  low  a  content  of  silicon, 
from  a  low  initial  temperature,  or  from  a  newly-repaired  vessel. 
It  is  unusual  in  our  rapid  American  practice  to  have  much  difficulty 
from  insufficient  heat,  for  the  fastest  plants  will  make  an  average 
of  eight  heats  per  hour  from  a  pair  of  10-ton  vessels,  giving  an 
output  of  50,000  tons  per  month.  Under  these  conditions  a  con- 
tent of  one  per  cent,  of  silicon  in  the  pig-iron,  without  any  man- 
ganese, is  found  sufficient  for  the  production  of  the  necessary  heat. 
Little  attention  need  be  paid  to  the  initial  content  of  carbon,  for, 
as  it  burns  mostly  to  CO,  and  as  the  nitrogen  and  carbonic  oxide 
must  both  be  heated  to  the  full  temperature  of  the  charge,  with 
the  absorption  of  a  large  quantity  of  energy  in  their  free  expansion, 
the  combustion  of  this  element  supplies  very  little  heat  to  the  bath. 
In  the  burning  of  silicon,  on  the  contrary,  the  only  gas  escaping 
is  the  nitrogen,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  calorific  power  neces- 
sary to  heat  this  gas  and  the  silica  to  a  yellow  heat,  the  entire 
energy  of  the  action  is  utilized  in  the  bath. 

'  -  SEC.  Vlf. — Calorific  history  of  the  acid  Bessemer  converter. — In 
th,e  previous  edition  of  this  book  there  appeared  a  calculation  on 
the  amount  of  heat  generated  during  the  operation  in  a  Bessemer 
vessel,  but  some  changes  are  necessary  in  the  work  because  there 
have  been  quite  recently  some  new  determinations  on  the  calorific 
value  of  silicon.  It  has  always  been  assumed  that  this  element 
when  burned  produced  7830  calories  per  kilogramme,  but  it  now 
appears  that  this  value,  which  applied  to  the  hydrated  oxide,  is  too 
high,  and  a  much  lower  value  applies  to  the  dry  oxide  formed  in  a 
calorimetric  bomb. 

In  the  former  calculation  it  was  considered  that  the  carbon  was 


THE   ACID  BESSEMER  PROCESS.  165 

all  burned  to  carbonic  oxide  (CO),  while  it  is  well  known  that  a 
certain  proportion  burns  to  carbonic  acid  (C02),  this  proportion 
varying  with  the  progress  of  the  operation;  in  the  following  calcu- 
lation it  will  be  assumed  that  one-fifth  of  the  total  carbon  is  burned 
to  carbonic  acid,  thus  increasing  considerably  the  calorific  energy. 

These  matters  have  been  discussed  with  one  of  the  highest  au- 
thorities on  such  matters,  Prof.  J.  W.  Richards,  of  Lehigh  Uni- 
versity, and  I  have  asked  him  to  give  the  solution  of  the  problem 
under  his  own  name.  In  the  former  edition  the  theoretical  rise  in 
temperature  was  found  to  be  481°  C.  It  is  here  found  to  be  329° 
C.  Considering  the  change  made  in  the  value  of  silicon,  which  in 
itself  reduces  the  final  temperature  by  45°  C.,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  two  calculations  may  be  regarded  in  a  very  rough  way  as  corrob- 
orative of  each  other. 

The  assumption  that  two  per  cent,  of  iron  is  burned  to  useful 
purpose,  is  founded  on  the  fact  that  the  Bessemer  department  at 
The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Works  produces  about  120  tons  of  vessel- 
slag  for  every  1000  tons  of  pig-iron.  This  slag,  after  being  cleaned 
by  the  magnet,  averages  15  per  cent,  of  iron,  so  that  the  loss  is  1.80 
per  cent,  of  metal.  The  volume  of  slag  is  determined  in  great 
measure  by  the  amount  of  silica  available  for  each  heat,  and  this 
silica  comes  from  the  wear  of  the  lining,  from  erosion  of  the  bot- 
tom, and  from  combustion  of  silicon.  The  percentage  of  the  latter 
element  in  the  pig-iron  used  in  the  above  practice  is  about  1.75  per 
cent.,  which  is  somewhat  higher  than  is  essential,  so  that  scrap 
must  be  used  to  cool  the  charge.  If  the  pig-iron  were  supposed  to 
contain  only  1.00  per  cent,  of  silicon,  the  weight  of  the  slag  will 
be  considerably  reduced,  but  as  the  wear  of  the  bottom  and  lining 
will  remain  nearly  constant,  the  decrease  will  not  be  proportional. 
It  will  be  assumed  in  the  present  calculation  that  1.5  per  cent,  will 
represent  the  usual  loss  of  combined  iron  in  the  cinder. 

A  part  of  the  metal  enters  the  slag  as  shot,  a  separation  by  the 
magnet  giving  an  average  content  of  from  6  to  8  per  cent.,  indi- 
cating a  loss  of  about  three-quarters  of  1  per  cent,  of  the  total  out- 
put, and  this  portion  is  a  complete  loss  as  far  as  both  product  and 
heat  are  concerned.  The  large  pieces  of  scrap  in  the  vessel  slag 
may  be  picked  out  by  hand,  and,  as  these  are  generally  returned  to 
the  cupolas  without  reweighing,  they  are  not  reckoned  in  the  per- 
centage of  loss.  The  smaller  particles  can  only  be  recovered  by 


166  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

the  rather  expensive  process  of  crushing  the  slag  and  passing  it 
over  a  magnetic  separator. 

There  is  about  8  per  cent,  of  loss  in  the  converter  in  ordinary 
practice,  of  which  the  metalloids  do  not  give  over  5  per  cent.,  so 
that  about  3  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron  must  be  accounted  for.  The 
amount  combining  with  the  slag  has  been  shown  to  be  about  1.8 
per  cent.,  while  the  shot  is  0.75  per  cent.,  so  that  about  one-half 
of  1  per  cent,  of  metal  must  be  ejected  from  the  nose  of  the  vessel 
by  the  force  of  the  blast  in  the  form  of  fine  dust  and  splashes. 
Most  of  this  metal  is  oxidized  outside  the  converter,  but  a  part  of 
it  is  burned  within  and  gives  its  heat  to  the  charge.  Together, 
with  the  1.5  per  cent.,  which  enters  the  slag,  we  may  assume  that 
something  less  than  2  per  cent,  in  all  is  available  as  fuel. 

When  the  iron  is  melted  in  cupolas  there  is  an  additional  loss  of 
2  per  cent.,  making  a  total  of  10  per  cent.  It  is  shown  in  Sec.  Vlh 
that  about  half  of  1  per  cent,  of  all  the  iron  charged  in  the  cupolas 
is  carried  off  as  oxide  in  the  slag,  but  in  addition  to  this  there  is 
quite  an  appreciable  amount  which  is  lost  when  the  cupola  is 
dumped,  and  another  part  that  is  absorbed  by  the  lining  of  the 
hearth.  The  capacity  of  linings  to  absorb  oxide  of  iron  can  only 
be  appreciated  by  one  who  has  melted  the  first  heat  on  a  new  bot- 
tom in  an  open-hearth  furnace. 

There  is  also  quite  a  diminution  in  the  weight  of  the  iron  caused 
by  the  oxidation  of  silicon  and  manganese,  and  perhaps  carbon. 
It  is  hardly  fair  to  speak  of  this  as  loss,  as  these  elements  must  be 
burned  one  time  or  another,  and  if  they  are  not  eliminated  in  the 
cupolas,  they  will  cause  just  so  much  more  loss  in  the  conyerter. 
The  same  reasoning,  of  course,  applies  with  still  more  force  to  any 
sand  that  may  cling  to  the  iron.  It  is  manifestly  absurd  to  regard 
sand  as  iron,  and  yet  many  account  books  are  kept  in  that  way. 

Calculation  of  Rise  of  Temperature  During  the  Blow,  by  Prof. 
Joseph  W.  Richards. 

The  calculation  is  made  on  the  assumption  that,  given  a  bath  of 
pig-iron  at  1400°  C.,  and  air  coming  in  at  100°  C.,  and  the  amount 
of  heat  required  to  heat  the  air  to  the  temperature  of  the  bath 
being  first  allowed  for,  then  the  heat  evolved  by  the  union  of  the 
oxygen  with  the  bath  must  be  absorbed  by  the  products  of  the  oxi- 
dation. These  products  are  steel,  slag,  oxides  of  carbon  and  nitro- 


THE   ACID   BESSEMER   PROCESS.  167 

gen.  The  steel  and  slag  will  be  raised  to  the  final  temperature  of 
the  bath;  the  gases  will  escape  continuously,  and,  therefore,  be 
heated  to  the  average  temperature  of  the  bath,  in  the  case  of 
nitrogen,  or  to  an  assumed  three-quarters  of  the  total  rise  in  the 
case  of  oxides  of  carbon,  which  come  off  during  the  latter  half  of 
the  blow.  The  heat  absorbed  by  the  lining  is  indefinite,  but  a 
rough  approximation  to  it  can  be  made  by  assuming  that  a  thick- 
ness of  lining  of  one  centimetre  participates  in  the  increase  of  tem- 
perature. The  amount  of  heat  lost  by  radiation  cannot  be  allowed 
for,  so  that  no  attempt  to  do  so  will  be  made. 

TABLE  VI-F. 
Calorific  History  of  the  Acid  Bessemer  Converter. 

Data  :     1000  kg.  pig-iron  ;  Si=1.00  per  cent. ;  C=3.50  per  cent. 
Initial  temperature=1400  C.     Average  temperature  about  1600°  C. 
Loss=8  per  cent.     Metallic  iron  burned=2  per  cent. 
Specific  heat  at  1600°  C.,  per  cubic  metre  CO  and  N=0.40 ;  COa=1.34. 
Specific  heat  at  1600°  C.,  per  kilo  liquid  steel  0.21,  liquid  slag  0.25,  lining  0.25 ; 
per  kilo  CO  and  N=0.32,  CO2=0.68. 

Specific  heat  of  air  100°  C.  to  1400°  C.,  per  cubic  metre=0.346 ;  per  kg.=0.26S. 

NET    HEAT   DEVELOPMENT. 

Combustion  of  Silicon—  Calories.         Surplus. 

10  kg.    Si+11.4  kg.   0=21.4  kg.    SiO2=64,140 
11.4  kg.  O=49.6  kg.  air,  absorbing 

49.6X0.268X1300  =17,280  46,860 

Combustion  of  Iron — 

20   kg.   Fe+5.7   kg.   O=25.7   kg.    FeO=23,460 
5.7  kg.  O=24.8  kg.  air,  absorbing 

24.8X0.268X1300  1^820 

Combustion  of  Carbon— 

7   kg.    C+18.7   kg.    0-25.7   kg.    CO2=56,930 
28    kg.    C+37.3    kg.    O=65.3  kg.    CO=68,600 

125,530 
56  kg.  O=243.5  kg.  air,  absorbing 

243.5X0.268X1300  -84,830  40,700 

Total  surplus   heat  developed 

CALORIFIC   CAPACITY  OF  THE   PRODUCTS. 
WeightXSp.  heat  at  1600  degrees. 
920  kg.liquid  steelX0.21 
150  kg*,  liquid  slagX0.25 
50  kg.  lining  X0.25 

25  7  kg.  C0a  X0.68X3/4  =  13.1 

65  3  kg.  CO  X0.32X3/4  =  15.7 

244.8  kg.   N  X0.32X1/2  =  39.2 

Total  capacity  per  1°  C.         =311.2 

102,380    ,OQO  n 
Theoretical  rise  of  temperature=  -^^^ 


168  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

The  surplus  heat  developed,  after  allowing  for  the  heating  of 
the  air  to  the  temperature  of  the  bath,  will  be  utilized  in  heating 
the  steel,  slag  and  gases  produced,  also  the  lining,  while  some  is 
lost  by  radiation.  Omitting  the  latter,  it  can  therefore  be  said 
that  the  total  surplus  heat  thus  available,  divided  by  the  calorific 
capacity  of  the  products  at  the  average  temperature  of  the  bath 
(i.  e.,  the  heat  required  to  raise  their  temperature  1°  C.)  will  give 
the  theoretical  rise  in  temperature.  For  reasons  already  given, 
only  half  the  calorific  capacity  of  the  nitrogen  is  used,  and  three- 
quarters  that  of  the  oxides  of  carbon. 

The  surplus  heat  charged  respectively  to  the  credit  of  silicon, 
iron  and  carbon  does  not  express  accurately  the  relative  value  of 
those  substances  for  increasing  the  temperature  of  the  bath,  be- 
cause the  bath  is  in  practice  comparatively  cold  while  silicon  is 
being  burnt  and  comparatively  hot  while  carbon  is  oxidizing.  The 
surplus  credited  to  silicon  is  therefore  smaller,  and  that  to  carbon 
larger,  than  actually  occurs  during  the  blow ;  but  a  little  reflection 
will  show  that  the  values  calculated  and  used  are  theoretically 
accurate  for  the  needs  of  our  calculation  of  rise  of  temperature. 

This  would  make  the  end  temperature  1400+329=1729°  C., 
leaving  out  of  consideration  the  loss  due  to  radiation  during  the 
blow.  It  is  very  probable  that  the  check  on  the  rise  of  tempera- 
ture due  to  this  cause  will  not  exceed  50°  C.,  which  would  leave 
the  corrected  end  temperature  about  1679°  C.,  and  the  actual  rise 
about  279°  C. 

SEC.  VIg. — Use  of  direct  metal. — It  has  been  the  custom  in  Swe- 
den, from  the  earliest  days  of  the  Bessemer  process,  to  use  the  pig- 
iron  as  it  comes  from  the  blast-furnace  without  allowing  it  to 
become  solid,  while  in  other  countries  it  was  almost  invariably 
found,  during  the  early  history  of  the  art,  that  it  was  more  eco- 
nomical to  remelt  the  iron  in  cupolas.  The  success  of  the  Swedish 
metallurgists  arose  partly  from  the  necessity  of  saving  fuel  in  a 
country  where  coal  was  not  to  be  found,  and  partly  from  the  favor- 
able character  of  the  native  pig-iron,  which,  being  made  from  char- 
coal, never  contained  high  silicon,  and  which  was  almost  always 
low  in  both  sulphur  and  phosphorus,  owing  to  the  purity  of  the  ore 
and  fuel. 

Moreover,  a  large  proportion  of  the  Swedish  Bessemer  product 
has  been,  and  still  is,  a  very  hard  steel,  the  blow  being  interrupted 
when  the  metal  contains  a  considerable  percentage  t)f  carbon,  and 


THE   ACID   BESSEMER   PROCESS.  169 

therefore  the  operation  can  be  conducted  at  a  lower  temperature, 
and  a  lower  content  of  silicon  is  practicable.  The  manufacture  of 
this  hard  steel  is  made  feasible  by  the  low  phosphorus  and  low 
sulphur  in  Swedish  irons,  and  although  the  method  of  interrupting 
the  blow  gives  very  irregular  results,  it  will  generally  happen  that 
the  steel  is  suited  for  some  purpose,  and  it  can  be  graded  after  it  is 
made. 

The  failure  of  the  direct  metal  process  in  other  countries  arose 
from  the  fact  that  the  product  of  a  furnace  on  one  day  contained 
so  much  silicon  that  the  charges  were  too  hot,  on  another  day  the 
silicon  was  too  low  and  the  blows  were  too  cold,  while  on  the  third 
day  the  iron  was  so  high  in  sulphur  that  the  steel  was  worthless. 
By  allowing  all  the  iron  to  become  cold,  and  by  mixing  the  differ- 
ent qualities  according  to  fracture,  and,  at  a  later  period,  accord- 
ing to  chemical  composition,  it  was  possible  to  get  a  more  regular 
metal  which  would  represent  the  average  product  of  the  furnace. 
It  was  also  possible  to  mix  the  iron  from  different  furnaces,  certain 
brands  being  prized  on  account  of  their  hot-blowing  or  their  cold- 
blowing  qualities,  when  the  reason  for  their  peculiarities  was  un- 
known. 

The  conditions  in  later  years  have  altered  the  economic  situation, 
and  modern  practice  has  reverted  to  the  more  primitive  system  of 
using  the  metal  directly  from  the  blast-furnace,  this  change  being^ 
made  feasible  in  great  measure  by  improved  blast-furnace  practice. 
In  some  works  the  percentage  of  silicon  in  every  cast  is  deter- 
mined while  the  iron  is  on  its  way  from  the  blast-furnace  to  the 
receiver,  so  that  the  blower  can  be  forewarned  of  any  change  which  is 
about  to  take  place  in  the  character  of  the  iron.  Much  information 
is  also  gained  by  a  fracture  test  made  upon  a  small  ingot  which  is 
cast  in  an  iron  mold,  every  precaution  being  taken  to  have  all  the 
conditions  of  pouring  as  uniform  as  possible. 

It  is,  of  course,  generally  believed  that  the  introduction  of  the 
"Jones  mixer"  has  removed  all  the  difficulties  in  the  use  of  direct 
iron,  and  a  recent  important  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
"United  States  gives  ground  for  such  a  belief.  It  is  beyond  the 
province  of  this  book  to  discuss  legal  questions  with  the  above 
court,  but  it  is  possible  that  there  were  some  rather  practical  points 
of  metallurgy  with  which  this  august  tribunal  was  not  thoroughly 
familiar.  For  many  years  the  use  of  an  intermediate  receiving 
ladle  had  been  common  in  American  works,  and  with  the  enormous 


170  METALLURGY   OP  IRON  AND  STEEL. 

increase  in  output  and  amount  of  pig-iron  handled,  the  size  of  this 
ladle  would  necessarily  be  increased,  and  means  be  taken  to  prevent 
loss  of  heat.  The  function  of  mixing  is  a  comparatively  unimpor- 
tant addendum,  and  the  word  "receiver"  is  a  much  more  accurate 
word.  As  such  it  is  coming  into  general  use  in  both  acid  and  basic 
Bessemer  plants,  both  here  and  abroad. 

SEC.  Vlh. — Use  of  cupola  metal. — Under  the  practice  of  using 
direct  metal  it  is  desirable  that  the  blast  furnaces  should  be  within 
a  convenient  distance,  say  two  miles,  of  the  Bessemer  department, 
for,  otherwise,  there  will  be  considerable  loss  from  chilling.  For 
these  reasons  there  are  some  plants  which  still  remelt  all  their 
iron.  The  cupolas  used  for  this  purpose  are  practically  alike  in 
different  localities.  They  measure  from  6  to  8  feet  in  internal 
diameter,  while  the  height  should  be  at  least  20  feet  to  save  fuel. 

The  consumption  of  fuel  varies  according  to  the  height  of  the 
cupola,  and  according  to  the  management,  one  pound  of  coke  being 
required  for  11  pounds  of  iron  in  some  works,  while  in  other  estab- 
lishments a  ratio  of  15  pounds  of  iron  to  one  pound  of  coke  has 
been  attained.  This  coke  must  be  as  free  as  possible  from  sulphur, 
for  it  is  not  unusual  to  have  the  content  of  sulphur  in  the  pig-iron 
raised  .02  or  even  .04  per  cent,  during  the  melting. 

TABLE  VI-G. 
Loss  of  Combined  Iron  in  Cupola  Slag. 

Pig-iron  charged,  pounds 835.600 

Coke                              « 75750 

Limestone                    "        15.250 

Cupola  slag                   '«        40.200 

Fe  in  slag,  per  cent 8.77 

Fe  in  slag,  pounds 3529 

Fe  in  slag,  per  cent,  of  pig-iron  charged  . 0.42 

About  half  of  1  per  cent,  of  silicon  and  some  manganese  are 
oxidized  during  the  melting  in  the  cupolas,  but  these  are  of  little 
importance  when  compared  with  the  loss  of  metallic  iron.  The 
total  difference  in  weight  between  metal  charged  and  metal  tapped 
includes  the  sand  which  was  attached  to  the  pig,  the  silicon,  man- 
ganese and  carbon  which  have  been  eliminated,  and  also  the  scrap 
and  shot  which  freeze  to  the  lining,  or  fall  through  the  bottom 
when  the  campaign  is  ended. 

The  true  way  to  find  the  amount  of  iron  oxidized  is  to  weigh  and 
analyze  the  cinder  running  from  the  slag-hole.  Table  VI-G-  gives 
the  record  for  24  hours  on  7-foot  cupolas. 


THE   ACID   BESSEMER   PROCESS.  171 

SEC.  VIL— Certain  factors  affecting  the  calorific  history  of  the 
converter. — Aside  from  the  errors  involved  in  the  suppositions  con- 
cerning the  burning  of  iron,  the  theoretical  effects  of  silicon  and 
carbon  upon  the  operation  of  the  converter  are  never  realized  on 
.account  of  several  losses,  which  may  be  enumerated  as  follows: 

(1)  By  radiation  and  conduction. 

(2)  By  decomposition  of  the  moisture  in  the  blast. 

(3)  By  melting  the  lining  and  bottom. 

(4)  By  excess  of  air  passing  unaffected  through  the  metal;  for 
even  though  such  excess  may  burn  the  CO  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
vessel  to  C02,  a  large  part  of  the  heat  thus  produced  is  carried 
.away  in  the  waste  gases  rather  than  absorbed  by  the  bath. 

It  would  be  very  difficult  to  make  a  quantitative  estimate  of  these 
disturbing  factors,  and  it  would  be  equally  unprofitable,  for  it  is 
easy  to  obtain  sufficient  heat  without  much  extra  expense  by  a  slight 
increase  in  the  content  of  silicon  in  the  pig-iron. 

Until  within  a  few  years  it  was  thought  necessary  to  have  from 
2.0  to  2.5  per  cent,  of  silicon  in  the  metal  as  it  entered  the  con- 
verter, but  the  general  practice  at  the  present  time  is  to  have  from 
1.0  to  1.5  per  cent.,  although  it  is  perfectly  feasible  to  operate 
continuously  with  a  content  of  from  0.6  to  0.8  per  cent. 

This  reduction  of  the  calorific  power  has  been  made  practicable 
by  several  improvements  in  practice,  none  of  them  of  overwhelming 
importance,  but  forming  a  considerable  total  when  added  together. 
Some  of  these  details  may  be  enumerated  as  follows : 

(1)  Fast  and  continuous  running,  the  iron  never  standing  long 
•enough  to  cool,  and  the  steel  ladles  and  vessels  being  always  hot. 

(2)  Quick  blowing,  the  radiation  from  the  vessel  being  propor- 
tionately decreased,  and  the  time  lessened  during  which  the  com- 
panion and  idle  vessel  is  cooling. 

(3)  Good  bottoms  and  vessel  linings,  the  heat  required  to  fuse 
the  scorified  material  being  correspondingly  reduced,  and  delays 
for  repairs  avoided. 

(4)  Quick  changes  of  bottoms,  less  cooling  of  the  vessels  oc- 
curring while  putting  on  a  new  section. 

(5)  The  practice  of  blowing  with  the  vessel  partly  tipped  over 
.    when  the  charge  is  cool,  as  described  in  Section  Vie.      t  was  for- 
!  merly  necessary  to  have  an  excess  of  calorific  power  in  the  iron  in 

order  that  there  should  be  a  margin  of  safety  when  there  was  a 
delay  or  when  a  bottom  was  changed,  but  the  expedient  of  blowing 


172  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

with  the  vessel  inclined  is  now  in  general  use,  and,  to  some  extent, 
has  rendered  this  margin  unnecessary. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  some  metallurgists  that  this  decrease  in  the 
initial  content  of  silicon  has  resulted  in  a  better  quality  of  steel, 
and  Ehrenwerth  has  endeavored  to  show  why  this  should  follow. 
His  argument  may  be  presented  thus  :* 

When  a  high  content  of  silicon  is  used,  it  is  found  that  there  is 
a  greater  proportion  of  free  oxygen  in  the  gases  which  escape  from 
the  converter  during  the  first  stages  of  the  blow.  This  change  in 
chemical  relations  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  percentage  of  car- 
bon is  nearly  constant  in  all  irons,  and,  therefore,  with  an  increase 
in  silicon,  there  is  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  proportion  which 
the  silicon  bears  to  carbon,  and  a  corresponding  change  in  the 
affinities. 

Granting  that  the  presence  of  free  oxygen  in  the  gases  escaping 
from  the  vessel  during  the  first  part  of  the  process  is  due  to  the 
proportionately  greater  quantity  of  silicon  as  compared  with  car- 
bon, then  it  would  naturally  be  expected  that,  if  the  metal  at  the 
end  of  the  operation  should,  for  any  reason,  contain  a  high  propor- 
tion of  silicon  as  compared  with  its  content  of  carbon,  the  escaping 
gases  would  contain  free  oxygen. 

This  proportionately  high  silicon  at  the  end  of  the  operation  is 
found  in  heats  which  contained  a  high  initial  percentage  of  silicon 
in  the  iron,  and  hence  such  heats  would  be  expected  to  have  free 
oxygen  in  the  bases  which  are  formed  at  the  close  of  the  operation, 
and  this  free  oxygen  will  signify  a  more  highly  oxidized  and  there- 
fore an  inferior  condition  of  the  metal. 

Notwithstanding  the  argument,  which  has  just  been  advanced, 
that  the  practice  of  tipping  the  converter  in  the  case  of  a  cold- 
blowing  charge  has  rendered  unnecessary  as  large  a  margin  of 
calorific  power  as  was  formerly  necessary,  it  still  remains  true  that 
it  is  advantageous,  and  that  it  is  customary,  to  have  a  slight  excess 
of  silicon  to  allow  for  delays  and  new  bottoms.  It  is  necessary, 
therefore,  to  lower  the  temperature  of  normal  charges  by  the  addi- 
tion of  steel  scrap  or  solid  pig-iron,  the  amount  so  added  being 
determined  from  the  behavior  of  the  preceding  charge,  with  allow- 
ances for  any  change  in  the  thermal  conditions. 

The  skill  attained  in  estimating  the  temperature  of  melted  steel 

*  Das  Berg-  und  Hiittenwesen  auf  der  Weltausstellung  in  Chicago.     Ehren- 
werth, 1895,  p.  276. 


THE    ACID   BESSEMER   PROCESS.  173 

-seems  almost  incredible  to  the  lay  mind,  for  when  the  iron  is  very 
regular  and  all  other  conditions  are  uniform,  it  is  possible  to  detect 
the  difference  caused  by  a  variation  of  100  pounds  in  the  amount 
of  scrap  added  to  a  7-ton  charge  in  the  converter,  and  I  have  else- 
where* tried  to  show  that  this  represents  a  difference  of  only  13°  C. 
This  calculation  was  made  many  years  ago,  and  I  have,  therefore, 
looked  over  the  work  to  see  if  it  needed  revision.  Unfortunately, 
the  data  are  still  incomplete  regarding  the  specific  heat  of  steel  at 
different  temperatures  and  its  latent  heat  of  fusion,  for  owing  to 
the  existence  of  certain  so-called  critical  temperatures,  at  which 
internal  molecular  transformations  ensue  with  production  of  heat, 
the  law  of  absorption  of  energy  during  the  heating  of  iron  is  an 
irregular  curve.  The  results  of  Pionchonf  indicate  the  following 
equations  in  which  t=the  temperature  in  degrees  Cent. : 

(0°  to  660°)    Sm=0.11012+0.000025  t+0.0000000547  t1 
(660°   to  720°)    Sm=0.57803— 0.001436  t+0.000001195  t1 

39 
(720°   to  1000°)    Sm=0.218 

t 

23.44 
(1050°  to  1160°)   Sm=0.19887 

The  latent  heat  of  fusion  is  not  known  accurately,  but  theoretical 
considerations  would  indicate  it  to  be  about  69  calories  per  kilo- 
gramme. If  the  calculation  be  reworked  by  these  data,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  answer  is  practically  the  same  as  before  obtained. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  all  heats  are  not  regulated  to  such 
exact  measure  as  just  described,  but  a  variation  of  three  or  four 
times  this  amount  is  as  much  as  is  considered  allowable,  and  more 
than  is  expected  in  current  American  practice.  This  accuracy  can 
only  be  obtained  by  regular  and  uninterrupted  work,  so  that  we 
naturally  would  assume,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  do  actually  find, 
that  the  best  "scrapping"  follows  the  fastest  running. 

This  fact  alone  is  an  all-sufficient  answer  to  the  criticism  of  for- 
eign metallurgists  that  the  large  outputs  of  American  Bessemer 
plants  have  necessarily  been  made  at  the  expense  of  quality.  There 
is  absolutely  no  evidence  to  show  that  an  ample  supply  of  air,  and 
a  consequent  shorter  blow,  will  give  an  inferior  product,  but  on  the 
other  hand,  the  more  rapid  action  renders  possible  a  lower  initial 
content  of  silicon,  and  this  is  thought  to  be  an  advantage. 

*  The  Open-Hearth  Process.     Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  392. 
f  See  Richards;  Journal  Franklin  Institute,  July,  1893. 


174  METALLURGY   OF    IRON   AND   STEEL. 

Aside  from  this  one  item  of  short  blows,  there  is  not  a  single 
feature  necessarily  connected  with  a  heavy  output  which  is  open 
to  criticism.  A  large  product  means  simply  that  no  time  is  lost; 
that  one  blow  begins  when  another  ends ;  that  the  vessel  linings  are 
in  good  condition ;  that  bottoms  are  quickly  changed ;  that  the  ves- 
sels are  always  ready  for  the  iron,  and  the  iron  ready  for  the  ves- 
sels; that  the  Spiegel  cupolas  work  with  regularity,  and  furnish 
the  recarburizer  as  soon  as  it  is  needed ;  that  the  steel  is  of  the  right 
temperature  so  that  the  ladles  are  neither  burned  through  nor 
sculled,  and  the  pit  is  free  from  "messes";  in  short,  that  the  ma- 
chinery is  ample,  and  the  men  capable.  In  spite  of  any  statements 
to  the  contrary,  the  fact  remains  that  the  fast  work  of  American 
plants  sacrifices  nothing  but  energy  and  brains. 

SEC.  VI j. — Recarburization. — The  method  of  recarburizing  in 
Bessemer  practice  varies  with  the  character  of  the  product.  In 
making  soft  steel,  solid  ferro  containing  80  per  cent,  of  manganese 
is  thrown  into  the  ladle  during  pouring,  the  loss  of  metallic  man- 
ganese being  about  0.2  per  cent,  of  the  charge.  With  rail  steel  it 
is  customary  to  add  melted  spiegel-iron  either  in  the  vessel  or  in 
the  ladle,  but  sometimes  solid  ferro  is  used  to  supply  manganese, 
melted  pig-iron  being  poured  ;nto  the  ladle  at  the  same  time  to  give 
carbon.  By  this  latter  method  the  oxidation  of  manganese  in  the 
cupola  is  avoided,  but  the  additional  danger  is  encountered  of  in- 
complete mixing.  When  carefully  carried  out,  very  little  trouble 
arises  from  this  source,  but  it  is  more  likely  to  occur  with  rail  steel 
than  with  soft  metal,  for  there  is  less  bubbling  and  boiling  in  the 
higher  carbon  bath  and,  therefore,  less  automatic  equalization. 
The  loss  of  manganese  depends  upon  the  condition  of  the  bath  and 
upon  the  amount  which  is  added.  In  making  soft  steel  it  is  neces- 
sary to  blow  until  the  carbon  is  reduced  to  about  .05  per  cent.,  and, 
under  these  conditions,  if  manganese  be  added  to  the  extent  of  .60 
per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  the  charge,  the  steel  will  contain  .40  per 
cent.,  being  a  loss  of  .20  per  cent.  If,  on  the  contrary,  1.30  per 
cent,  be  added,  the  steel  will  contain  only  .90  per  cent.,  being  a 
loss  of  .40  per  cent. 

It  seldom  happens  that  soft  steel  is  wanted  with  over  .60  per 
cent,  manganese,  but  larger  proportions  are  not  unusual  in  rail 
steel.  In  the  latter  case  it  is  feasible  to  economize  by  stopping  the 
blow  when  the  carbon  is  about  .10  per  cent.,  and,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, an  addition  of  1.10  per  cent,  will  suffice  to  give  0.90 


THE    ACID   BESSEMER   PROCESS.  175 

per  cent,  in  the  steel.  These  figures  must  not  be  considered  abso- 
lute, for  they  are  only  approximate  and  represent  about  what  may 
be  expected  in  the  long  run  rather  than  on  any  one  heat.  A  further 
discussion  on  this  point  will  be  found  in  the  remarks  on  recarburi- 
zation  in  the  open-hearth  furnace. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   BASICf-BESSEMER    PROCESS. 

SECTION  Vila. — General  outline  of  ike  basic-Bessemer  process.— 
The  basic-Bessemer  process  consists  in  blowing  air  into  liquid  pig- 
iron  for  the  purpose  of  burning  most  of  the  silicon,  manganese, 
carbon,  phosphorus  and  sulphur  of  the  metal,  the  operation  being 
conducted  in  a  basic-lined  vessel,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
product  is  entirely  fluid.  The  method  by  which  the  air  is  intro- 
duced has  little  effect  on  the  character  of  the  product,  but,  since 
it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  cease  blowing  temporarily  in  order  to 
take  tests  of  the  bath,  the  use  of  a  rotary  vessel  with  bottom  blast 
is  universal. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  the  basic  vessel  is  a  lining  whidh  resists 
the  action  of  basic  slags;  this  is  usually  made  of  dolomite,  but 
sometimes  a  limestone  is  used  containing  a  very  small  proportion 
of  magnesia.  The  stone  must  be  burned  thoroughly  to  expel  the 
last  traces  of  volatile  matter  and  then  ground  and  mixed  with 
anhydrous  tar.  The  bottom  is  generally  made  by  ramming  the 
same  material  around  wooden  pins  which  are  withdrawn  after 
firing.  At  one  works  magnesite  tuyeres  are  used  which  are  said  to 
last  over  seventy  heats,  but  the  cost  is  high  and  the  practice  has 
not  been  generally  adopted. 

The  highest  function  of  the  lining  is  to  remain  unaffected  and 
allow  the  basic  additions  to  do  their  work  alone,  so  that  the  rapid 
destruction  of  a  basic,  as  compared  with  an  acid  lining,  is  not  due 
to  any  necessary  part  it  plays  in  the  operation,  but  to  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  basic  material  in  nature  which  is  plastic,  and  which 
by  moderate  heating  will  give  the  firm  bond  iihat  makes  clay  so  valu- 
able in  acid  practice.  The  agent  used  in  its  place  is  a  rich  tar,  and 
this  forms  a  strong  coke  under  the  action  of  heat  and  resists  for  a 
long  while  the  scouring  of  metal  and  slag,  and  it  generally  happens 
that,  by  the  time  this  coke  is  burned,  the  dolomite  has  become  par- 
tially fused  and  "set."  There  is  always,  however,  a  slight  shrinkage 

176 


THE   BASIC-BESSEMER   PROCESS.  177 

in  the  burned  stone,  no  matter  how  thoroughly  it  has  been  roasted, 
so  that  there  is  an  ever-present  tendency  to  self-destruction  through 
the  formation  of  innumerable  disintegrating  cracks. 

When  air  is  blown  through  pig-iron,  the  first  element  affected  is 
the  silicon.  This  is  true  in  both  the  acid  and  the  basic  processes, 
but  the  completeness  of  the  elimination  is  less  certain  in  the  acid 
process,  for  a  part  of  the  silicon  is  sometimes  left  after  the  carbon 
is  burned,  owing  to  the  production  of  an  excessive  temperature  at 
an  early  stage  of  the  operation.  In  the  basic  converter  the  incom- 
plete combustion  of  silicon  does  not  occur  owing  to  three  reasons, 
•viz. : 

(1)  The  silicon  is  lower  in  the  pig  because  the  oxidation  of 
phosphorus  is  relied  upon  for  heat. 

(2)  Burned  lime  is  added  before  blowing  in  order  to  seize  the 
silica  as  soon  as  formed  and  prevent  cutting  of  the  lining,  and  the 
heating  and  melting  of  this  lime  absorbs  so  much  heat  that  the 
critical  temperature  cannot  well  be  reached,  especially  since  every 
increase  in  silicon  must  be  met  by  a  corresponding  increase  in  lime. 

(3)  The  basic  slag  has  a  greater  affinity  for  silica  than  the  very 
silicious  slag  of  an  acid  converter,  and  it  is  probable  that  under 
these  conditions  the  critical  temperature  is  raised. 

When  the  silicon  is  eliminated,  the  carbon  begins  to  burn  and 
continues  until  there  is  only  about  .05  per  cent.,  while  the  man- 
ganese follows  the  same  course  that  it  does  in  acid  work,  part  of 
iii  being  eliminated  while  the  silicon  is  burning  and  anoiiher  part 
during  the  combustion  of  carbon.  The  proportion  of  manganese 
present  at  any  particular  time  will  depend  upon  the  original  per- 
centage in  the  pig,  but,  comparing  similar  contents,  the  amount 
eliminated  will  be  less  than  in  the  acid  practice,  for  there  is  a  less 
demand  for  its  oxide  in  a  basic  slag,  and  the  inducements  to  oxida- 
tion are  therefore  taken  away. 

SEC.  Vllb. — Elimination  of  phosphorus.— With  the  exception  of 
the  basic  lining,  which  is  supposed  to  remain  inert,  and  the  basic 
slag,  which  has  no  chance  in  the  early  part  of  the  operation  to  do 
anything  besides  aid  slightly  in  the  burning  of  silicon  and  retard 
slightly  the  oxidation  of  manganese,  the  reactions  in  the  metal  in  a 
basic  converter  are  almost  identical  with  the  reactions  in  the  acid 
vessel  up  to  the  point  when  the  carbon  is  reduced  to  .05  per  cent. 
Prom  this  point  comparison  ceases,  for  there  the  acid  process  ends, 


178  METALLURGY  OF  IRON  AND  STEEL. 

while  the  basic  begins  the  characteristic  chapter  in  its  history  in 
the  elimination  of  phosphorus  and  sulphur. 

In  an  acid  heat  phosphorus  is  always  present  to  a.  certain  extent, 
and,  if  blowing  were  continued,  it  may  be  supposed  that  at  the 
very  surface  of  an  air  bubble  phosphoric  acid  would  be  formed 
which,  rising  through  the  metal,  would  unite  witih  oxide  of  iron 
and  form  phosphate  of  iron ;  but  this  would  immediately  come  in 
contact  with  a  silicious  slag,  or  in  other  words,  with  a  slag  possess- 
ing more  than  enough  silica  to  meet  the  pressing  requirements 
of  its  bases,  and  the  silica  being  immediately  seized  by  the  oxide 
of  iron,  the  unprotected  phosphoric  acid  would  be  robbed  of  its 
oxygen  by  the  metallic  iron.  This  may  seem  a  very  long  explana- 
tion of  the  simple  fact  that  phosphorus  does  not  oxidize,  but  there 
are  many  reasons  for  supposing  that  in  many  chemical  actions  the 
atoms  are  in  a  state  of  general  translation,  so  that  while  many 
compounds  are  formed,  only  those  remain  which  find  a  suitable 
environment.  It  is  difficult  to  explain  the  formation  of  phos- 
phoric acid  in  the  basic  converter  without  assuming  an  aiction  whidh 
can  just  as  readily  obtain  in  acid  practice,  although  in  tihe  one  case 
the  product  finds  a  suitable  resting  place,  while  in  the  other  it  is 
instantly  destroyed. 

During  the  elimination  of  carbon,  a  certain  small  quantity  of 
phosphorus  is  burned  and  held  by  the  slag,  but  for  practical  pur- 
poses it  may  be  assumed  that  the  percentage  at  the  drop  of  the 
carbon  flame  is  equal  to  the  initial  content.  From  that  time  the 
phosphorus  seizes  the  oxygen  in  the  same  way  as  the  silicon  and 
carbon  had  done  before,  and  the  iron  is  thus  perfectly  protected, 
the  phosphoric  acid  immediately  uniting  with  the  lime.  It  might 
be  supposed  that  any  other  base  like  oxide  of  iron  would  serve  to 
hold  the  phosphorus,  but  it  is  found  that  phosphate  of  iron  is  easily 
reduced  by  carbon,  and  that  it  is  in  other  respects  inferior  to  the 
oxide  of  calcium  which  gives  a  stable  compound. 

SEC.  VIIc. — Amount  of  lime  required. — The  amount  of  lime 
needed  will  depend  upon  three  conditions,  viz. : 

(1)  The  amount  of  silicon  in  the  pig. 

(2)  The  amount  of  phosphorus  in  the  pig. 

(3)  The  quality  of  the  lime.    , 

If  the  dh-arge  is  15,000  pounds,, containing  0.50  per  cent,  silicon, 
it  will  produce  160  pounds  of  silica;  and  if  the  final  slag  must  con- 


THE    BASIC-BESSEMER    PROCESS.  179 

tain  6.0  per  cent,  silica,  then  the  slag  must  weigh  2670  pounds; 
and  if  it  must  have  50  per  cent.  CaO,  then  1335  pounds  of  unsatis- 
fied CaO  must  be  added.  The  qualification  is  inserted  that  it  must 
be  "unsatisfied,"  for  each  pound  of  silica  in  the  lime  detracts  from 
its  efficacy.  Tlhus,  if  the  lime  contains  2  per  cent.  Si02,  there  will 
be  2  pounds  of  silica  in  every  100  pounds  of  addition,  and  if  this 
is  to  be  made  into  a  slag  containing  6  per  cent,  of  Si02  and  50.0 
per  cent,  of  CaO,  then  8  pounds  of  CaO  is  useless  as  far  as  it  can 
ihave  any  effect  upon  the  metal,  since  it  will  be  appropriated  by 
its  own  silica.  In  this  way  10  pounds  of  the  lime  out  of  every  100 
pounds,  or  one-tenth  of  the  total  amount,  is  used  in  satisfying 
itself. 

The  amount  of  silica  derived  from  the  lime  and  from  the  silicon 
does  not  entirely  determine  the  quantity  of  lime,  for  there  is  evi- 
dently a  limit  to  the  possible  content  of  phosphoric  acid  in  the 
cinder.  Thus,  if  a  bath  of  15,000  pounds  contains  3.00  per  cent, 
of  phosphorus,  it  will  produce  1030  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid,  and 
if  the  final  slag  is  to  contain  50  per  cent.  CaO  and  not  over  20  per 
cent.  P205,  then  this  slag  must  weigh  5X1030=5150  pounds,  so 
that  1VJ-=2575  pounds  of  CaO  must  be  added  to  tfhe  charge.  It 
is  not  specified  in  this  case  that  the  CaO  shall  be  "unsatisfied."  for 
it  will  be  immaterial  as  far  as  phosphorus  is  concerned  what  the 
silica  may  be  in  the  lime  as  long  as  the  demands  of  silicon  are  met. 

SEC.  Vlld. — Chemical  reactions  in  the  basic  converter. — The 
qualitative  <chemica.l  history  of  the  basic  converter  is  shown  in 
Table  VII-A,  which  gives  the  analyses  of  metal,  slags  and  gases  at 
various  -stages  of  the  operation,  as  given  by  Wedding. 

The  high  percentage  of  oxygen  and  carbonic  acid  in  the  gases 
during  the  first  stage  of  the  operation  arises  from  the  chilling 
action  of  the  basic  additions,  for  at  low  temperatures  carbonic  acid 
is  not  readily  reduced  by  carbon,  but  as  the  metal  becomes  hotter 
the  carbon  assumes  more  complete  command  and  appears  almost 
entirely  in  the  form  of  carbonic  oxide.  At  the  end  of  the  blow, 
when  phosphorus  is  burning,  the  oxygen  is  held  in  the  bath  and 
the  only  gaseous  product  is  the  nitrogen,  so  that  when  the  com- 
bustion of  phosphorus  is  ended  there  is  no  such  sudden  change  in 
the  character  of  the  flame  as  marks  the  death  of  the  carbon  reac- 
tion, and  in  order  to  be  sure  of  the  purity  of  the  metal  it  is  neces- 


180 


METALLURGY  OF  IRON   AND  STEEL. 


sary  to  make  fracture  tests  on  small  sample  ingots  before  the  charge 
is  poured  from  the  converter. 

TABLE  VII-A. 

Analyses  of  Metal,  Slag  and  Gases  from  the  Basic-Bessemer  Con- 
verter: No.  l=Heat  No.  125  at  Ruhrort,  Germany.*  No. 
2=Heat  No.  882  at  Horde,  Germany,  f 


Time  from 
Beginning. 

Metal. 

Slag. 

Si 

C 

P 

S 

Mn 

SiO2 

CaO  |p2O8 

FeO 

Fe3O3 

MnO 

MgO 

Pig  Iron  No.  1 
2m.  46s. 
5m.  21s. 
8m.  5s. 
10m.  45s. 
13m.  28s. 
15m.  13s. 
19m.  14s. 
19m.  31s. 
19m.  49s. 
Bail  Steel, 

1.22 
0.72 
0.15 
0.007 
0.012 
0.005 
0.008 
0.005 
0.005 
0.004 
0.01 

3.21 
3.30 
8.12 
2.47 
1.49 
0.75 
0.05 
0.02 
0.02 

0.26 

2.183 
2.148 
2.224 
2.157 
2.096 
2.053 
1.910 
0.230 
0.139 
0.087 
0.145 

.080 
.047 
.051 
.049 
.051 
.051 
.055 
.060 
.055 
.056 
.045 

1.03 
.71 
.50 
.18 
.16 
.14 
.01 
.01 

'.48 

41.15 
36.30 
34.41 
31.94 
16.64 
14.65 
12.94 
12.20 
11.71 
12.77 

41.27 
39.50 
42.80 
43.12 
44.37 
46.63 
47.76 
48.59 
48.19 
47.87 

0.84 
8.12 
2.99 
4.02 
7.15 
11.60 
18.83 
18.66 
18.15 
16.92 

2.40 
8.97 
8.60 
4.23 
8.42 
7.15 
5.84 
6.79 
7.19 
5.94 

'  6.46  ' 
0.13 
0.74 
4.95 
3.84 
8.74 
2.80 
2.78 
2.87 

9.03 
11.02 
10.72 
9.94 
8.51 
7.39 
4.25 
4.01 
4.05 
4.80 

4.13 
8.39 
8.35 

4.01 
7.84 
6.34 
6.00 
6.26 
6.88 
6.75 

Pig  Iron  No.  2 
About  8m. 
"       6m. 
"      9m. 
"     12m. 
"     15m. 
Steel, 

0.58 
0.28 
0.07 
0.07 
0.06 
0.02 
0.02 

8.60 
2.81 
2.02 
1.33 
0.71 
0.105 
0.136 

2.75 
2.57 
2.08 
2.25 
1.55 
0.061 
0.084 

.079 
.079 
.073 
.074 
.079 
.054 
.046 

1.57 
2.50 
0.30 
0.84 
0.26 
0.21 
0.55 

9.20 
9.50 
9.30 
10.28 
6.99 
4.79 

76.10 
71.40 
66.17 
50.71 
46.84 
42.05 

2.94 
6.90 
7.32 
15.87 
24.73 
16.33 

0.55 
0.73 
2.30 
7.13 
11.98 
26.03 

8.87 
9.70 
8.42 
9.45 
5.40 
4.62 

4.86 
5.38 
6.47 
6.90 
4.0& 
6.83 

Heat  No.  882. 

Metal. 

Gas. 

Si 

C 

P 

3 

Mn 

CO2 

0 

CO 

CH4            N 

Sample  1 
"        2 
„  "        3 

•4  «         4 

"        5 

.28 
.07 
.07 
.06 
.02 

2.81 
2.02 
1.33 
.71 
.105 

2.57 
2.08 
2.25 
1.55 
.061 

.079 
.073 
.074 
.079 
.054 

2.50 
.30 
.84 
.26 
.21 

3.5 

8.0 
8.0 
1.8 
1.2 

8.1 
8.0 
0.3 
.  0.2 

0.8 

2.0 
10.6 
28.3 
29.8 
1.6 

0.9           85.0 
1.0            81.4 
1.6            66.6 
1.8           65.0 
0.9            95.6 

SEC.  Vile. — Elimination  of  sulphur  in  the  basic  converter. — 
Sulphur  is  removed  for  the  most  part  at  the  same  time  as  the  phos- 
phorus, but,  if  present  in  very  large  quantity,  it  may  be  necessary 
to  continue  the  blast  after  dephosphorization  with  the  sacrifice  of  a 
little  iron.  This  however  is  bad  practice  and  is  far  from  being 
economical  or  desirable.  In  a  series  of  heats  made  by  The  Penn- 
sylvania Steel  Company,  in  1883,  a  content  of  0.25  per  cent,  was 
regularly  reduced  below  0.05  per  cent.  Manganese  was  present  in 
this  case  up  to  about  2.0  per  cent.,  and  this  is  found  to  aid  in  the 


*  Basic  Bessemer  Process,  pp.  136  and  137. 

t  The  Progress  of  German  Metallurgy.    Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XIX,  p.  866. 


THE  BASIC-BESSEMER  PROCESS. 


181 


work,  probably  by  the  formation  of  sulphide  of  manganese.  Even 
after  the  manganese  has  entered  the  slag  it  may  be  available  for 
this  function,  for  it  can  be  reduced  by  the  phosphorus  and  incor- 
porated into  the  metal.  Table  VII-B  is  copied  from  a  paper  by 
Stead*  to  show  the  increase  of  manganese  in  the  bath  duing  a  time 
wihen  there  was  no  addition  of  this  element  from  outside  the  vessel. 

TABLE  VII-B. 
Reduction  of  Manganese  from  Slag  in  the  Basic  Comverter. 

(See  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1893,  p.  63.) 


Heat. 

Time  of  taking  test  of  metal. 

Composition,  per  cent.,  of 
the  metal  in  the  bath. 

Mn. 

T. 

S. 

No.  184 

Disappearance  of  spectrum  line, 
At  second  lime  addition, 

0.19 
0.62 

2.070 
0.468 

0.188 
0.067 

0.07~ 
0.042 

No.  185 

Disappearance  of  spectrum  line, 
At  second  lime  addition, 

0.24 
0.81 

2.180 
0.718 

No.  186 

Disappearance  of  spectrum  line, 
At  second  lime  addition, 

0.24 
0.79 

2.390 
0.483 

0.081 
0.047    ' 

The  quantitative  investigation  of  the  basic  converter  is  unsatis- 
factory, owing  to  the  fact  that  some  lime  is  blown  out  in  the  form 
of  dust  as  soon  as  the  charge  is  turned  up,  while  at  a  later  time  a 
large  amount  of  slag  may  be  expelled  by  explosive  action,  this  being 
particularly  marked  when  the  temperature  is  low.  Moreover,  the 
lumps  of  lime  do  not  immediately  become  incorporated  into  the  slag 
and  no  true  sample  can  be  taken.  It  is,  perhaps,  from  these  causes 
that  contradictory  statements  are  made  by  careful  observers. 

Wedding  states f  that  there  is  a  volatilization  of  both  sulphur  and 
phosphorus,  as  proven  by  the  fact  that  the  slags  from  sulphurous 
metal  do  not  give  correspondingly  increased  percentages  of  CaS, 
while  in  the  cinder  from  hot  charges  there  will  sometimes  be  from 
30  to  40  per  cent,  less  weight  of  phosphorus  than  was  present  in  the 
pig-iron,  althougih  a  cold  blow  will  show  the  full  amount.  On  the 
other  hand,  Stead*  gives  the  figures  for  a  ba.sic  charge  where  all 
the  sulphur  that  was  lost  by  the  metal  appeared  in  the  final  slag. 
The  analyses  and  summary  are  given  in  Table  VII-C. 


*  On  the  Elimination  of  Sulphur  from  Iron.      Journal  I.  and  S.  /.,  Vol   I,  1898,  p.  61. 
t  The  Progress  of  German  Metallurgy.    Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XIX,  p.  867. 


182 


METALLURGY   OF  IRON   AND   STEEL. 


TABLE  VII-C. 
Chemical  History  of  High- Sulphur  Iron  in  the  Basic  Converter. 

(See  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1893,  pp.  61  and  62.) 


Metal. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

Initial. 

Desili- 
conized. 

Decar- 
burized. 

Dephos- 
phorized. 

Steel. 

Carbon       

2.32 
0.66 
1.57 
0.16 

1.85 

2.180 
0.200 
0.300 
0.148 
1.920 

0.07 
0.09 
0.07 
0.16 
1.53 

0.02 
0.06 
trace. 
0.08 
0.04 

Manganese  

Silicon     

Sulphur     

0.07 

Phosphorus  

Slag. 

CaO 

44.30 
0.72 
6.60 
4.38 
1.29 
89.20 
2.61 
0.16 

47.00 
0.86 
4.46 
8.23 
1.00 
29.80 
7.83 
0.10 

46.70 
1.80 
2.51 
14.02 
4.29 
14.90 
14.86 
0.36 

MeO 

Mno! 

10.79 
9.00      > 
2.14       - 

FeO          

Fe,O, 

Bid,      . 

P,O.  . 

s                    : 

0.36 

Probable  weight  of  liquid 
slag  in  per  cent,  of  metal  . 

7 

11 

27 



Quantitative  calculation  on  the  Sulphur. 
Sulphur  in  lime  used,  per  cent.=  0.054  per  cent. 

§T  per  cent,  of  slag  @  0.86  per  cent.  S  (see  above  columns)  =  per  cent.    . 
Less  sulphur  in  lime  added  =  15.2  per  cent,  of  0.054  per  cent.  =  per  cent. 

Total  sulphur  received  from  metal,  per  cent. 

Sulphur  removed  from  metal: 

100  parts  of  initial  iron  contained,  per  cent 

Less  85  parts  of  blown  metal  containing  0.080  per  cent.  S  =  per  cent.  .  . 


0.087 
0.008 

0.089 

0.160 

0.068 


Total  sulphur  removed,  per  cent 0.092 


It  will  be  noted  that  the  calculation  rests  on  "the  probable  weight 
of  liquid  slag"  for  one  heat,  and  this  can  hardly  be  considered  a 
final  and  conclusive  proof  that  volatilization  cannot  occur,  or  that 
it  does  not  often  occur,  or  even  that  it  does  not  usually  occur.  In 
another  chapter  (see  Sec.  Xlk)  I  have  tried  to  show  that  such  loss 
of  sulphur  may  take  place  in  open-hearth  practice,  and,  if  this  is 
true,  it  seems  probable  that  it  will  also  hold  good  in  the  converter. 

An  account  by  Hartshornef  of  the  practice  at  Pottstown,  Pa,, 
agrees  quite  well  with  the  data  above  given  for  Horde.  The  cupola 

*  On  the  Elimination  of  Sulphur  from  Iron.  Journal  I.  and  8.  1,   Vol.  I,  1893,  p.  61. 
t  The  Basic  Bessemer  Steel  Plant  of  the  Pottstown  Iron  Company.       Trans.  A.  L  M.  E.% 
Vol.  XXI,  p,  743. 


THE   BASIC-BESSEMER   PROCESS.  183 

mixture  is  of  the  following  composition  in  per  cent.:  Si,  .0.3  or 
less ;  S,  .03  or  less ;  Mn,  0.80 ;  P,  2.50  to  3.00.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  specification  for  the  cupola  mixture  is  very  rigid,  and  that  the 
limitations  must  inevitably  result  in  an  increased  cost  for  raw 
material. 

Some  years  ago  it  was  the  practice  at  two  different  works  in 
Germany  to  add  about  two-thirds  of  the  lime  at  the  beginning,  so 
that  when  the  metal  was  nearly  dephosphorized  the  slag  could  be 
decanted,  after  which  the  rest  of  the  lime  could  be  put  in  and  the 
final  dephosphorizatio'n  effected  by  a  purer  slag.  The  first  cinder, 
which  was  rich  in  phosphorus  and  poor  in  iron,  was  fit  for  agricul- 
tural purposes,  while  the  second,  which  was  poorer  in  phosphorus 
and  richer  in  iron,  was  used  in  the  blast  furnace. 

This  practice  has  been  discontinued  and  at  all  works  the  total 
quantity  of  lime  is  added  at  the  beginning  of  the  blow.  The  final 
slag  runs  as  follows  in  per  cent.:  Si02,  5  to  6;  CaO,  45  to  50; 
P205,  16  to  20;  FeO,  11  to  13;  MnO,  5  to  6;  MgO,  5  to  6.  In 
some  cases  the  Si02  may  be  higher,  but  the  P205  is  then  in  a  less 
soluble  state  and  the  slag  is  not  so  well  suited  for  agricultural 
purposes. 

SEC.  Vllf. — Calorific  equation  of  the  basic  converter. — The  calo- 
rific equation  of  the  basic  converter  may  be  calculated  by  the  same 
method  that  was  used  in  the  work  on  the  acid  process  (see  Table 
VI-F),  but  the  great  quantity  of  slag  and  the  absorption  of  heat  in 
its  liquefaction  render  accurate  results  rather  difficult.     The  silicon 
is  much  lower  in  the  pig-iron  and  consequently  the  heat  derived 
from  this  source  is  less,  but  the  phosphorus  more  than  makes  up 
for  the  decrease.    It  was  found  in  the  calculation  in  Section  Vlf 
that  the  net  value  of  silicon  per  kg.  was  4686  calories;  of  iron  741 
cals.;  of  carbon  1163  cab.,  and  by  the  same  method  we  may  find 
that  the  value  of  phosphorus  is  3821  calories.    Assuming  an  iron 
with  Si=0.5%,  P=1.5%,-  C=4.09&,  and  assuming  also  that  4.0 
per  cent,  of  iron  is  burned  to  useful  purpose,  the  heat  produced  per 
1000  kilos  of  iron  will  be  as  shown  in  Table  VII-D,  the  total  being 
about  50  per  cent,  more  than  the  development  in  the  acid  converter. 


184  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

TABLE  VII-D. 

Production  of  Heat  in  the  Basic-Bessemer  Converter. 

5  kg.  silicon 23,430  calories 

35  kg.  carbon    40,700 

40  kg.  iron  . . 29,640 

15  kg.  phosphorus 57,315 

Total   '. . .  .151,085 

It  is  the  general  practice  to  use  a  pig-iron  containing  1  or  2  per 
cent,  of  manganese,  and  about  2  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  and  such 
a  pig  would  produce  a  still  hotter  blow  than  the  one  above  given,, 
but  it  has  been  proven  in  the  Westphaliam  steel  works  that  when 
a  basic  plant  is  worked  up  to  its  full  capacity,  the  phosphorus  con- 
tent can  be  reduced,  just  as  in  a<cid  work  the  percentage  of  silicon 
has  been  cut  down  far  below  what  was  once  deemed  necessary,  but 
tihere  must  always  be  a  greater  development  of  energy  in  the  basic 
vessel  in  order  to  allow  for  the  melting  of  the  lime  additions. 

SEC.  Vllg. — Recarburization^ — Recarburization  is  the  greatest 
problem  of  the  basic-Bessemer  process,  for  at  the  end  of  the  opera- 
tion the  metal  contains  much  more  oxygen  than  an  acid  bath, 
while  the  slag,  instead  of  being  viscous  and  inactive,  is  very  liquid 
and  has  a  certain  amount  of  loosely  held  oxide  of  iron.  In  mak- 
ing rail  steel  by  the  use  of  melted  spiegel,  this  oxygen  in  metal  and 
slag  may  give  a  reaction  with  the  carbon  of  the  recarburizer,  and 
the  carbonic  oxide  which  is  formed  reduce  some  phosphorus  from 
the  slag.  This  action  is  plainly  shown  in  Table  VI I- A,  where  the 
content  of  phosphorus  was  raised  in  the  case  of  "pig-iron  No.  1" 
from  .087  before  recarburization  to  .145  in  the  finished  product, 
the  latter  figure  being  much  too  high  for  good  rail  steel. 

Wihen  making  soft  steel  by  the  addition  of  solid  ferro-manganese, 
the  rephosphorization  is  less,  but  witih  bad  practice  it  may  be  a 
troublesome  factor.  In  "pig-iron  No.  2,"  Table  VII- A,  the  silicon 
is  low  in  the  pig,  and  the  slag  is  rich  in  bases,  yet  the  phosphorus 
in  the  metal  was  raised  from  .061  to  .084  per  cent.,  giving  a  content 
which  is  too  high  for  the  softest  grades.  The  records  given  in 
these  tables  relate  to  general  practice  some  years  ago,  and  can 
hardly  be  said  to  represent  the  best  work  to-day.  Rephosphorization 


THE   BASIC-BESSEMER  PROCESS.  185 

is  now  controlled  in  great  measure  by  keeping  the  temperature  of 
the  metal  as  low  as  possible,  by  using  a  very  calcareous  cinder,  and 
by  preventing  the  mixing  of  slag  and  steel  during  recarburization. 
This  is  done  by  decanting  much  of  the  slag  before  pouring  the  steel, 
and  then  making  a  dam  to  hold  back  the  remainder  of  the  cinder! 

In  going  over  carefully  the  records  of  one  of  the  best  works  in 
Germany  and  taking  averages  of  large  numbers  of  heats  tihe  re- 
phosphorization  in  rail  steel  gave  a,  rise  of  about  .025  per  cent,  in 
phosphorus.  Five  averages  resulted  thus,  in  each  case  the  first 
figure  being  the  bath  before  recarburization  and  the  second  the 
final  steel:  .044  to  .070;  .039  to  .056;  .036  to  .062;  .032  to  .056; 
.043  to  .070.  In  no  case  was  there  any  charge  where  the  resultant 
phosphorus  was  beyond  tihe  usual  limit  for  rails. 

In  soft  steels  the  rephospliorization  is  much  less  owing  to  the 
less  violent  reaction,  and  the  phosphorus  content  in  the  steel  is 
lower  than  those  just  shown  in  rail  steel.  It  is  however  quite  cer- 
tain that  the  variations  in  phosphorus  and  sulphur  are  much 
greater  than  in  American  open  hearth  steel.  The  established  Ameri- 
can standards  call  for  below  .04  phosphorus  in  all  basic  steel  for 
bridges  amd  boilers,  and  every  heat  is  also  analyzed  for  sulphur, 
something  that  is  seldom  done  on  the  Continent.  The  foreign 
engineers  are  in  no  degree  so  exacting  a®  the  American  in  regard 
to  chemical  composition. 

Note :  Further  remarks  on  the  operation  of  basic  converters  will 
be  found  in  Section  XXIVc  in  Chapter  XXIV. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   OPEN-HEARTH   FURNACE. 

SECTION  Villa, — General  description  of  a  regenerative  furnace. 
— The  open-hearth  process  consists  in  melting  pig-iron,  mixed  with 
more  or  less  wrought-iron,  steel,  or  similar  iron  products,  by  ex- 
posure to  the  direct  action  of  the  flame  in  a  regenerative  gas  fur- 
nace, and  converting  the  resultant  bath  into  steel,  the  operation 
being  so  conducted  that  the  final  product  is  entirely  fluid. 

Regeneration  is  specified  not  because  it  carries  any  special  virtue, 
but  because  it  is  impracticable  to  obtain  the  necessary  temperature 
in  any  other  way.  The  construction  of  melting  furnaces  varies  in 
every  place,  and  no  one  form  can  be  declared  perfect,  but  in  all  of 
them  the  general  principles  are  the  same,  as  well  as  the  methods 
of  producing  and  controlling  the  temperature.  Where  natural  gas 
is  used,  and  in  some  instances  with  petroleum,  the  fuel  is  not  re- 
generated, but  the  air  is  always  preheated.  The  following  descrip- 
tion will  assume  that  both  gas  and  air  undergo  the  same  treatment. 
In  Fig.  VIII-A  is  given  a  drawing  of  a  very  common  type  of  fur- 
nace ;  its  grievous  faults  will  be  discussed  later,  but  it  may  be  used 
to  illustrate  the  method  of  operation.  The  gas  enters  the  chamber 
Ff  which  is  surrounded  by  thick  walls  and  filled  with  brickwork  so 
laid  that  a  large  amount  of  heating  surface  is  exposed,  while  at  the 
same  time  free  passage  for  the  gas  is  assured.  The  air  enters  a 
similar  chamber,  E.  In  starting  a  furnace  the  bricks  in  these 
chambers  are  heated  before  any  gases  are  admitted.  With  rich 
fuels,  like  natural  gas,  this  may  not  be  essential,  but  ordinary  pro- 
ducer gas,  when  cold,  can  hardly  be  burned  with  air  at  the  ordinary 
temperature,  and  an  attempt  to  do  so  may  result  in  serious  explo- 
sions, so  that  it  is  advisable  to  heat  the  furnace  by  a  wood  fire  until 
the  regenerators  show  signs  of  redness.  When  finally  the  gas  and 
air  are  admitted,  precautions  are  taken  to  avoid  explosions  by  fill- 
ing the  passages  with  the  waste  gases  from  the  wood  fire. 

The  first  effect  of  their  entrance  is  to  cool  the  chambers  on  the 

186 


THE   OPEN-HEARTH   FURNACE.  187 

incoming  end,  for  no  heat  is  produced  until  they  meet  in  the  port 
at  0.  From  this  point  the  flame  warms  the  furnace  and  also  the 
chambers  E2  and  F2,  through  which  the  products  of  combustion 
pass  to  the  stack.  After  the  brickwork  in  the  first  set  of  chambers 
has  been  partially  cooled  by  the  incoming  gases,  the  currents  are 
reversed  by  means  of  suitable  valves,  and  the  gas  and  air  enter  the 
furnace  by  way  of  the  chambers  E2  and  F2,  which,  as  just  stated, 
have  been  heated  by  the  products  of  combustion.  It  will  be  evident 
that  on  every  reversal  the  temperature  of  the  furnace  will  be  higher, 
for  not  only  will  there  be  the  normal  increment  due  to  the  continued 
action  of  the  flame  which  would  obtain  in  any  system,  but  there  is 
another  action  peculiar  to  a  regenerative  construction,  for  the  gases 
passing  through  the  chambers  are  hotter  on  every  change  in  tho 
currents  and,  therefore,  they  will  produce  a  more  intense  tempera- 
ture in  combustion.  Thus  in  all  ways  the  action  is  cumulative, 
and  there  is  a  constant  increment  of  heat  throughout  the  whole 
construction. 

>  In  the  case  of  a  furnace  which  has  an  insufficient  supply  of  fuel 
and  which  contains  a  full  charge  of  metal,  the  increased  radiation 
at  high  temperatures,  together  with  the  absorption  of  energy  by  the 
bath,  may  automatically  prevent  the  attainment  of  too  high  a  heat ; 
but  in  a  good  furnace,  and  more  especially  in  an  empty  one,  the 
action  is  so  rapid  that  the  supply  of  gas  and  air  must  be  carefully 
regulated  in  order  that  radiation  can  maintain  an  equilibrium. 
This  necessary  control  of  temperature  also  places  a  limit  on  the 
heat  of  the  regenerators,  so  that  they  are  usually  of  a  temperatur? 
of  about  1800°  F.  (say  1000°  C.).  Dissociation  plays  no  part  in 
the  practical  operation  of  a  furnace,  for,  with  common  producer 
gas  and  air,  both  admitted  to  the  valves  at  a  temperature  of  about 
60°  F.  (16°  C.),  the  melting  chamber  may  easily  be  made  hot 
enough  to  fuse  a  very  pure  sand  into  viscous  porcelain.  One  such 
specimen  of  fused  material,  made  under  rather  unusual  conditions, 
showed  the  following  composition  in  per  cent. :  Si02,  98.82 ;  A120~, 
0.9;Fe203,  0.2. 

SEC.  Vlllb.— Quality  of  the  gas  required  in  open-hearth  fur- 
naces.— The  system  of  regeneration,  which  supplies  the  furnace 
with  a  fuel  already  raised  to  a  yellow  heat,  renders  unnecessary  any 
stringent  specifications  regarding  the  quality  of  the  gas.  Ordinary 
producer  gas  contains  over  60  per  cent,  of  non-combustible  material, 
and  yet  is  all  that  can  be  desired  as  far  as  thermal  power  i 


188  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

cerned.  Certain  substances,  such  as  sulphurous  acid  and  steam,, 
are  objectionable,  but  this  arises  'rather  from  their  chemical  action 
upon  the  metal  than  from  any  interference  with  calorific  develop- 
ment. With  coal  of  ordinary  quality  sulphur  causes  no  trouble, 
but  when  it  is  present  in  large  amounts  it  is  absorbed  by  the  steel. 

The  presence  of  steam  causes  increased  oxidation  of  the  metal- 
loids and  a  greater  waste  of  iron.  This  oxidation  is  not  always 
objectionable,  since  it  is  sometimes  impracticable  to  obtain  sufficient 
steel  scrap,  and,  if  the  charge  contains  an  excess  of  pig-iron,  some 
agent  must  be  used  to  burn  the  silicon  and  carbon.  A  gas  contain- 
ing hydrogen,  like  natural  gas  or  petroleum,  will  be  more  efficient  in 
this  work  than  a  dry  carbonic  oxide  flame,  while  an  excess  of  steam 
will  make  the  action  still  more  rapid. 

Hence  it  would  be  possible  to  use  steam  in  place  of  ore  as  an 
oxidizing  agent,  but  the  practice  is  not  to  be  recommended.  If  the 
steam  is  used  during  the  melting,  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 

oxide  of  iron  which  is  formed  will  unite  with  the  silica  of  the 

• 

hearth  and  thus  become  lost  beyond  recovery.  It  is  advantageous, 
therefore,  to  have  no  free  steam  present  during  the  melting  of  the 
charge,  while  after  the  melting  is  done  the  oxygen  may  be  supplied 
in  the  form  of  ore  with  much  more  satisfactory  results. 

The  metal  at  the  time  of  tapping  should  be  as  nearly  as  possible 
in  the  condition  of  steel  in  a  crucible  during  the  "dead  melt,"  and 
this  can  only  be  attained  by  a  neutral  flame.  In  spite  of  the  opin- 
ions of  many  metallurgists,  such  a  -flame  cannot  be  obtained  for 
any  length  of  time,  since  it  has  no  active  calorific  power,  and  even 
when  black  smoke  is  pouring  from  the  stack,  the  silicon,  man- 
ganese, carbon  and  iron  are  absorbing  oxygen  from  the  gases.  A 
carbonic  oxide  flame  can  be  made  more  nearly  neutral  than  any 
other,  and  hence  is  more  desirable  at  the  end  of  the  operation. 

SEC.  VIIIc. — Construction  of  an  open-hearth  furnace. — In  the 
furnace  which  is  exhibited  in  Fig.  VIII-A  it  will  be  noted  that  the 
hearth  sits  partly  upon  the  arches  of  the  chambers.  These  arches, 
during  the  entire  run  of  the  furnace,  are  at  a  bright  yellow  heat  and 
are  continually  subjected  to  strains  and  deformation  by  the  alter- 
nating shrinking  and  expansion  of  the  walls  that  support  them. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  a  poorer  foundation  for  a  furnace  would 
be  difficult  to  conceive,  and  it  is  a  positive  certainty  that  some  tiay 
there  must  be  a  long  stop  to  make  what  are  called  "general  re- 
pairs," this  term  being  often  used  to  cover  the  alterations  con- 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE. 


189 


-sequent  upon  defective  installation.  Yet  this  drawing  is  copied 
from  one  of  our  leading  trade  papers  as  the  design  of  a  firm  of 
metallurgical  engineers,  and,  unfortunately,  it  is  the  common  type 
erected  by  many  such  firms,  both  in  this  country  and  abroad,  who 
are  guided  partly  by  ignorance  and  partly  by  the  necessity  of  sub- 
mitting plans  for  the  cheapest  construction  that  will  work  satis- 
factorily until  their  responsibility  ceases. 


D 

Longitudinal  Section  through  Center  of  Furnace. 

E,  E*,  air  chambers;  F,  Fv  gas  chambers;  H,  gas  port;  7,  air  port;  JT,  furnace 
hearth"  L,  flues  to  valves ;  M,  M,  binding  rods ;  O,  meeting  place  of  gas  and  air. 


FIG.  VIII-A.— COMMON,  BUT  BAD  TYPE  OF  AN  OPEN-HEARTH 

FURNACE, 

It  is  not  easy,  however,  to  say  just  what  the  best  construction 
is  to  avoid  these  difficulties.  H.  W.  Lash,  of  Pittsburgh,  devised 
horizontal  chambers  and  thereby  the  charging  floor  of  the  furnace 
was  brought  down  to  the  general  level,  and  it  was  not  necessary 
to  elevate  the  stock,  as  it  could  be  brought  in  on  trucks  without  any 
lioist.  There  are  objections,  however,  to  horizontal  chambers,  for 
the  tendency  of  the  hot  gases  is  to  seek  the  upper  passages  and 


190  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

thus  the  benefit  of  the  full  area  is  not  secured.  In  vertical  cham- 
bers, on  the  contrary,  there  is  an  automatic  regulation  of  the  cur- 
rent ;  for,  if  there  is  a  hot  place,  the  in-going  cool  gases  naturally 
seek  it,  and  if  there  is  a  cool  place,  the  out-going  hot  gases  find  it, 
and  thus  there  is  a  constant  tendency  to  equalization  and  to  the 
highest  efficiency  of  a  given  regenerator  content.  The  worst  fea- 
ture of  horizontal  chambers  is  the  lack  of  any  propelling  action  of 
the  gases. .  With  vertical  regenerators  the  hot  gas  and  air  rise  nat- 
urally and  force  themselves  into  the  furnace,  but  with  horizontal 
passages  there  is  only  a  very  slight  positive  pressure  due  to  the 
slight  up-take  near  the  furnace.  The  fuel  will  and  should  always 
leave  the  producer  under  a  slight  pressure,  so  that  it  will  need  no 
further  assistance  on  its  way  to  the  furnace,  but  it  is  advisable  to 
force  the  air  with  a  fan  blower. 

The  amount  of  room  necessary  in  a  regenerator  is  something  on 
which  there  is  much  difference  of  opinion,  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  a  very  much  larger  amount  is  economical  than  is  generally 
given,  the  only  question  being  where  the  limit  is,  for  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  spend  money  for  additional  chamber  area  when  the  saving 
does  not  give  a  fair  return  on  the  investment.  If  the  chambers 
are  made  large  enough,  every  particle  of  heat  can  be  intercepted, 
and  the  gases  will  go  to  the  stack  at  the  temperature  of  the  incom- 
ing gas  and  the  incoming  air,  but  this  would  be  carrying  things 
to  an  extreme,  and  financially  would  not  be  true  economy.  It  can 
be  stated  that  the  gases  should  not  by  any  means  be  at  a  red  heat, 
although  a  very  large  number  of  furnaces  are  running  with  fair 
fuel  economy  where  the  gases  during  most  of  the  melting  operation 
escape  to  the  stack  showing  a  dull  red  or  a  full  red  temperature. 

The  space  occupied  by  the  air  and  gas  checkers  combined  should 
be  at  least  50  cubic  feet  per  ton  of  steel  in  the  furnace,  while  to 
get  the  best  results  this  figure  should  be  at  least  doubled.  In  other 
words,  in  a  50-ton  furnace  the  checker  bricks  in  each  chamber 
should  occupy  at  least  2500  cubic  feet,  which  is  equivalent  to  a 
space  16'xlG'xlO',  while  if  they  occupy  a  space  20'x20'xl2'  there 
will  be  a  further  saving  in  fuel.  These  dimensions  do  not  include 
the  space  below  the  bricks  to  give  draft  area  for  the  gases,  nor  the 
space  above  the  bricks  to  allow  the  flame  to  spread  over  the  whole 
surface  of  the  chamber. 

In  the  40-ton  Steelton  furnace,  shown  in  Fig.  VIII-B,  the  volume 


THE   OPEN-HEARTH   FURNACE. 


m 


192 


METALLURGY    OF    IKON    AND    STEEL. 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE.  193 

occupied  by  the  air  checkers,  as  shown  in  the  drawing,  is  about  45 
feet  per  ton;  the  gas  chamber  is  of  less  volume,  so  that  the  total 
is  from  65  to  70  feet  for  both  chambers.  The  double  passage, 
however,  allows  a  better  absorption  than  would  be  given  by  the  same 
volume  in  one  mass.  In  the  50-ton  Steelton  furnace  in  Fig. 
VIII-C  the  total  checker  volume  on  one  end  is  about  100  feet;  in 
the  30-ton  Donawitz  furnace  in  Fig.  VIII-D  about  110  feet;  in 
the  50-ton  Duquesne  furnace  in  YIII-E  about  55  feet,  and  in  the 
50-ton  Sharon  furnace  in  Fig.  VIII-F  about  90  feet. 

In  one  open  hearth  plant  I  was  told  that  the  content  was  100  cubic 
feet,  but  found  that  this  was  on  both  ends,  the  gas  checkers  on  each 
end  occupying  17  cubic  feet  per  ton  of  steel  and  the  air  checkers 
32  cubic  feet.  The  products  of  combustion  passing  to  the  chimney 
from  this  furnace  were  red  hot  during  a  portion  of  the  operation., 

The  information  just  given  is  by  no  means  sufficient  in  stating 
merely  the  space  occupied  by  the  bricks,  for  it  is  fully  as  important 
to  know  the  amount  of  space  left  between  them  for  the  passage  of 
the  gases.  The  area  of  these  channels  must  be  far  in  excess  of  the 
area  of  the  ports  or  of  the  flue  leading  to  the  chimney,  since  the 
friction  caused  by  the  small  passages  will  retard  the  flow  of  gases, 
and  this  retardation  will  increase  continually  during  the  running 
of  the  furnace  owing  to  the  deposits  of  dust  in  these  passages,  de- 
creasing the  size  of  the  orifices  and  forming  a  rough  surface  for 
the  current  to  pass  over.  For  this  reason  the  sum  of  the  area  of 
all  the  passages  between  the  bricks  must  be  several  times  as  great 
as  the  size  of  the  flues  and  ports.  It  is  the  area  between  the  bricks 
which  will  in  great  measure  determine  the  life  of  the  checker  bricks, 
for  these  bricks  must  be  changed  when  the  passages  are  clogged 
with  dust.  On  the  other  hand,  the  loss  of  heat  will  also  depend  on 
these  areas,  for  with  larger  orifices  the  gases  will  go  down  through 
the  checkers  and  to  the  stack  without  giving  up  their  heat  to  the 
bricks,  so  that  open-hearth  f urnacemen  must  continually  arrive  at 
a  compromise  between  large  openings  to  allow  long  life  to  the 
checkers,  and  small  openings  to  allow  the  proper  absorption  of 
heat. 

There  is  also  a  third  consideration,  which  is  to  arrange  the  bricks 
in  such  a  way  that  they  present  the  maximum  area  of  heat  absorp- 
tion with  the  least  interference  with  the  passage  of  the  gases,  and 
with  the  least  opportunity  for  the  deposition  of  dust  on  horizontal 
surfaces.  It  would  be  idle  to  describe  any  arrangement  of  check- 


194 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   "AND   STEEL. 


ers,  as  the  special  conditions  made  necessary  by  the  shape  and  size 
of  the  chambers  in  different  furnaces  determine  the  way  in  which 
the  bricks  shall  be  laid. 

The  air  chamber  should  be  larger  than  the  gas  chamber,  because 
a  cubic  foot  of  gas  requires  somewhat  more  than  a  cubic  foot  of 


FIG.  VIII-C. — 50-ToN  CAMPBELL  BASIC  FURNACE,  STEELTON,  PA. 

air  in  order  to  attain  complete  combustion  and  to  have  a  slight 
excess  of  oxygen;  moreover,,  the  air  enters  cold,  while  the  gas  is 
generally  rather  warm;  but  in  practice  the  relative  values  of  the 
gas  and  air  chambers  will  usually  be  determined  much  more  by  the 
difficulties  of  getting  room  than  by  any  nice  calculations  on  the 
volumes  of  gases.  It  is  well,  however,  to  keep  the  principle  in 
mind  that  if  the  gas  is  very  hot  there  is  less  work  for  the  gas 


THE   OPEN-HEARTH   FURNACE. 


195 


196  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

chamber  to  do,  and  the  fact  that  under  these  conditions  the  gases 
escaping  to  the  chimney  through  the  gas  valve  are  at  a  high  tem- 
perature has  nothing  to  do  with  the  case,  for  if  the  entering  gases 
are  hot  the  escaping  gases  must  be  hotter.  Thus,  with  a  given 
sized  chamber,  the  escaping  gases  will  always  be  just  a  certain  num- 
ber of  degrees  hotter  than  the  gases  that  go  into  it.  If  in  a  certain 
furnace  this  difference  is  300°,  then  if  the  entering  gas  is  400°, 
the  escaping  gases  will  be  700°,  and  if  the  entering  gases  are  700°, 
the  outgoing  gases  will  be  1000°,  so  that  it  would  be  useless  to 
increase  the  size  of  the  chamber  just  because  the  outgoing  gases 
are  hot,  for  these  conditions  are  caused  by  hot  entering  gase;?, 
and  the  escaping  products  would  be  hot  no  matter  how  large  the 
chamber  might  be.  Different  melters  have  different  ideas  as  to 
how  a  furnace  should  be  run,  and  it  is  sometimes  better  to  let  them 
have  their  own  way  than  it  is  to  change  the  practice  radically  to 
accomplish  a  very  small  saving.  One  melter  may  oftentimes  do 
better  work  if  the  air  is  extremely  hot,  while  another  may  prefer 
that  the  air  be  much  colder  than  the  gas.  These  differences 
also  arise  from  the  particular  construction  of  ports  so 
that  if  an  attempt  is  made  to  change  the  relative  temperature  of 
the  chambers,  it  might  necessitate  a  complete  change  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  ports  and  very  likely  in  the  roof  of  the  furnace. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  most  practicable  thing  to  do  is  to 
run  the  temperatures  of  the  chambers  in  accordance  with  the  con- 
struction of  the  ports  and  the  roof.  These  conditions  will  often- 
times make  considerable  difference  in  the  relative  amounts  of  heat 
delivered  to  the  gas  chamber  and  the  air  chamber,  and,  therefore, 
will  determine  the  relative  size  of  the  two  chambers,  and  this  may 
account  for  the  difference  of  opinion  of  different  melters  and  dif- 
ferent furnacemen  concerning  the  proper  area  for  the  regenerators. 

In  the  Schonwalder  construction,  introduced  abroad,  the  main 
point  is  to  have  very  large  flues  underneath  the  checkers,  so  as  to 
insure  free  draught  in  all  parts  of  the  chamber,  so  that  the  hot 
gases  will  go  down  and  the  cold  gases  come  up,  equally  over  the 
entire  horizontal  cross  section.  To  make  more  certain,  the  chamber 
is  divided  into  two  compartments  by  a  vertical  wall,  and  separate 
flues  run  from  the  valve  to  each.  The  results  seem  to  indicate  that 
a  saving  of  fuel  follows  this  construction.  It  very  often  happens 
that  it  is  impossible  to  build  a  furnace  exactly  as  desired.  This 
was  the  case  in  the  constructions  shown  in  Figs.  YIII-B  and 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE. 


197 


198 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON"   AND   STEEL. 


THE   OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE. 


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METALLURGY  OF  LEON  AND  STEEL. 


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THE   OPEN-HEARTH   FURNACE. 


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METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE. 


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METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE.  205 

VIII-C,  for  the  nature  of  the  ground  was  such  that  permanent 
water  existed  only  fifteen  feet  below  the  general  level,  and  it  was 
necessary  to  go  to  some  trouble  to  get  sufficient  room  for  checkers. 
It  may  be  supposed  that  there  would  be  difficulty  in  getting  the 
gas  and  air  to  go  through  these  passages  and  reverse  their  direction 
up  and  down,  but  no  trouble  has  been  experienced  from  this  cause. 
It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  the  air  is  blown  by  a  centrifugal 
fan,  the  pressure  being  very  low. 

Fig.  YIII-D  shows  the  method  of  construction  for  basic  furnaces 
at  Dona  wit  z,  Austria,  where  the  practice  is  excellent  both  in  life 
of  furnace  and  amount  of  product.  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend, 
Carl  Sjogren,  engineer  of  the  works,  for  permission  to  use  these 
drawings. 

^  Fig.  VIII-E  shows  the  50-ton  basic  furnaces  at  Duquesne,  Pa., 
and  Fig.  YIII-F  those  at  Sharon,  Pa.,  both  of  these  being  taken 
from  an  article  on  open-hearth  furnaces,  by  Mr.  Monell,  in  the 
Iron  Trade  Review  of  November  14,  1901.  The  drawing  of  the 
Duquesne  furnace  shows  how  the  capacity  of  the  chambers  may  be 
•decreased  when  natural  gas  is  used,  as  both  the  regenerators  are 
available  for  heating  the  air. 

SECTION  Yllld. — Tilting  open-hearth  furnace. — Many  years  ngo 
I  put  in  operation  the  first  tilting  open-hearth  furnace,  while  a  few 
year*  afterwards  Mr.  Wellman  built  a  similar  furnace,  but  used  a 
different  system  of  tilting.  In  the  original  type  the  furnace  sits 
on  live  rollers  running  on  circular  paths;  the  center  of  these 
circular  arcs,  which  is,  of  course,  the  center  of  rotation  of  the 
furnace,  is  coincident  with  the  center  of  the  port  through  which 
the  gas  and  air  enter  the  furnace,  so  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  for 
the  longitudinal  axis  of  the  furnace  to  move  as  long  as  the  founda- 
tions of  the  structure  remain  in  place.  Hence,  as  the  opening  in  the 
end  of  the  furnace  is  on  this  axis,  it  always  coincides  with  the  port 
opening,  no  matter  what  position  the  furnace  may  occupy.  It  is 
exactly  like  a  shaft  or  grindstone  resting  on  friction  rollers,  the 
center  of  the  shaft  remaining  stationary,  and  for  this  reason  there 
is  no  occasion  to  cut  off  the  supply  of  gas  and  air  when  the  furnace 
•is  rotated.  In  the  Wellman  type  the  furnace  rolls  forward  upon  a 
horizontal  track  and  it  is  therefore  necessary  to  shut  off  the  gas  and 
air  as  soon  as  the  furnace  is  tipped  in  the  least  from  i 
position. 


206  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

I  have  very  often  been  asked  to  compare  the  relative  advantages 
of  these  two  types,  but  in  the  former  edition  I  omitted  such  argu- 
ment as  by  the  nature  of  the  case  it  must  be  impossible  for  me  to 
render  a  judicial  and  unbiased  judgment  on  the  subject.  In  view, 
however,  of  many  such  requests  it  would  appear  proper  to  express 
my  opinions,  whether  they  be  judicial  or  not. 

(1)  Both  types  of  tilting  furnaces  do  away  with  most  of  the 
work  and  delay  connected  with  the  tap-hole,  and  when  the  bottom  is 
good  the  next  charge  can  be  put  in  as  soon  as  the  metal  is  tapped. 

(2)  If  the  bottom  is  bad,  especially  when  there  is  a  hole  in  the 
flat,  a  stationary  furnace  is  often  delayed  by  the  tap-hole  in  ways 
which  cannot  be  easily  explained  to  the  layman,  but  need  not  be 
recited  to  the  practical  f urnaceman.     In  a  tilting  furnace  of  either 
type  no  difficulty  is  experienced,  as  in  some  cases  a  hole  can  be 
drained  dry  by  tilting  the  furnace  and  even  repaired  in  that  posi- 
tion. 

(3)  It  is  possible  to  make  the  back  wall,  in  either  type,  by  tilt- 
ing the  furnace  to  its  extreme  position  and  throwing  bottom  ma- 
terial on  the  back  side,  for  this  wall,  which  is  nearly  vertical  dur- 
ing the  regular  operation,  becomes  more  nearly  horizontal  when 
tipped  over.     Thus  with  the  furnace  in  its  normal  position  the 
slope  of  this  wall  may  be  20°  from  the  vertical,  while  if  the  furnace 
be  tipped  30°  it  will  be  only  40°  from  the  horizontal,  and  it  will 
then  be  possible  to  make  loose  material  stay  at  that  angle  until  it  is 
set  by  the  heat. 

In  the  foregoing  advantages  over  the  stationary  furnace,  both 
tilting  types  share,  but  I  believe  the  original  furnace  has  certain 
very  important  recommendations. 

(4)  The  method  of  making  the  back  wall  just  described  can  be 
done  much  more  readily  in  the  Campbell  type,  for  in  the  Wellman 
construction  no  gas  can  be  kept  on  the  furnace  when  it  is  tipped. 
In  the  first  construction  the  center  of  the  port  is  the  center  of 
rotation,  and  it  is  possible  to  keep  a  flame  constantly  going  through 
when  the  furnace  is  tipped.     It  is  not  only  possible,  but  no  manipu- 
lation is  required  to  accomplish  it,  as  in  practice  the  furnace  is 
constantly  moved  without  any  attention  being  paid  to  the  supply 
of  gas  and  air.     It  is  well  known  that  the  setting  of  a  sand  bottom 
requires  an  extremely  high  temperature,  and  it  would  evidently  be 
impossible  to  set  sand  on  the  back  wall  without  raising  the  furnace 
to  its  full  temperature.     It  would,  therefore,  be  impossible  to  do 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE.  207 

this  in  a  Wellman  furnace,  while  it  has  been  done  regularly  when- 
ever occasion  required  for  many  years  at  Steelton,  the  back  wall 
being  always  maintained  at  its  full  thickness  up  to  the  skewback  of 
the  roof. 

In  a  basic  furnace  when  the  dolomite  is  mixed  with  just  the  right 
amount  of  tar,  the  Wellman  furnace  is  able  to  coke  and  harden 
this  mixture  in  place  by  the  heat  of  the  walls  and  bottom,  but  the 
work  must  take  longer  and  be  less  satisfactory  than  in  a  furnace 
where  the  flame  can  immediately  be  put  upon  the  dolomite  and 
the  coking  be  done  quickly  and  thoroughly,  and  the  furnace  be 
heated  for  the  next  charge,  instead  of  being  cooled  by  exposure. 

(5)  Owing  to  the  ability  to  build  the  back  wall  in  this  manner  a 
very  steep  slope  can  be  maintained,  much  steeper  than  can  be  kept 
in  a  stationary  furnace.    This  condition  prevents  or  tends  to  pre- 
vent the  cutting  of  the  slag  line,  for  it  is  my  experience  that  this 
cutting  arises  in  great  measure  in  both  acid  and  basic  furnaces 
from  the  oxidizing  action  of  the  flame  and  the  pieces  of  ore  upon 
shallow  pools  around  the  slag  line.     If  a  small  shelf  is  formed,  the 
metal  lying  on  this  shelf  is  like  the  water  on  a  mud  flat  along  the 
banks  of  a  river;  there  may  be  a  swift  current  in  the  channel, 
but  the  friction  of  the  bottom  on  the  shallow  water  prevents  a  free 
circulation.     Consequently  the  metal  in  such  a  place  is  oxidized 
much  more  and  heated  much  hotter  than  in  the  center  of  the  bath, 
both  of  which  conditions  tend  to  cut  the  surrounding  hearth.     If  a 
vertical  wall  could  be  maintained  at  the  slag  line,  the  action  would 
be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  both  for  the  reason  given  above  and  be- 
cause it  would  be  impossible  for  pieces  of  ore  or  scrap  to  lodge  any- 
where, and  because  the  area  of  the  surface  exposed  to  slag  would 
be  less.     For  this  reason  the  wear  of  the  hearth  on  the  tap-hole 
side  of  a  tilting  furnace  is  less  than  in  a  stationary  furnace.     In 
the  case  of  a  Wellman  furnace  this  is  true  of  a  basic  bottom;  in 
the  case  of  a  Campbell  furnace  it  is  true  of  both  acid  and  basic 
hearths. 

(6)  The  wear  on  the  front  or  charging  side  is  the  same  as  on 
any  other  furnace,  and  there  is  the  same  liability  to  form  holes 
along  the  slag  line,  but  in  the  Campbell  type  such  a  hole  is  seldom 
a  serious  matter,  for  while  the  charge  is  in  the  furnace,  and  without 
interrupting  the  operation  for  a  moment  the  hearth  may  be  tilted, 
the  hole  drained  dry,  filled  with  bottom  material  and  set  in  the 
usual  manner,  after  which  the  furnace  may  be  returned  to  its 


208  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

proper  position  with  practically  a  new  bottom.  This  has  been  done 
in  practice  and  a  hole  which  had  made  the  iron  sheets  red  hot  has 
been  patched  so  thoroughly  that  it  needed  no  subsequent  attention. 
Such  repairs  would  be  impossible  in  the  Wellman  type. 

(7)  The  most  important  advantages  arising  from  the  ability  to 
tip  the  furnace  without  altering  the  flame,  comes  in  the  use  of  large 
quantities  of  pig  iron.  The  Carbon  Steel  Company,  at  Pittsburgh, 
made  a  great  number  of  heats  many  years  ago,  using  all  pig-iron 
on  an  acid  hearth,  but  this  was  done  at  a  great  sacrifice  of 
product,  the  output  being  one  heat  per  day  for  each  furnace.  At 
.Steelton  we  have  antedated  all  others  in  America  in  the  regular 
use  both  of  melted  and  cold  pig-iron  as  the  full  charge  in  a  basic 
furnace,  for  we  began  using  melted  pig-iron  directly  from  the  blast 
furnace  in  1891,  it  being  recognized  at  the  time  that  we  were 
merely  repeating  what  had  been  done  nearly  a  generation  ago  across 
the  water.  About  three  years  later  we  ran  two  or  more  50-ton 
furnaces  on  cold  pig-iron  without  any  scrap,  and  from  time  to  time, 
as  the  limited  supply  of  iron  for  distribution  to  the  Bessemer  and 
open  hearth  would  allow,  we  used  the  iron  in  a  melted  state.  It 
was  from  about  1896  that  melted  iron  was  regularly  and  continu- 
ously taken  from  the  blast  furnaces  to  the  open  hearth  plant,  from 
two  to  four  50-ton  furnaces  having  been  run  regularly  in  that  man- 
ner from  then  until  now. 

"l  /  It  is  recognized  that  this  has  been  done  before,  and  is  done  else- 
where, but  it  is  believed  that  nowhere  else  has  iron  been  worked 
directly  from  the  blast  furnace  without  the  use  of  a  receiver,  with 
silicon  varying  from  0.50  up  to  3.00  per  cent,  and  with  no  prohibit- 
ory trouble  from  frothing  or  from  loss  of  time.  This  trouble  is 
avoided  by  the  ability  to  tip  the  furnace  and  thus  prevent  the  metal 
and  slag  from  flowing  out  of  the  doors  on  the  front  side,  there 
being  no  doors  on  the  tap-hole  side,  the  excess  of  slag  being  pro- 
vided for  by  holes  left  in  the  bottom  of  the  port  opening.  Any  hole 
or  runner  in  a  door  or  in  the  side  of  the  furnace  gives  trouble  from 
the  chilling  of  the  slag  if  the  stream  is  small,  and  if  the  stream  is 
large  there  is  pretty  certain  to  be  some  metal  lost  through  the 
rpcning,  but  by  having  the  opening  located  in  the  port,  at  the  joint 
between  the  fixed  end  and  the  rotating  portion,  the  opening  is  ex- 
posed continually  to  the  flame  passing  over  it  in  either  direction 
nnd  the  slag  has  no  chance  to  cool.  If  it  should  happen  to  solidify, 
the  crust  can  easily  be  broken  by  moving  the  furnace  in  either  direc- 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE. 


209 


tion,  thereby  tearing  apart  the  slag  and  starting  the  stream  again. 
It  is  in  this  manner  that  the  practice  has  been  carried  on  at  Steel- 


ton,  and  the  melters  soon  learned  without  instructions  to  keep  the 
furnaces  partly  tipped  over  throughout  the  whole  period  of  the  vio 
lent  frothing,  thereby  rendering  possible  the  rapid  addition  of 


210  METALLURGY    OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

(8)  In  an  article  on  tilting  furnaces  by  A.  P.  Head*  he  states 
that  one  of  the  objections  to  tilting  furnaces  is  this : 

"The  inlet  of  cold  air  during  pouring  tends  to  oxidize  the  man- 
ganese, which  must  be  made  up  for  by  further  additions  in  the 
molds." 

The  objection  is  his  own,  made  after  a  study  of  the  Ensley  plant, 
and  I  would  say  that  it  does  not  in  any  way  apply  to  the  original 
type,  as  there  is  no  chance  for  cold  air  to  enter  a  furnace  where 
the  connection  with  the  port  is  maintained  undisturbed  at  all  posi- 
tions. 

In  Fig.  VIII-C  has  been  shown  the  50-ton  furnaces  which  have 
been  used  for  many  years  at  Steelton,  while  Fig.  VIII-Gr  gives  a 
view  of  those  erected  by  the  Wellman-Seaver  Company  at  the  new 
plant  at  Ensley,  Ala.  This  latter  view  is  interesting  as  showing 
the  fore-hearth  which  was  here  tried  for  the  first  time.  It  is  a 
modification  of  the  old  converter  ladle,  used  long  ago  in  Sweden. 
In  my  opinion  there  are  many  serious  objections  to  its  use  on  an 
open-hearth  furnace. 

A  tilting  furnace  costs  more  than  a  stationary  construction,  but 
it  does  away  with  much  hard  and  hot  work,  for  the  only  labor  con- 
nected with  the  hole  is  an  occasional  trimming  or  shaping,  which 
can  be  done  at  any  convenient  time.  It  is  customary  to  keep  the 
opening  closed  on  the  outside  with  a  little  loose  material  to  exclude 
air,  this  being  raked  out  about  half  an  hour  before  the  operation  is 
finished  so  that  the  charge  can  be  poured  into  the  ladle  when  de- 
sired. The  advantage  of  this  ability  to  tap  instantly  will  be  appre- 
ciated in  the  case  of  special  steels,  and  particularly  in  making  steel 
castings  where  great  accuracy  in  composition  is  required. 

The  absence  of  a  taphole  is  of  value  for  other  reasons,  for  it 
becomes  possible  to  pour  the  entire  charge  into  a  ladle  and  then 
tap  the  metal  back  into  the  furnace,  leaving  the  slag  in  the  ladle. 
This  practice  may  be  employed  in  acid  or  basic  practice  to  get  rid 
of  the  voluminous  slag  produced  in  the  pig-and-ore  process,  or  it 
may  be  used  in  basic  work  to  remove  a  very  sulphurous,  a  very 
phosphoric,  or  a  very  silicious  slag,  and  by  thus  giving  an  oppor- 
tunity for  the  construction  of  a  new  clean  cinder,  allow  a  more 
impure  raw  material  than  can  be  used  under  any  other  system.  It 
may  also  be  of  great  advantage  in  the  transfer  of  metal  from  an 
acid  to  a  basic  furnace,  or  vice  versa.  This  idea,  which  has  been 

*  Journal  I.  and  8.,  Vol.  1899. 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE. 


211 


proposed  numberless  times,  has  always  been  considered  impracti- 
cable, but  at  the  plant  of  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  it  has 
been  carried  out  without  difficulty,  and  acid  steel  can  be  regularly 
made  with  from  .010  to  .015  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  no  appreci- 
able chilling  of  the  charge  occurring  in  the  transfer. 

SEC.  VlIIe.— Method  of  charging.— The  labor  of  charging  an 
open  hearth  furnace  under  the  old  system  by  means  of  peels  oper- 
ated by  hand  labor  was  of  the  most  exhausting  character.  This 
method  is  still  used  at  a  large  number  of  works  in  Europe,  but  it 


FIG.  VIII-H. — METHOD  OF  CHARGING  A  TILTING  FURNACE. 

has  about  gone  out  of  use  in  America.  Fig.  VIII-H  shows  a 
method  of  charging  a  tilting  furnace  by  dumping  the  stock  in  the 
door  when  the  furnace  is  thrown  over.  This  method  of  charging 
was  used  at  Steelton  for  several  years  and  is  still  employed  on 
isolated  furnaces  where  the  output  does  not  warrant  expensive 
machinery,  but  for  all  plants  of  any  size  the  use  of  charging  ma- 
chinery has  become  almost  universal.  The  best  known  apparatus 
for  this  purpose  is  the  Wellman  Charging  Machine,  shown  in 
Fig.  VIII-I.  It  is  possible  to  remove  the  entire  top  of  a  furnace, 
and  we  have  two  furnaces  at  Steelton  of  this  type  and  more  are 


212 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


in  use  in  other  works  in  America,  where  the  whole  roof  is  re- 
moved by  an  overhead  crane,  thus  giving  an  opportunity  to  put  in 
very  large  pieces  of  scrap.  This  is  very  convenient  in  disposing 


FIG.  VIII-I. — WELLMAN  CHARGING  MACHINE. 

of  heavy  sculls  and  pieces  that  cannot  easily  be  broken,  but  the 
furnace  cools  so  much  during  this  process  of  taking  off  the  roof 
that  considerably  more  fuel  is  used  than  in  the^  ordinary  types, 
and  the  roof  does  not  last  as  long  owing  to  the  severe  strains  in 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE.  213 

cooling  and  heating.     This  construction  is  therefore  not  recom- 
mended as  a  general  type. 

SEC.  VHIf. — Ports. — The  working  of  the  furnace  depends  very 
much  upon  the  arrangement  of  the  ports  through  which  the  gases 
come  and  go.  The  gas  should  enter  below  the  air,  because,  being 
lighter,  mixture  is  facilitated,  and  also  because  this  arrangement 
does  not  expose  the  metal  on  the  hearth  to  a  stratum  of  hot  air  and 
cause  excessive  oxidation.  The  point  where  the  two  gases  meet 
should  be  about  five  feet  from  the  metal;  if  much  less  than  this, 
combustion  can  hardly  begin  before  it  is  checked  by  contact  with 
the  cold  stock;  if  much  more,  and  if  the  burning  mixture  is  con- 
ducted between  confining  walls,  the  brickwork  will  be  rapidly 
melted. 

Both  gas  and  air  should  enter  the  combustion  chamber  under  a 
positive  pressure,  forcing  them  into  contact  with  each  other  and 
throwing  the  resultant  flame  across  the  furnace  in  such  a  way  that 
the  draught  of  the  stack  on  the  outgoing  end  can  pull  it  down 
through  the  ports  without  its  impinging  upon  the  roof.  A  preva- 
lent idea  among  furnacemen  is  that  the  draught  of  the  stack  pulls 
the  gases  into  the  furnace,  but  this  is  entirely  wrong.  They  are 
not  pulled;  they  are  pushed  in  by  the  upward  force  of  the  white- 
hot  vertical  port  on  the  incoming  end,  and  it  has  been  explained 
that  where  this  force  is  not  sufficient,  as  in  horizontal  chambers,  a 
blower  should  be  used  as  an  auxiliary. 

Much  has  been  written  about  building  the  roof  of  the  furnace 
very  high  and  keeping  the  flame  away  from  the  stock,  it  being 
supposed  that  combustion  is  thereby  aided  and  the  heating  done 
more  economically  by  radiation.  The  suggestion  of  a  high  roof 
is  a  very  good  one,  as  it  prevents  the  cutting  of  that  portion  of  the 
furnace ;  but,  contrary  to  what  seems  a  common  impression,  such  a 
construction  is  not  necessarily  synonymous  with  heating  by  radi- 
ation. When  the  ports  are  properly  built  and  the  gases  well  con- 
trolled, the  melting  is  hastened  by  having  the  flame  strike  down 
upon  the  stock,  although,  probably,  the  oxidizing  influence  is  more 
powerful. 

A  reference  to  the  figures  in  Sec.  VIIIc  will  show  the  different 
ways  in  which  the  port  question  has  been  answered.  In  Fig.  VIII-C 
the  portion  of  the  construction  next  to  the  furnace  is  a  removable 
cage  containing  the  arch  that  divides  the  gas  and  air.  When  this 
arch  is  worn  back  this  section  can  be  removed  by  a  crane  and  re- 


214 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


placed  by  a  new  one,  the  whole  operation  not  taking  over  one  hour, 
and  not  interrupting  the  operation  of  the  furnace.  This  system 
is  the  device  of  C.  E.  Stafford.,  now  president  of  the  Tidewater 
Steel  Company,  Chester,  Pa.  The  drawing  of  the  furnace  at  Du- 
quesne  shows  how  simple  the  problem  becomes  when  natural  gas  is 
used. 


FIG.  YIII-K. — REVERSING  VALVES  AT  STEELTON. 

Vertical   Section  Through   Gas  Reversing  Valve. 

C,  stack;  D,  main  gas  tube;  E,  E,  branch  gas  tube,  showing  valve;  F,  F, 
gas  chambers ;  H,  H,  gas  chamber  flues  to  reversing  valve ;  I,  stack  reversing 
valve  for  gas ;  L,  stack  damper  for  gas ;  M,  valve  reversing  track  and  buggy ; 
N,  Nj  water-cooled  valve  seats ;  P,  P,  air  chambers. 

SEC.  VHIg. — Valves. — The  amount  of  gas  and  air  admitted  to 
the  chambers  is  regulated  by  some  simple  form  of  throttle  valve. 
Reversing  apparatus  is  also  necessary,  since  the  course  of  the  cur- 
rents must  be  changed  at  least  twice  every  hour.  For  this  purpose 
the  ordinary  butterfly  valve  is  in  common  use.  Its  simplicity,  the 
ease  with  which  it  is  manipulated,  the  small  space  it  occupies,  and 
its  small  first  cost,  have  led  to  its  general  adoption  and  to  an  equally 
general  unwillingness  to  recognize  its  radical  and  irremediable  de- 
fects. From  the  nature  of  the  case  it  is  exposed  on  one  side  to  the 


"HE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE. 


215 


incoming  gases,  and  on  the  other  to  the  products  of  combustion. 
It  will  sometimes  happen  that  these  waste  gases  are  red  hot,  and 
the  inevitable  result  is  a  warping  of  the  valve  or  box,  and  a  leak 
from  the  gas  main  into  the  chimney.  There  is  no  adjustment 
possible,  and  the  only  remedy  is  to  replace  the  whole  outfit.  It  is 
far  preferable  to  spend  more  money  on  the  installation  and  put  in 
valves  which  will  last  longer  and  which  can  be  changed  in  case  any 
warping  occurs. 


FIG.  VIII-K. — EEVERSING  VALVES  AT  STEELTON. 

Horizontal  Section. 

A,  air  inlet;  B,  B,  air  chambers;  C,  stack;  D,  air  reversing  valve;  E,  E, 
gas  inlets ;  F,  F,  gas  chambers ;  H,  stack  damper  for  air ;  I,  stack  reversing  valve 
for  gas ;  K,  flue  from  reversing  valve  to  stack ;  L,  stack  damper  for  gas ;  Nf  N, 
water-cooled  valve  seats. 

Fig.  VIII-K  shows  a  system  of  valves  which  has  been  used  at 
Steelton  with  good  results  for  a  number  of  years,  whereby  the  gas 
inlet  valve  and  the  reversing  valve  are  entirely  separate  and  the 
inlet  valve  is  removed  from  all  exposure  to  heat.  This  system  was 
devised  more  especially  for  oil  gas  or  where  crude  oil  was  the  fuel, 
since  under  these  conditions  it  is  necessary  that  the  chambers  at  the 
outer  end  should  be  at  a  high  temperature  in  order  to  maintain 
the  oil  in  a  state  of  vapor.  This  necessitates  a  very  high  tempera- 
ture throughout  the  whole  length  of  the  chamber  and  an  ordinary 
valve  will  not  stand  this  high  temperature  without  excessive  leak- 


216 


METALLURGY   OF   IKON   AND 


1 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE.  2  j  7 

age  and  warping.  Such  a  complicated  arrangement,  however,  is 
not  necessary  when  coal  gas  is  used  if  the  chambers  are  of  sufficient 
capacity  to  give  a  low  temperature  at  the  reversing  valve.  A  per- 
fect valve  has  not  yet  been  devised,  for  such  a  valve  should  not  be 
capable  of  warping  if  it  happens  to  get  hot,  and  it  should  not  leak 
if  it  gets  coated  with  tar  or  soot,  and  it  should  not  be  easily  shut 
up  by  an  accumulation  of  soot  and  tar.  No  valve  has  yet  been 
made  which  fills  all  these  conditions,  but  Fig.  VIII-L  shows  a 
Forter  valve,  which  is,  perhaps,  as  good  as  any  in  being  easily 
manipulated  and  simple  in  construction.  It  is  open  to  the  same 
objection  that  a  great  many  valves  are,  in  that  the  gas  is  exposed 
to  water  and  carries  a  great  deal  of  steam  into  the  furnace. 

SEC.  VHIh. — Regulation  of  the  temperature  of  an  open  hearth 
furnace^ — The  temperature  of  the  interior  of  the  furnace  and  of 
the  metal  is  estimated  by  the  eye,  deep-blue  glasses  being  used  as  a 
protection  from  the  intense  glare.  It  is  essential  that  the  melter 
possess  considerable  skill  in  this  line,  for  if  the  metal  is  too  cold 
it  cannot  be  cast,  and  if  too  hot  it  will  give  bad  results.  I  have 
elsewhere*  shown  that  the  practiced  eye  can  detect  a  difference  of 
13°  C.  in  the  temperature  of  Bessemer  charges,  and  this  may  also 
be  taken  as  the  measure  of  skill  to  which  many  open-hearth  melters 
attain. 

It  has  been  explained  that  the  intense  heat  of  a  regenerative  fur- 
nace is  made  possible  by  the  preheating  of  the  gas  and  air  in  cham- 
bers which  have  been  warmed  by  the  products  of  combustion,  these 
chambers  being  alternately  heated  by  currents  traveling  from  the 
furnace  to  the  valves,  and  cooled  by  currents  going  from  the  valves 
to  the  furnace.  If  the  currents  were  not  reversed,  the  chambers 
on  the  outgoing  end  would  be  heated  uniformly  throughout  their 
length  to  about  the  temperature  of  the  furnace,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  chambers  on  the  incoming  end  would  be  uniformly  cooled 
to  the  temperature  of  the  incoming  gases.  By  the  reversal  of  the 
currents  there  is  a  continual  conflict  between  these  extremes,  so 
that  in  a  furnace  in  good  working  order  the  ends  next  the  melting 
chamber  are  at  a  bright  yellow  heat,  and  the  ends  next  the  valves 
are  about  200°  F.  (say  100°  C.)  above  the  temperature  of  the  in- 
coming gases. 

Air  always  enters  cold,  but  it  is  believed  by  some  furnacemen 

*  T»e  Open-Hearth  Process.     Tram.  A.  I.  M.  B.,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  392.     See  alM 

certain  remarks  in  Sec.  Vli. 


218  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

that  it  is  economical  to  have  the  gas  delivered  to  the  valves  as  hot 
#s  possible.  To  some  extent  this  is  an  error,  for  it  is  certain  that 
the  checkers  in  the  outer  end  of  the  gas  chamber  cannot  possibly 
be  cooled  below  the  temperature  of  the  entering  gas,  and  it  is  just 
.as  certain  that  the  products  of  combustion  escaping  to  the  stack 
cannot  possibly  be  cooled  below  the  temperature  of  these  checkers. 
Hence,  it  follows  that  if,  during  a  given  time,  there  is  an  equal 
quantity  of  gaseous  matter  passing  through  the  chamber  in  either 
direction,  the  heat  carried  in  by  hotter  fuel  is  carried  out  by  hotter 
waste  gases,  and  therefore  no  economy  is  obtained. 

With  hot  gas,  however,  it  is  not  necessary  to  pass  such  a  large 
proportion  of  the  products  of  combustion  through  the  gas  cham- 
bers, and  an  extra  amount  may  be  diverted  to  the  air  chambers, 
where  the  heat  may  be  used  to  advantage,  so  that  a  certain  gain 
accrues.  This  gain  may  be  quite  important  when  the  coal  contains 
•only  a  small  proportion  of  the  denser  hydrocarbons,  for  under  these 
conditions  the  gas  leaves  the  producer  at  a  high  temperature;  but 
when  the  coal  is  very  rich  in  volatile  components,  the  gas  is  at  a 
very  low  temperature  when  it  comes  from  the  fire,  and  the  gain 
from  its  immediate  use  may  be  inappreciable.  It  is  true  that  all 
the  tar  is  utilized  when  hot  gas  is  used,  but  it  will  be  shown,  in 
Sec.  IXb,  that  this  represents  only  a  small  part  of  the  total  calorific 
•development. 

SEC.  Vllli. — Calorific  equation  of  an  open-hearth  furnace. — 
More  than  ten  years  ago  I  published  an  investigation  into  the  calo- 
rific balance  of  an  open-hearth  furnace.*  Quite  recently  -other  ex- 
periments have  been  conducted  by  von  Jiiptner,f  who  gives  three 
sets  of  data.  As  might  reasonably  be  expected  the  answers  ob- 
tained by  von  Jiiptner  do  not  perfectly  agree  with  my  results,  and 
it  will  be  profitable  to  analyze  the  causes  of  disagreement.  Select- 
ing from  the  three  experiments  the  one  where  the  coal  consumption 
was  the  lowest  so  as  to  give  a  better  ground  for  comparison,  the 
factors  may  be  thus  summarized : 

(1)  The  quantity  of  coal  burned  per  ton  of  steel  was  638  pounds 
•at  Steelton  and  854  pounds  in  Germany. 

(2)  In  Germany  the  loss  of  unburned  carbon  in  the  producer 

*  The  Physical  and  Chemical  Equations  of  the  Open-Hearth  Process.  Trans. 
A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XIX. 

t  Chemisch-Calorische  Untersuchungen  uber  Generatoren  und  Martindfen 
von  Hanns  v.  Jiiptner  und  Friederich  Toldt. 


THE   OPEN-HEARTH   FURNACE.  219 

•ashes  represented  22  per  cent,  of  the  heat  value  of  the  coal,  while 
at  Steelton  this  loss  was  only  5.6  per  cent. 

(3)  In  spite  of  the  higher  coal  consumption  in  Germany  this 
heavy  loss  in  the  producer  ash  left  a  smaller  quantity  of  heat  going 
to  the  open-hearth  furnace,  so  that  the  German  producer  was  the 
more  wasteful  and  the  German  open-hearth  the  less  wasteful. 

(4)  The  products  of  combustion  from  the  German  furnace  es- 
caped to  the  stack  at  a  temperature  100°  C.  higher  than  at  Steelton, 
thereby  causing  a  greater  loss  in  these  gases. 

(5)  In  the  Steelton  furnace  there  was  only  a  small  amount  of 
-excess  air,  but  there  was  a  loss  of  unburned  carbonic  oxide  in  the 
waste  gases  representing  3.5  per  cent,  of  all  the  heat  value  of  the 
«oal.     In  the  German  furnace  there  was  no  unburned  gas  escaping, 
but  the  amount  of  air  used  was  50  per  cent,  in  excess  of  the  amount 
theoretically  necessary,  so  that  considerable  heat  was  carried  off 
by  this  excess. 

The  foregoing  differences  are  matters  of  practice  and  are  not 
open  to  criticism,  but  there  are  some  other  points  where  the  results 
are  in  error,  for  in  my  former  calculation  I  erred  in  the  specific 
heats  of  the  gases  and  also  in  the  estimate  of  steam  in  the  products 
•of  combustion  from  the  open-hearth  furnace.  Allowance  was 
made  for  the  steam  produced  by  the  combustion  of  the  hydrogen  in 
the  gas  and  of  the  water  vapor  contained  in  the  air,  but  I  did  not 
take  account  of  the  moisture  present  in  the  producer  gas,  which 
will  absorb  heat  in  the  producer  and  also  carry  away  energy  in  the 
waste  products  of  the  furnace.  In  other  calculations  on  producer 
practice  I  had  calculated  this  factor,  but  neglected  it  in  working 
out  the  problem  of  the  melting  furnace. 

This  correction,  however,  proves  to  be  of  little  importance,  as 
the  amount  of  steam  contained  in  the  Steelton  gas  is  only  half  as 
much  as  in  the  German  product.  The  heat  absorbed  by  this  small 
amount  does  not  amount  to  much  according  to  my  method  of  cal- 
culation, although  it  does  play  an  important  part  in  the  method  fol- 
lowed by  von  Jiiptner.  He  assumes  that  all  the  steam  in  the  pro- 
ducer gas  carries  away  a  quantity  of  heat  equal  to  that  necessary  to 
convert  it  from  water  into  the  gaseous  state.  This  assumption  is 
undoubtedly  correct  in  regard  to  the  moisture  contained  in  the  coal, 
but  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  it  applies  to  the  water  arising  from  the 
combustion  of  the  hydrogen  in  the  coal.  Von  Jiiptner  calculates  the 
-amount  of  heat  produced  by  the  combustion  of  hydrogen  and  uses 


?20  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

the  full  calorific  value  of  this  element  on  the  assumption  that  the 
resulting  water  is  condensed.  He  then  counts  this  heat  of  vapori- 
zation as  being  lost  in  the  steam  of  the  gas.  This  same  heat  must  then 
be  counted  as  part  of  the  available  heat  entering  the  open-hearth 
furnace,  and  must  again  be  reckoned  as  escaping  in  the  waste  gases 
from  the  furnace.  All  this  seems  entirely  unnecessary,  and  it 
makes  a  radical  difference  in  the  percentage  of  heat  lost  in  the  waste 
gases.  It  seems  much  more  logical  to  neglect  this  heat  of  vaporiza- 
tion; to  consider  that  hydrogen  develops  only  29,000  calories  per 
kilogramme,  and  to  take  into  account  in  all  the  subsequent  opera- 
tions only  the  real  specific  heat  of  the  steam.  In  any  metallurgical 
operation  whatever,  the  heat  generated  by  condensation  takes  place 
in  the  upper  realms  of  the  atmosphere,  a  hundred  feet  above  the 
top  of  the  chimney,  and  never  enters  into  the  problem  at  all. 

Taking  the  figures  as  given  by  von  Jiiptner  to  represent  the  loss 
of  heat  in  the  steam  contained  in  the  waste  gases  of  the  furnace, 
calculation  shows  that  70  per  cent,  is  due  to  this  latent  heat  of 
vaporization  and  30  per  cent,  to  the  real  sensible  heat.  If  the 
figures  were  corrected  for  this  the  loss  from  steam  would  be  about 
2.8  per  cent,  of  the  total,  which  would  agree  quite  well  with  Steel- 
ton  practice.  This  change  would  at  the  same  time  increase  the 
value  of  the  other  items  and  show  a  somewhat  greater  loss  in  radi- 
ation and  conduction. 

I  believe  that  von  Jiiptner  is  also  in  error  in  his  method  of  calcu- 
lating everything  from  0°  C.  as  a  basis.  He  figures  the  amount  of 
heat  carried  in  by  the  gas,  the  air,  and  the  metal,  taking  0°  C. 
as  the  datum  plane.  A  little  consideration  will  show  that  this 
arbitrary  temperature  has  no  relation  whatever  to  the  problem  in 
hand.  It  would  be  quite  as  logical  to  take  as  a  datum  plane  a  tem- 
perature of  -100°  C.  or  -10,000°  C.  In  either  case  the  calculation 
would  be  quite  correct  from  one  point  of  view,  but  it  would  be  quite 
incorrect  from  another  point.  If  we  assume  a  low  enough  datum 
plane,  then  the  amount  of -heat  brought  into  the  furnace  by  the 
gas  and  air  and  stock  would  be  far  in  excess  of  the  amount  of  heat 
produced  by  combustion,  and  the  distribution  of  heat  as  expressed 
in  calories  and  in  percentages  would  be  absurd.  The  only  datum 
plane  which  will  give  logical  results  will  be  the  average  temperature 
of  the  materials  put  into  the  furnace.  The  volume  of  gas  and  the 
volume  of  air  supplied  to  the  furnace  are  nearly  equal,  and  there- 
fore the  proper  datum  plane  is  the  average  of  the  temperatures  of 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE. 


221 


the  incoming  gas  and  air.  This  neglects  the  temperature  of  the 
metal  charged  into  the  furnace,  but  this  may  easily  be  allowed  for. 

In  further  elucidation  of  the  general  problem  I  have  again 
worked  out  the  equation  of  a  furnace.  The  experiments,  as  before, 
were  made  at  the  works  of  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  and 
under  my  own  supervision.  There  are  at  Steelton  two  acid-lined 
50-ton  furnaces,  which  run  on  a  coal  consumption  of  500  pounds 
per  ton  of  steel,  this  figure  being  based  on  the  weights  of  the  cars 
of  coal  delivered  to  a  separate  group  of  producers.  In  order  to 
find  the  amount  used  while  the  furnace  is  charged  with  stock,  it 
will  be  safe  to  deduct  one-eighth  of  this  amount  to  allow  for  idle 
time,  and  this  gives  440  pounds  (200  kg.)  of  coal,  which  is  used 
while  the  furnace  is  doing  actual  work  in  heating  and  melting. 

The  coal  is  not  the  only  source  of  energy,  as  a  certain  amount  of 
heat  is  created  by  the  combustion  of  the  metalloids,  this  amount 
depending  on  the  composition  of  the  charge  and  the  amount  of 
iron  oxidized.  Following  is  a  comparison  of  the  amount  of  metal- 
loids and  the  amount  of  iron  oxidized  in  the  experiments  by  Jiipt- 
ner  and  in  the  old  experiments  at  Steelton : 


Element 
Oxidized. 

Per  Cent,  of  Total  Charge. 

Jiiptner. 

Steelton. 

Si  
Mn  

c 

0.48 
1.23 
1.03 
2.24 

0.41 
0.88 
0.95 
0.98 

Ye      

The  practice  was  nearly  the  same  in  both  cases,  except  that  the 
loss  of  iron  was  more  than  one  per  cent,  greater  in  the  German 
furnace,  and  the  production  of  heat  was  therefore  somewhat 
greater.  The  heat  value  of  the  internal  combustion  was  found  by 
Jiiptner  to  be  169,560  calories  per  ton  of  steel,  while  at  Steelton  it 
was  143,000  calories.  The  difference  can  be  shown  to  be  accurately 
accounted  for  by  the  greater  loss  of  iron,  and  as  a  slight  variation 
in  this  factor  does  not  materially  affect  the  calculation,  inasmuch 
as  the  heat  so  produced  is  a  small  part  of  the  total,  and  inasmuch 
as  it  will  necessarily  vary  with  each  change  in  the  percentage  of 
pig-iron,  it  has  been  arbitrarily  assumed  in  the  new  determinations 
that  the  heat  produced  by  internal  combustion  in  the  furnace  wfl] 
be  155,000  calories  per  ton. 


222  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

The  heat  produced  by  this  coal  is  used  or  lost  in  many  ways,  the 
principal  of  which  may  be  thus  enumerated : 

( 1 )  Lost  in  unburned  carbon  in  the  producer  ash. 

(2)  Absorbed  in  the  internal  reactions  ojf  the  producer. 

(3)  Carried  away  as  sensible  heat  of  steam  and  gas  in  the  pro- 
ducer gases,  this  sensible  heat  being  of  no  use  in  the  open-hearth 
furnace. 

(4)  Absorbed  by  the  metal  in  heating  and  melting. 

(5)  Carried  to  the  stack  in  the  products  of  combustion  as  sen- 
sible heat  of  steam  and  gas. 

(6)  Carried  to  the  stack  in  the  excess  air  supplied  to  the  furnace. 

(7)  Carried  to  the  stack  in  unburned  hydrogen  and  carbonic 
oxide. 

(8)  Lost  by  radiation  and  conduction. 

Of  these  several  different  ways  in  which  the  energy  is  dissipated 
some  are  losses  pure  and  simple,  as,  for  instance,  the  carbon  in  the 
producer  ash  and  the  loss  by  radiation;  some  are  losses  which  are 
in  part  inevitable,  as,  for  instance,  the  absorption  of  energy  in 
the  internal  reactions  of  the  producer,  while  some  are  utilizations, 
as,  for  instance,  the  absorption  of  heat  in  melting. 

The  object  of  the  investigation  is  to  find  how  much  of  the  calo- 
rific value  of  the  coal  is  applied  usefully  and  how  much  is  wasted,, 
and  to  answer  this  question  it  is  necessary  to  know  how  much  is 
theoretically  necessary  to  perform  the  required  work,  in  order  to 
compare  this  figure  with  the  calorific  energy  actually  supplied  to 
the  producer  and  the  furnace. 

The  amount  of  energy  needed  to  heat  and  melt  the  stock  is  given 
by  von  Jiiptner  as  328,250  calories  per  ton,  while  in  the  older  in- 
vestigation I  had  found  it  to  be  290,000  calories.  This  is  a  very  close 
agreement  when  it  is  considered  that  there  is  some  uncertainty 
about  the  specific  heats  at  high  temperatures  of  different  kinds  of 
pig-iron  and  steel.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  I  did  not  take  into  ac- 
count the  melting  of  the  slag,  because  I  considered  that  all  the 
component  parts  of  the  slag  were  either  in  the  metal  or  in  the  sand 
bottom,  and  consequently  did  not  need  to  be  considered  save  in 
regard  to  the  latent  heat  of  fusion,  which  would  be  negligible.  It 
will  be  safe  therefore  to  assume  in  the  new  calculation  that  the 
energy  utilized  in  heating  and  melting  amounts  to  310,000  calories 
per  ton,  which  is  a  mean  between  the  two  results. 

In  the  new  determinations  the  loss  on  account  of  carbon  in  the 


THE   OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE.  223 

producer  ash  is  much  lower  than  in  the  earlier  experiment.  This 
arises  from  an  improvement  in  general  producer  practice  and  the 
average  loss  at  present  in  Steelton  from  this  cause  is  about  two  per 
cent,  of  the  total  heat  value  of  the  fuel. 

After  making  the  calculations  by  the  methods  pursued  .before,  I 
submitted  the  whole  manuscript  to  Prof.  J.  W.  Richards,  of  Lehigh 
University,  Bethlehem,  Pa.  He  found  errors  in  my  calculations^ 
some  of  importance,  and  some  relating  to  rather  fine  points  of 
thermal  chemistry  which  would  not  affect  the  nature  of  the  result, 
but  which  should  not  exist  in  a  published  investigation.  The  most 
important  error  was  in  the  calculation  of  the  heat  equation  of  the 
steam  in  the  producer,  while  another  was  in  the  amount  of  energy 
absorbed  in  the  gasification  of  the  volatile  components  of  the  coal. 
This  latter  figure  was  taken  from  Bell  and  he  in  turn  used  the 
generally  accepted  estimate,  but  it  has  been  recently  proven  that  a 
comparatively  small  amount  of  heat  is  required  for  this  gasifica- 
tion. 

I  therefore  asked  Prof.  Richards  to  follow  the  line  of  calculation 
I  had  pursued  and  substitute  his  figures  whenever  a  change  was 
necessary,  and  I  have  deemed  it  only  right  that  the  work  should 
appear  under  his  name.  The  method  of  calculating  the  amount 
of  gas  from  a  given  weight  of  coal,  and  the  losses  and  distribution 
of  heat  is  the  same  as  that  used  in  my  paper  before  referred  to  in 
Vol.  XIX  of  the  "Transactions  of  the  Mining  Engineers."  It 
may  therefore  be  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  calculations  in  that 
paper  are  incorrect  as  far  as  they  relate  to  the  decomposition  of 
steam  in  the  producer,  but  at  that  time  very  little  steam  was  used, 
and  this  error  is  unimportant. 

The  results  of  the  investigation  appear  in  Tables  VIII-A, 
VIII-B  and  VIII-C,  and  there  are  also  given  for  comparison  the 
determinations  made  at  Steelton  some  years  ago  and  those  of  von 
Juptner,  both  of  which  have  been  already  referred  to.  Taking  as  a 
whole  the  results  shown  in  the  tables  we  may  draw  the  following 
conclusions : 

(1)  A  producer  properly  run  demands  about  one-quarter  to  one- 
fifth  of  all  the  heat  value  of  the  coal,  and  delivers  the  remainder 
as  available  combustible  in  the  gas. 

(2)  If  the  loss  of  coal  in  the  ash  is  very  high  the  gas  may  con- 
tain less  than  half  the  heat  value  of  the  coal. 

Note  ;  see  Sec.  IXb  for  a  further  discussion  of  producer  practice. 


22^  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

(3)  In  making  calculations  on  the  heat  distribution  in  the  open 
hearth  furnace,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  heat  produced  by  the 
combustion  of  the  silicon,  carbon  and  iron  of  the  bath,  for  this 
amounts  to  about  one-seventh  as  much  as  is  supplied  by  the  com- 
bustion of  the  gas. 

(4)  The  heat  supplied  by  the  combustion  of  the  metalloids  and 
of  the  iron  is  one-half  of  the  quantity  necessary  to  heat  and  melt 
the  charge. 

(5)  The  distribution  of  heat  in  the  open-hearth  furnace  must 
be  calculated  in  percentages  of  the  sum  total  of  the  heat  supplied 
by  the  gas  and  the  heat  supplied  by  internal  combustion. 

(6)  Roughly  speaking,  about  one-half  of  all  the  heat  supplied  to 
an  open-hearth  furnace  is  lost  by  radiation  and  conduction. 

(7)  About  one-quarter  of  the  heat  is  lost  in  the  waste  gases 
going  to  the  chimney. 

(8)  About  one-quarter  of  the  heat  is  utilized  in  heating  and 
melting  the  stock. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  foregoing  conclusions  are 
founded  on  experiments  where  the  coal  consumption  throughout  the 
month  was  500  pounds  per  gross  ton  of  steel  ingots.  In  furnaces 
where  the  coal  consumption  is  higher,  the  percentage  of  heat 
utilized  will  be  less,  and  the  amount  lost  by  radiation  and  in  waste 
gases  will  be  greater. 

The  total  loss  in  waste  gases  in  the  Steelton  experiment  was  23.4 
per  cent,  of  the  total  value  of  the  coal,  and  the  gases  escaped  to  the 
stack  at  an  average  temperature  of  680°,  this  average  being  based 
on  an  estimate  of  the  proportional  amount  escaping  from  the  two 
chambers,  the  temperature  of  each  having  been  determined. 

It  has  been  explained  that  the  average  temperature  of  the  gas 
and  air  was  280°  C.,  so  that  there  was  a  loss  of  23  per  cent,  for 
400°  C.,  or  6  per  cent,  for  each  100°  C.  If  this  is  true,  then 
an  increase  in  the  cubical  content  of  the  regenerative  chambers, 
sufficient  to  reduce  the  temperature  of  the  waste  gases  100°  C., 
will  effect  a  saving  of  6  per  cent,  in  furnace  economy,  and  after 
allowing  for  the  gain  in  heat  from  the  metalloids  and  the  loss 
of  heat  in  the  producer,  this  will  represent  a  saving  of  about 
5  per  cent,  in  the  fuel  consumption.  There  would  thus  be  a  saving 
of  from  25  to  45  pounds  of  coal  per  ton,  depending  on  the  fuel 
economy  of  the  furnace.  •  It  is  easy  from  this  to  calculate  for  each 
locality  the  saving  in  money  from  larger  chambers,  and  compare 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE.  225 

it  with  the  quite  considerable  outlay  necessary  to  obtain  the  econ- 
omy. 

The  loss  from  radiation  and  conduction  appears  to  be  twice  the 
loss  in  the  escaping  gases,  but  it  is  necessary  to  consider  that  this 
item  embraces  all  the  errors  of  determination  and  calculation.  The 
practical  melter  knows  very  well  the  immense  waste  from  these 
causes,  and  he  may  very  likely  have  been  sufficiently  unfortunate  to 
see  a  furnace  where  the  heat  radiated  plus  the  heat  going  to  the 
chimney  equaled  the  heat  produced,  for  when  a  furnace  is  worn  out, 
and  the  chambers  are  clogged  with  dirt,  and  the  ports  are  melted 
back  so  that  a  good  flame  is  impossible,  and  when  the  roof  and 
walls  are  thin  and  cracked,  then  it  may  happen  that  after  the  steel 
is  melted  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  it  hot.  It  is  evident  that  no 
more  gas  is  burned  per  minute  than  when  the  furnace  was  new,  and 
therefore  the  loss  in  waste  gases  should  not  be  much  greater.  These 
waste  gases  may  be  hotter  owing  to  the  dirty  condition  of  the 
checker  brick,  but  the  difference  is  not  sufficient  to  account  for  all 
the  conditions.  The  trouble  is  that  a  little  less  gas  comes  in  to  the 
furnace  and  a  little  less  heat  is  produced  per  minute,  while  the 
loss  of  heat  is  greater  owing  to  the  thin  walls  and  roof  and  thus,  in- 
stead of  a  surplus  to  give  to  the  bath  there  may  even  be  a  deficit 
at  times,  and  unfortunately  the  radiation  increases  with  each  in- 
crease of  temperature.  It  is  from  this  latter  cause  that  the  furnace 
may  easily  be  capable  of  melting  down  the  charge,  but  incapable  of 
reaching  the  exalted  temperature  necessary  for  handling  the  melted 
steel. 

The  evident  teaching  of  this  lesson  is  to  prevent  the  loss  of  heat 
by  thick  walls,  but  the  practical  man  knows  that  a  thick  roof  gives 
so  much  trouble  that  it  seems  better  to  sacrifice  heat  and  use  the 
ordinary  thin  covering.  Perhaps  the  most  feasible  way  to  save  fuel 
is  to  have  ample  ports  and  get  a  fast  working  furnace,  for  the 
charge  is  then  quickly  melted  and  it  will  be  clear  that  the  loss  by 
radiation  will  be  about  in  proportion  to  the  time  of  operation.  By 
making  heats  in  one-third  less  time,  the  radiation  would  be  de- 
creased one-third,  and  if  the  loss  from  this  cause  is  50  per  cent,  in 
the  slower  furnace,  then  the  faster  work  will  save  about  one-sixth 
of  the  coal. 

The  remainder  of  this  section  gives  the  mathematical  investiga- 
tion by  Prof.  Richards  as  above  explained. 


226  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Mathematical  Investigation  by  Prof.  J.  W.  Richards. — Calculation 
of  Tables  VIII-A,  VIII-B  and  VIII-C. 

Table  VIII-A  on  the  distribution  of  heat  in  the  producer  is  Cal- 
culated by  use  of  the  following  physical  constants  and  principles  of 
calculation : 

The  carbon  of  the  fuel  minus  the  carbon  in  the  ash,  gives  the 
total  carbon  in  the  gas.  Total  carbon  in  the  gas  divided  by  the 
carbon  in  one  cubic  metre,  gives  the  volume  of  gas  produced.  Car- 
bon in  one  cubic  metre  is  found  most  easily  from  the  principle  that 
one  cubic  metre  of  either  CO,  C02,  or  CH4  contains  0.54  kg.  of 
carbon;  C2H4  contains  twice  that  weight.  The  calorific  value  of 
the  gas  is  found  by  multiplying  the  volume  of  each  combustible 
ingredient  by  the  calorific  power  of  one  cubic  metre  of  the  com- 
bustible gas,  and  adding  the  products.  The  products  of  the  dry 
distillation  of  the  coal  are  taken  from  results  on  a  similar  coal  at 
the  beginning  of  distillation,  coked  in  Semet-Solvay  coke  ovens,  as 
reported  by  Prof.  H.  0.  Hofman.  The  volume  of  CH4  and  CJI^ 
in  the  gases  may  be  assumed  as  coming  all  from  this  distillation; 
the  volume  of  H  gas  distilled  off  is  a  little  less  than  the  CH4. 
The  volume  of  CO  and  C02  in  the  total  gases,  minus  that  coming 
from  the  distillation,  gives  the  CO  and  C02  formed  by  combustion 
in  the  producer.  The  total  volume  of  free  hydrogen  produced 
minus  that  coming  from  the  distillation,  gives  the  free  hydrogen 
liberated  in  the  producer  by  the  decomposition  of  steam.  The  total 
weight  of  hydrogen  in  the  gas,  in  every  form  (CH4,  C2H4,  H  and 
H20)  minus  the  weight  of  hydrogen  in  the  coal  in  any  form  (as- 
sumed as  4  per  cent,  in  the  dried  coal  and  0.5  per  cent,  present  as 
hygroscopic  water)  gives  the  hydrogen  which  must  have  come  in 
with  the  blast.  Assuming  average  humidity  of  the  air,  the  weight 
of  hydrogen  present  in  it  as  moisture  is  calculated;  the  difference 
between  this  and  the  total  hydrogen  of  the  blast  is  the  hydrogen 
coming  in  from  the  steam  jet,  whence  the  weight  of  steam  blown 
in. 

The  heat  created  in  the  producer  is  from  formation  of  CO  and 
C02.  Some  of  this  is  rendered  latent  by  being  absorbed  in  the 
decomposition  of  H20  in  the  blast ;  this  heat  re-appears  in  the  open 
hearth  when  the  gases  are  burnt ;  it  is  part  of  their  calorific  power. 
The  rest  of  the  heat  created  in  the  producer  is  lost  as  sensible  heat 
in  the  hot  gases  or  by  radiation  and  conduction.  These  losses  are 


THE   OPEN-HEARTH   FURNACE.  227 

definite  losses.  The  total  calorific  power  of  the  coal  is  the  calorific 
power  of  the  gases  produced,  plus  the  definite  losses  of  heat  from 
the  producer  as  just  defined.  The  proportion  these  losses  bear  to 
the  total  calorific  power  of  the  coal  is  the  percentage  of  producer 
loss. 

Yon  Jiiptner  and  Toldt  used  no  steam  jet,  and  therefore  had 
very  little  decomposition  of  steam  in  their  producers.  They,  how- 
ever, calculate  the  total  calorific  value  of  the  coal  by  adding  to- 
gether the  calorific  power  of  the  gases  and  the  total  heat  created 
in  the  producer,  including,  moreover,  in  the  latter  item  the  heat  of 
combustion  of  the  hydrogen  of  the  coal  which  goes  into  the  gases  as 
water.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  these  writers  use  the  calorific 
power  of  hydrogen  to  liquid  water  (which  has  already  been  objected 
to  by  Mr.  Campbell  as  including  the  irrecoverable  and  therefore 
negligible  heat  of  vaporization  of  the  steam  formed),  it  seems  that 
the  above  calculation  of  the  total  calorific  power  of  the  coal  con- 
tains two  erroneous  items,  viz:  (1)  any  heat  rendered  latent  in 
the  producer  by  decomposition  of  steam  is  counted  in  twice,  once 
in  the  heat  developed  in  the  producer,  and  the  second  time  it  is 
included  in  the  calorific  power  of  the  gas.  This  item  is,  however, 
small  in  their  particular  case,  while  it  is  a  considerable  item  in  the 
Steelton  producers.  (2)  The  including  of  the  heat  of  formation 
of  the  water  in  the  gas  coming  from  the  combination  of  hydrogen 
of  the  coal  with  oxygen  in  the  coal  is  practically  assuming  that  all 
the  H  of  the  coal  is  free  to  burn,  and  neglects  the  principle  of 
"available  hydrogen"  or  "hydrogen  free  to  burn."  The  total  cal- 
orific power  of  the  coal  is  thus  increased  by  this  .quantity  more 
than  the  actual  calorific  power  of  the  coal  can  really  be,  and  the 
surplus  thus  found  over  and  above  the  experimentally  ascertained 
calorific  power  of  the  coal  is  called  by  von  Jiiptner  and  Toldt  the 
"heat  of  gasification"  (Vergasungswarme)  of  the  coal.  It  will  be 
seen  that  this  is  entirely  a  hypothetical  quantity  which  has  no  place 
in  the  calculations  in  theory  and  no  existence  in  practice. 

Physical  constants  used  in  the  calculations : 

Weight  of  1  c.  m.  H  gas  (at  0°  and  760  m.  m.)  0.09  kg. 
Weight  of  1  c.  m.  any  other  gas=0.09  kg.xl/2  its  molecular  weight. 
Weight  of  C   in  1  c.  m.  of  CO,  CO2,CH4=0.54  kg. 
Mean  specific  heat  of  1  c.  m.  from  0°  to  t°  C. 

CO,  H,  N  or  O       0.306+0.000027  t 

CO2  0.374+0.00027 1 

H2O  0.342+0.00015 1 

CH4  0.418+0.00024 1 

CaH4  0.424+0.00052 1 


228 


METALLURGY    OF   IKON    AND    STEEL. 


HEAT  OF  COMBUSTION  OF  FUELS. 

Per  molecular  weight.  Per  kilo.       Per  c.  m. 

C  to  CO £9,400  2,450 

CtoCOa 97,000  8,133 

CO    to   CO3 68,200  2,436                3,069 

H  to  vapor  HaO 58,080  29,040                2,614 

CH4  to  CO2  and  H2O  gas 191,560  11,970               8,620 

CaH4  to  CO2  and  H2O  gas. 319,260  11,400              14,367 

Si  to  SiO2 180,000  6,430 

Fe  to  FeO 65,700  1,173 

Fe  to  FeaO8 195,600  1,746 

TABLE  VIII-A. 
Distribution  of  Heat  in  the  Producer. 

Coal  per  ton  of  steel  produced,  pounds 440 

Coal  per  ton  of  steel  produced,  kilogrammes 200 

Carbon  in  coal,  per  cent 75.68 

Carbon  in  200  kg.  coal,  kg 151.36 

Ash  in  coal,  per  cent 7.12 

Carbon  in  producer  ash,  per  cent,  of  ash 21.07 

Carbon  in  producer  ash,  per  cent,  of  coal 1.90 

Heat  value  of  carbon  in  ash  per  200  kg.  coal,  calories....        30,700 
Producer  gas  :  composition  by  volume,  per  cent,    (dry  gas) 

C02,    5.7;    CO,    22.0;    CH4,    2.6;    C2H4,    0.6;    H,    10.5; 

O,   0.4;   N,  58.2. 

Steam  accompanying  1  c.  m.  gas  (determined)  c.  m 0,0375 

Calorific  value  per  cubic  metre,  calories 1260 

Carbon  in  one  cubic  metre  dry  gas,  kg 0.1689 

Carbon  in  gas  per  kg.  of  coal  (0.7568—0.0190)  kg 0.7374 

Volume  of  gas  per  kg.  of  coal   (0.7378-^-0.1689)  c.  m.   (dry)  4.37 

Volume  of  dry  gas  per  200  kg.  coal,  c.  m 874 

Calorific  value  of  gas  per  200  kg.  of  coal,  calories 1,101,240 

Products  of  dry  distillation  of  1  kg.  coal  (assumed). 

CO2  0.026  kg.=0.013  c.  m. 

CO    0.027  kg.=0.022  c.  m. 

Crf*  0.082  kg.=0.114  c.  m. 

C2H4  0.033  kg.=0.026  c.  m. 

H     0.0098  kg.=0.109  c.   m. 

Volume  of  CO2  in  gas  per  kg.  of  coal  (0.057X4.37)  c.  m...  0.249 

Volume  of  CO2  from  distillation  of  1  kg.  coal,  c.  m 0.013 

Volume  of  CO2  produced  by  combustion,  per  kg.  coal,  c.  m..  0.236 
Volume  of  CO2  produced  by  combustion  per  200  kg.  coal, 

c.  m 47.2 

Heat  of  formation  of  47.2  c.  m.  CO2  calories 207,300 

Volume  of  CO  in  gas  per  kg.  of  coal  (0.22X4.37)  c.  m..  ..  0.961 

Volume  of  CO  from  distillation  of  1  kg.  coal,  c.  m 0.022 

Volume  of  CO  produced  by  combustion,  per  kg.  coal  c.  m.  0.939 
Volume  of  CO  produced  by  combustion   per  200  kg.   coal 

c.  m 187.8 

Heat  of  formation  of  .187.8  c.  m.  CO,  calories 248,460 

Total  heat  created  in  producer  per  200  kg.  coal,  calories.  455,760 

Temperature  of  gas  leaving  the  producer,  degrees  Cent. .  655 

Mean  specific  heat  of  dry  gas  (20°  to  655°)   (calculated) . .  0.3468 
Sensible  heat  in  dry  gases  per  200  kg.  coal  (874X.3468X635)=192,470 


THE   OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE.  229 

Mean  specific  heat  of  steam   (20°  to  655°) 0  443 

Sensible  heat  in  steam  per  200  kg.  coal   (0.0375X874X0.443X635)=«J280 
Total   sensible   heat   in   gas   and  steam   per   200  kg.   coal 

calories   201,750 

Volume  of  free  H  In  gas  per  kg.  of  coal  (0.105X4.37)  c.  m.  0.459 

Volume  of  free  H  from  distillation  of  1  kg.  coal,  c.  m 0.109 

Volume  of  free  H  from  decomposition  of  H2O  in  producer! 

c-  m 0.35 

Volume  of  free  II  from  decomposition  of  H2O  per  200  kg. 

coal,  c.  m jO 

Weight  of  H  liberated  from  H2O  per  200  kg.  coal,  kg 6.3 

Heat  thus  absorbed  in  decomposing  steam,  calories 182,700 

Total  weight  H  in  1  c.  m.  gas,  including  steam,  kg 0.0186 

Weight  H  in  gas  per  200  kg.  coal,  kg.   (0.0186X874) 16 

Weight  H  in  200  kg.  coal  (200X0.045),  kg 9 

Weight  H  coming  from  air  and  steam,  per  200  kg.  coal,  kg.  7 
Weight  H2O  coming  from  air  and  steam,  per  200  kg.  coal, 

kg 63 

Weight  H20  coming  from  air  used,  at  average  conditions, 

kg 9.6 

Weight  steam  blown  in,  per  200  kg.  coal,  kg 53.4 

Weight  of  steam  decomposed  in  producer   (6.3X9)    kg.  . . .  56.7 

Deduct   moisture   of   air,    assumed   all   decomposed,    kg. . .  9.6 

Steam  of  steam  jet  decomposed,   per  200  kg.   coal,   kg..,  47.1 

Percentage  of  steam  in  steam  jet  decomposed  (  ^TT)  88 

Heat  generated  in  producer,  calories 455,760 

Heat  taken  out  of  producer  in  gas  and  steam 201,750 

Surplus  left  In  producer,  calories 254,010 

Absorbed  in  decomposing  steam  (rendered  latent) ....  182,700 


Loss  by  radiation  and  conduction,  calories 71,310 

Summary  of  above  results  on  Producer  Practice,  per  200  kg.  coaL 

Calories. 

Lost  as  carbon  in  ash 30,700 

Lost  by  radiation  and  conduction 71,31' 

Sensible  heat  of  hot  gas  and  steam 201,750 

Total  heat  loss  of  producer 303,760 

Calorific  power  of  producer  gas 1,101,240 

Total  heat  value  of  coal 1,405,000 

Per  cent,  lost  in  producer . . . 21-*5 

Losses  in  the  Producer  in  Percentage  of  the  Heat  Value  of  the  Coal. 

Per  cent,  of         Per  cent,  of 
value  of        total  producer 
Calories.  coal.  loss. 

Lost  as  Cin  ash 30,700 

Radiation  and  conduction.       71,310 

Sensible  heat  of  steam ....         9,280          0.7  I  14  4  J.i    .  66  4 

Sensible  heat  of  dry  gas. .     192,470 

303,760         21.6  100.0 


230  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

TABLE  VIII-B. 
Distribution  of  Heat  in  the  Open-Hearth  Furnace. 

C  in  gas  per  kg.  of  coal,  kg 0.7378 

C  in  gas  per  200  kg.  coal,  kg 147.56 

C  in  1  c.  m.   (dry)  chimney  gas,  kg.   (0.127X0.54) .".  0.06858 

Volume  (dry)  chimney  gas  per  200  kg.  coal,  c.  m 2152 

Free  oxygen  present  in  this  gas  (2152X0.067),  c.  m 144 

Excess  air  corresponding  to  free  oxygen,  c.  m 699 

CO2  in  chimney  gas   (2152x0.127),  c.  m 273 

N  in  chimney  gas  (2152X0.806) ,  c.  m 1735 

N  in  excess  air  used,  c.  m 536 

N  in  theoretical  products  of  combustion,  c.  m 1199 

N  in  producer  gas  per  200  kg.  coal   (874X0.582),  c.  m 509 

N  in  air  necessary  for  theoretical  combustion,  c.  m 690 

Air  necessary  for  theoretical  combustion,  c.  m 872 

Excess  of  air  used,  percentage  680-=-872 78 

H3O  in  chimney  gas  (2152X0.078),  c.  m 168 

Heat  in  air  used,  at  280°,  Sm  (0°  to  280°)  =0.314 — 

Theoretical  air  needed  (872X0.314X280)  calories 76,650 

Excess  air  used   (680X0.314X280)   calories 59,770 

Total,   calories 136,420 

Heat  in  producer  gases  used,  at  655° — 

Dry  gas  874  c.  m.  (874X0.347X655)  calories 02,050 

Steam  33  c.  m.    (33X0.440X655) 9,510 

Total,  calories 102,160 

Total  heat  brought  to  furnace,  not  available,  calories 238,580 

Heat  taken  out  in  chimney  gases,  at  680° — 

Dry,  theoretical  combustion   (1472X0.367X680),  calories 867,750 

Steam  formed   (168X0.444X680),   calories 50,190 

Total  in  theoretical  products  of  combustion,  calories 417,940 

In  excess  air  used  (680X0.324X680),  calories 149,820 

Total  in  the  chimney  gases,  calories 567,760 

Heat  brought  to  furnace  and  not  available,  calories 238,580 

Heat  loss  in  chimney  chargeable  against  furnace,  calories. 329,180 

Proportion  of  chimney  loss  chargeable  against  furnace,  per  cent 58 

Items  of  Chimney  Loss  Chargeable  Against  Furnace: 

. .  Calories.  Per  cent. 

Dry  gases  from  theoretical  combustion 213,220  64.8 

Steam  from  theoretical  combustion 29,100  8.8 

Excess  air  used 86,860  26.4 

329,180  100.0 

Summary  of  Above  Eesults  on  Furnace  Practice  per  200  kg.  Coal 
=0ne  Ton  Steel. 

Calories. 

Potential  value  of  gas 1,101,240 

Combustion   of   metalloids 155,000 

Total   heat   available.... 1,256,240 


THE    OPEN-HEARTH    FURNACE.  231 

Sensible  Heat  in  Waste  Gases  Chargeable  Against  the  Furnace. 

Per  cent,  of 

available 
Calories.         energy. 

(a)  Dry,  theoretical  products  of  combustion 213220  17  o 

(b)  Steam  of  theoretical  products  of  combustion 29,100  2.3 

Total  In  the  theoretical  products  of  combustion 242,320  "liTa 

(c)  Excess   air   used 86,860  Q.Q 

Total  in  entire  products  of  combustion 329,180  26.2 

Heating  and   melting  stock 310,000  24J 

Radiation  and  conduction   (by  difference) 617,060  49.1 

Total  as  above 1,256,240  100.0 


Comparison  of  von  Jiiptner  s  Results  with  Steelton  Practice. 

Table  VIII-C  gives  von  Jiiptn.er's  results  (Exp.  Ill)  as  given 
by  him,  and  as  recalculated  and  corrected.  It  also  gives  Campbell's 
data,  both  old  and  new.  The  two  Campbell  sets  are  not  strictly 
comparable,  nor  are  the  first  of  von  Jiiptner's  and  the  first  of  Camp- 
bell's, but  the  corrected  von  Jiiptner  results  are  comparable  with  the 
later  Steelton  figures.  Von  Jiiptner  loses  25.9  per  cent,  in  pro- 
ducer ash,  against  2.1  per  cent,  at  Steelton.  Of  the  74.1  per 
cent,  actually  utilized,  von  Jiiptner  gets  50.7  per  cent,  potential  in 
the  gas,  or  only  68  per  cent,  of  the  potential  of  the  coal  actually 
consumed.  On  the  other  hand,  of  the  97.8  per  cent,  utilized  at 
Steelton  78.4  per  cent,  is  potential  in  the  gas,  or  80  per  cent,  of  the 
potential  of  the  coal  actually  consumed.  The  Steelton  practice  is 
therefore  26.7  per  cent,  better  as  far  as  burning  the  coal  is  con- 
cerned and  10  per  cent,  better  in  utilizing  the  combustion  for  the 
production  of  gas.  The  former  advantage  is  due  to  a  better  form 
of  grate  and  more  careful  working;  the  latter  advantage  to  the 
steam  jet,  which  transfers  10  per  cent,  of  the  power  of  the  coal 
from  the  producer  to  the  furnace.  The  net  result  is  that  the  Steel- 
ton  practice  is  50  per  cent,  better  than  that  of  von  Jiiptner. 


232 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


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CHAPTER  IX. 
FUEL. 

SEC.  IXa.  —  The  combustion  of  fuel  —  A  full  definition  of  the 
word  "fuel/'  and  the  correlated  term  "combustion,"  would  necessi- 
tate a  journey  into  the  domain  of  chemical  physics.  Such  a  disser- 
tation would  not  be  entirely  unprofitable,  for  in  the  modifications 
of  the  Bessemer  process  the  calorific  value  of  silicon,  manganese, 
phosphorus  and  iron  are  uf  vital  importance,  but  in  the  affairs  of 
everyday  life  the  term  "fuel"  embraces  only  the  various  forms  of 
carbon  known  as  charcoal  and  anthracite  coal,  and  combinations  of 
carbon  and  hydrogen,  such  as  natural  gas,  petroleum  and  bituminous 
coal,  while  the  meaning  of  "combustion"  is  also  narrowed  down  to 
the  union  of  such  substances  with  oxygen.  In  the  case  of  complex 
hydrocarbons,  like  wood,  soft  coal,  or  oil,  the  full  history  of  com- 
bustion would  be  a  record  of  manifold  dissociations  and  syntheses; 
but  for  practical  purposes  it  may  be  considered  that  in  all  com- 
pounds of  hydrogen  and  carbon  there  is  an  isolation  of  each  element 
just  previous  to  union  with  oxygen,  and  the  molecular  history 
may,  therefore,  be  represented  by  the  following  simple  equations  : 


1  kilo  C+2  2/3  krlos  0=3  2/3  kilos  C02, 
producing  8133  calories. 

CO+0=C02, 
1  kilo  CO+4/7  kilo  0=1  4/7  kilos  C02, 

producing  2438  calories. 

1  cubic  metre  CO  +1/2  cubic  metre  0=1  cubic  metre  C02, 
producing  3072  calories. 

2  H+0=H20, 

1  kilo  H+8  kilos  0=9  kilos  H20, 
producing  34,500  calories,  including  latent  heat  in  steam. 

29,040  calories,  not  including  latent  heat  in  steam. 
1  cubic  metre  H+l/2  cubic  metre  0=1  cubic  metre  H20, 

238 


234  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

producing  2614  calories,  not  including  latent  heat  in  steam. 


1  kilo  C+l  1/3  kilos  0=2  1/3  kilos  CO, 
producing  2450  calories. 

It  has  been  questioned  whether  this  latter  action  ever  takes  place, 
the  theory  being  that  carbon  always  burns  first  to  C02  and  is  then 
reduced  to  CO  by  absorption  of  incandescent  carbon.  Whether  this 
is  true  or  not  is  of  little  moment,  for  nothing  is  gained  or  lost  in 
calorific  energy  by  the  transmutation,  and  it  is,  therefore,  simpler 
to  assume  a  direct  action. 

The  above  equations  represent  the  combustion  of  carbon  and 
hydrogen  with  oxygen.  Needless  to  say  this  never  occurs  in  prac- 
tice, for  it  is  burned  with  air,  and  air  is  a  mixture  of  oxygen  and 
nitrogen,  the  proportion  by  weight  being  23.2  oxygen  and  76.8 
nitrogen,  and  by  volume  20.9  oxygen  and  79.1  nitrogen;  and  it 
follows,  therefore,  that  the  products  of  combustion  from  burning 
coal  are  composed  in  great  part  of  nitrogen.  The  products  from 
burning  hard  coal  and  soft  coal  will  vary  somewhat,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  soft  coal  contains  about  5  per  cent,  of  hydro- 

TABLE  IX-A. 
Products  of  Combustion  of  Hard  and  Soft  Coal. 


Hard  Coal. 

Soft  Coal. 

Excess  Air. 

CO, 

0 

CO, 

O 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

No  excess. 

21.0 

0.0 

19.1 

0.0 

10 

19.1 

1.9 

17.3 

2.0 

20 

17.5 

3.5 

15.8 

3.6 

30 

16.1 

4.8 

14.5 

4.9 

40 

15.0 

6.0 

13.5 

6.1 

50 

14.0 

6.9 

12.6 

7.1 

60 

13.0 

7.8 

11.7 

8.0 

70 

12.3 

8.6 

11.0 

8.8 

80 

11.7 

9.3 

10.4 

9.5 

90 

11.1 

9.9 

9.9 

10.1 

100 

10.5 

10.5 

9.4 

10.6 

gen,  and  oxidation  of  the  hydrogen  produces  water,  and  in  taking  a 
sample  of  the  gases  from  the  stack,  this  water  is  condensed  as  it 
passes  through  the  tubes  of  the  apparatus  and  does  not  appear  in 
the  analysis  as  usually  performed,  but  in  order  to  burn  this  hydro- 
gen it  is  necessary  to  supply  a  certain  quantity  of  air  and  this  air 


FUEL.  235 

carries  with  it  a  certain  amount  of  nitrogen,  and  this  nitrogen  does 
appear  in  the  products  of  combustion,  so  that  in  burning  soft  coal 
the  products  of  combustion  contain  a  slightly  higher  percentage  of 
nitrogen  and  a  slightly  lower  percentage  of  carbonic  acid  than  will 
be  obtained  in  the  burning  of  hard  coal. 

Table  IX-A  shows  the  composition  of  the  products  of  combus- 
tion of  hard  and  soft  coal  when  burned  with  varying  amounts  of 
air. 

The  first  line  gives  the  results  of  theoretical  combustion  when 
just  sufficient  air  is  added  to  completely  burn  the  carbon  and  hydro- 
gen and  each  succeeding  line  shows  an  additional  10  per  cent,  of 
air  in  excess  of  what  is  theoretically  needed.  It  is  found  in  prac- 
tice that  such  an  excess  is  necessary  to  insure  complete  combustion. 
The  amount  of  excess  necessary  varies  with  the  conditions  under 
which  the  coal  is  burned,  but  it  is  seldom  possible  to  have  complete 
combustion  with  less  than  30  per  cent,  excess  air.  The  percentage 
of  nitrogen  is  not  given,  but  it  is  easily  found  by  difference,  as 
whatever  is  not  carbonic  acid  or  oxygen  is  nitrogen.  It  will  be 
seen  that  there  is  scarcely  any  difference  between  the  products 
formed  from  soft  coal  and  from  hard  coal,  and  that  the  amount  of 
free  oxygen  present  indicates  the  excess  air  that  is  present.  The 
coal  always  contains  a  certain  amount  of  ash,  but  this  may  be  en- 
tirely neglected  in  such  calculations,  for  the  ash  does  not  escape 
from  the  stack  and  the  products  of  combustion  are  just  the  same 
whether  the  coal  is  pure  carbon  or  whether  it  contains  a  large  quan- 
tity of  earthy  matter. 

Combustion  of  carbon  (coal)  with  no  excess  of  air: 
1  kg.  carbon+8.87  cu.  metres  airr=1.86  cu.  m.  C02+7.01  cu.  m.  N" 

Combustion  with  100  per  cent,  excess: 

1  kg.  carbon+17.74  cu.  m.  air=1.86  cu.  m.  C02-{- 14.02  cu.  m.  N 
+1.87  cu.  m.  0. 

The  equations  given  herewith  represent  the  volume  of  air  re- 
quired by  each  kg.  of  carbon  and  the  volume  of  the  products 
caused  by  the  combustion".  In  one  case  the  formula  represents 
theoretical  combustion  and  in  the  other  case  with  100  per  cent, 
excess  air;  for  any  intermediate  amount  of  air  the  carbonic  acid 
will  be  the  same,  and  the  nitrogen  and  the  oxygen  will  be  pro- 
portional. This  excess  air  means  a  considerable  loss  of  heat. 


236 


METALLURGY    OF   IKON    AND   STEEL. 


There  muso  necessarily  be  a  loss  even  if  there  be  no  excess  of  air,, 
for  the  products  of  combustion  are  so  voluminous,  owing  to  the 
amount  of  nitrogen  present,  that  they  carry  off  a  great  deal  of  sen- 
sible heat.  The  amount  so  carried  away  will  depend  upon  the 
temperature  of  the  waste  products,  but  it  will  not  be  exactly  pro- 
portional to  the  temperature,  as  has  already  been  shown  in  Table 
II-F,  in  Chapter  II.  Using  the  figures  there  given  and  interpolat- 
ing for  intermediate  points,  a  calculation  may  be  made  on  the 
specific  heat  of  the  gaseous  mixtures  shown  in  Table  IX-A  and  the 

TABLE  IX-B. 

Loss  of  Heat  in  Products  of  Combustion  of  Hard  Coal  in  Per  Cent, 
of  Total  Heat  Produced. 


Temperature  of  Gases  ;  Degrees  Cent. 

100 

200 

300 

400 

600 

Specific  heat  of  waste  gases- 
No  excess  air  

.328 
.327 
.324 
.322 
.320 
.318 

3.8 
4.5 

5.1 
5.8 
6.5 
7.2 

.336 
.334 
.331 
.328 
.326 
.324 

7.5 
8.9 
10.3 
11.7 
13.0 
14.4 

.344 
.341 
.338 
.335 
.332 
.329 

11.3 
13.4 
15.4 
17.5 
19.5 
21.6 

.352 
.348 
.345 
.341 
.338 
.334 

15.5 
18.4 
21.1 
23.9 
26.7 
29.5 

.367 
.363 
.358 
.354 
.349 
.345 

24.0 

28.3 
32.5 
36.8 
41.0 
45.3 

20  per  cent  excess 

40 

60  

80 

100  ..... 

Per  cent,  of  heat  lost— 
No  excess  air  

20  per  cent  excess  

40 

60  

80  

100  

loss  of  heat  determined.  The  results  are  shown  in  Table  IX-B, 
from  which  may  be  learned  that  if  the  gases  from  a  coal  fired  boiler 
escape  at  200°  C.,  a  temperature  which  is  attainable,  the  loss  in 
sensible  heat  is  7.5  per  cent,  when  no  excess  air  is  present,  but  if 
100  per  cent,  of  excess  air  is  used  the  loss  will  be  14.4  per  cent. 
When  the  temperature  is  300°  C.  the  loss  with  100  per  cent,  excess 
air  is  21.6  per  cent,  and  with  400°  C.  it  is  29.5  per  cent.  The 
figures  in  the  table  for  300°  C.  and  600°  C.  were  calculated  in  full,, 
and  it  will  be  noted  that  they  are  not  exactly  proportionate  owing 
to  the  variations  in  the  specific  heats  of  the  gases,  but  they  also 
show  that  for  moderate  temperatures  the  error  will  be  small  if  exact 
proportionality  be  assumed.  In  this  calculation  no  account  has 
been  taken  of  the  water  produced  by  the  combustion  of  the  hydro- 
gen or  the  moisture  present  in  the  air.  These  two  items  will 


FUEL. 


237 


increase  slightly  the  loss  of  heat,  but  both  the  moisture  in  the  air 
and  the  hydrogen  in  the  coal  vary  so  greatly  under  different  con- 
ditions that  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  make  any  average  con- 
cerning them. 

SEC.  IXb. — Producers.  In  almost  all  metallurgical  operations 
where  gas  is  used  for  heating,  the  fuel  employed  in  the  producer  is 
a  rich  bituminous  coal ;  but  in  some  special  cases,  as  for  instance  in 
drying  ladles  and  the  like,  anthracite  coal  is  sometimes  used.  For 
driving  ga^  engines  hard  coal  is  much  to  be  preferred,  as  the  gas 
contains  very  little  tarry  vapor,  and  hence  needs  much  less  scrub- 
bing. It  is  necessary  therefore  to  consider  both  fuels. 

(a)   Bituminous  coal  in  a  gas  producer: 


FIG.  IX-A.— WATER  SEAL  PRODUCER. 

The  conversion  of  soft  coal  into  gas  is  performed  by  burning  it 
in  a  thick  fire  and  collecting  the  gases  evolved.  Air  is  blown  in 
beneath  the  grate  to  force  combustion,  and  a  jet  of  steam  is  also 
admitted  to  keep  down  the  temperature  and  prevent  the  formation 
of  clinkers.  Within  the  last  few  years  the  water  seal  producer  has 
been  very  generally  adopted.  Many  different  forms  have  been 
used,  but  the  main  principles  of  the  construction  are  illustrated 
in  Fig.  IX-A,  while  Fig.  IX-B  shows  a  special  form.  The  space 
below  the  water  level  is  supposed  to  be  full  of  ashes,  which  can 
be  removed  without  any  interference  with  the  operation  of  the' 
producer.  The  ashes  will  also  fill  the  room  for  one  or  two  feet 
above  the  water  line.  Above  this  will  be  glowing  carbon,  and  the 


238 


METALLURGY    OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


FIG.  IX-B. — FRAZER  TALBOT  PRODUCER. 


FUEL.  239 

air  as  it  goes  up  forms  carbonic  acid  (C02),  and  this  rising  through 
the  bed  of  coal  absorbs  more  carbon  and  becomes  carbonic  oxide 
(CO),  but  this  action  is  never  complete,  and  some  carbonic  acid 
passes  through  the  fire  unchanged.  With  a  hot  deep  fire  free  from 
cavities  the  gas  may  contain  as  low  as  2.5  per  cent,  by  volume  of 
C02,  but  if  the  fire  be  thin  or  if  it  is  riddled  with  holes,  there  may 
be  as  much  as  10  per  cent. 

It  is  also  in  the  "zone  of  combustion"  that  the  steam  is  broken  up 
by  the  carbon  with  formation  of  hydrogen  and  carbonic  oxide,  but, 
as  in  the  similar  reduction  of  carbonic  acid,  this  reaction  is  never 
perfect  and  some  steam  always  goes  through  unaltered.  The  best 
decomposition  is  attained  in  a  hot  fire,  but  this  is  just  the  condition 
that  is  not  desirable  on  account  of  the  formation  of  clinkers.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  the  supply  of  steam  be  increased  indefinitely  the 
fire  will  get  colder  and  colder*,  producing  no  gas  and  letting  steam 
and  air  pass  through  unconsumed.  There  is  a  mean  between  these 
extremes  which  is  almost  forced  upon  the  operator,  wherein  the 
fire  is  kept  at  a  constant  temperature,  and  in  this  condition  there 
is  not  much  increase  in  hydrogen  from  the  steam,  while,  on  the 
contrary,  there  is  quite  a  little  steam  passing  away  with  the  gases. 

In  the  upper  zone  of  the  fire,  the  volatile  hydrocarbons  of  the 
fuel  are  distilled  by  the  heat  of  the  combustion  beneath,  and  in  this 
way  the  gaseous  products  contain  a  certain  proportion  of  tarry 
vapors,  some  of  which  are  condensed  in  the  conducting  tubes.  The 
zones  of  combustion  and  distillation  are  not  separated  by  any  arbi- 
trary line,  but  a  goodly  share  of  the  rich  components  of  the  coal 
are  carried  down  into  the  body  of  the  fire  and  exposed  to  a  high 
temperature.  This  causes  the  separation  of  carbon,  some  of  which, 
staying  in  the  fire,  is  burned  with  the  coal,  while  the  rest  is  carried 
forward  into  the  conducting  tube.  When  the  fire  is  very  hot,  large 
volumes  of  soot  are  formed  in  this  way  and  soon  give  trouble  in  the 
pipes,  but  when  cool  there  is  little  soot,  but  much  tar.  The  worst 
condition  is  when  holes  form  in  the  bed  of  coal.  This  allows  air  to 
come  through  and  burn  the  hydrocarbons  above  the  fire  with  a 
smoky  soot-producing  flame,  cakes  the  coal  into  an  unworkable 
mass,  and  increases  the  percentage  of  carbonic  acid  in  the  gas. 

In  Sec.  Vllli  were  discussed  certain  producer  experiments,  and 
the  gas  there  given  may  be  taken  as  fairly  representative  of  ordi- 
nary practice,  the  composition  being  as  follows: 


240  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Per  cent. 
Siemens    Gas.  by  volume. 

CO2   5.7 

C2H4    0.6 

O 0.4 

CO 22.0 

H   10.5 

CH4    2.6 

N,  by  difference 58.2 

100.0 

It  has  been  shown  that  some  of  these  percentages,  notably  of 
€02,  H,  and  CH4,  will  vary  through  wide  ranges  according  to  the 
condition  of  the  fire,  but  the  content  of  nitrogen  will  always  be 
about  60  per  cent.  This  component  remains  passive  throughout  all 
the  future  history  of  combustion,  but  it  so  reduces  the  calorific  in- 
tensity that  the  gas  is  applicable  only  to  regenerative  furnaces. 

The  ordinary  methods  of  gas  anal^is  fail  to  take  definite  account 
•of  any  save  true  gaseous  components,  but  in  the  products  of  a  soft- 
coal  fire  there  are  certain  amounts  of  soot  and  tar.  Some  of  this 
material  is  deposited  in  the  conduits,  but  this  does  not  constitute  a 
Tery  great  part  of  the  total  energy.  I  have  elsewhere*  recorded 
that  in  the  case  of  an  exposed  7-foot  iron  pipe,  250  feet  long,  the 
condensation  of  tar  amounted  to  only  three-tenths  of  1  per  cent,  of 
the  total  heat  value,  while  the  gas  itself,  after  passing  through  the 
tube,  contained  a  proportion  that  represented  from  one-tenth  to 
one-eighth  of  the  total  heating  power. 

In  spite  of  the  low  calorific  power  of  this  tar  it  is  found  that 
when  the  suspended  matters  are  removed  by  scrubbing,  the  value 
of  the  gas  is  reduced  very  seriously,  for  it  is  the  tar  which 
gives  luminosity  to  the  flame  and  thereby  renders  it  able  to 
heat  not  only  by  direct  impact,  but  by  the  no  less  potent  action 
of  radiation.  It  is  by  virtue  of  this  quality  that  the  luminous 
flames  from  the  dense  hydrocarbons  so  far  surpass  the  clear  pro- 
ducts of  an  anthracite  fire. 

The  investigation  given  in  Sec.  VHIi  showed  that  the  losses  of 
energy  in  a  producer  as  operated  at  Steelton  were  as  follows : 

Lost  as  carbon  in  ash 2.1 

Sensible  heat  of  dry  gas 13.7 

Sensible  heat  of  steam  in  gas 0.7 

Radiation  and  conduction  (by  difference) 5.1 

Total 21.6 

*  The  Open-Hearth  Process.     Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  376. 


FUEL. 


241 


The  total  shows  that  over  one-fifth  of  all  the  heat  value  of  the 
coal  is  lost  in  one  way  or  another.  The  figure  for  radiation  and 
conduction  is  determined  by  difference,  and  hence  bears  all  the 
errors  in  the  determinations.  The  other  items  offer  some  ground 
for  discussion. 

(1)   The  carbon  in  the  ash. 

In  Sec.  VHIi  reference  was  made  to  certain  experiments  in  Ger- 
many by  von  Jiiptner  in  which  the  loss  of  carbon  in  the  producer 
ash  represented  20  per  cent,  of  the  total  value  of  the  coal,  for  he 
states  that  the  ash  coming  from  the  producer  contained  74  per 
cent,  of  carbon  and  only  26  per  cent,  of  true  ash,  this  refuse  being 
what  would  be  considered  a  very  fair  fuel  in  some  localities.  It 
is  hardly  right  to  take  such  a  practice  as  representative  of  good 
methods,  as  such  a  waste  is  entirely  unnecessary,  for  at  Steelton  it 
is  found  quite  possible  to  run  soft  coal'  gas  producers  where  the  ash 
contains  less  than  20  per  cent,  of  carbon,  and,  in  fact,  may  average 
from  12  to  18  per  cent.  It  is  possible  to  estimate  very  closely  how 
much  of  the  total  value  is  lost  if  we  know  the  percentage  of  carbon 
in  the  ash  and  the  percentage  of  ash  in  the  original  coal.  The  lat- 
ter point  must  be  taken  into  consideration.  For  instance,  if  the  coal 
contains  13  per  cent,  of  ash,  and  if  when  working  this  coal  the  waste 

TABLE  IX-C. 

Percentage  of  the  Total  Heat  Value  Eepresented  by  the  Presence  of 
Varying  Proportions  of  Carbon  in  the  Ash. 


TerCe 

nt.  of  Tc 
Lc 

tal  Heat 

St. 

Value 

Per  Cent.  Ash.  in  Coal. 

4 

7 

10 

13 

20  per  cent.  C  in  ashes.  .  .  . 
40                                   .  ... 
50 
60                                   .  ... 

1.5 
3.0 

4.0 
5.5 

8  0 

2.5 
5.5 
7.0 
10.0 
15  0 

3.2 
7.0 
10.0 
14.5 
21  0 

4.0 
8.5 
13.0 
20.0 

on 

15  0 

25  0 

20  0 

material  coming  from  the  producer  contains  87  per  cent,  of  carbon, 
it  would  show  that  absolutely  no  work  had  been  done  in  the  pro- 
ducer and  that,  therefore,  there  was  100  per  cent,  waste,  but  if  the 
coal  contained  only  4  per  cent,  ash  and  the  ashes  coming  from  the 
producer  contained  87  per  cent,  carbon  it  would  show  that  only 


242  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

about  30  per  cent,  of  the  coal  had  been  wasted.  It  is  therefore  of 
great  importance  to  take  the  purity  of  the  coal  into  consideration, 
and  the  relative  losses  with  different  proportions  of  ash  are  not 
exactly  proportional,  for  they  follow  different  curves  when  plotted. 
By  calculating  different  coals  I  have  found  the  heat  value  repre- 
sented by  certain  percentages  of  carbon  in  the  ashes  and  they  are 
given  in  Table  IX-C. 

It  will  be  seen  that  with  a  coal  of  7  per  cent,  ash  and  with  the 
producer  ashes  containing  less  than  20  per  cent,  of  carbon  the  loss 
of  heat  value  is  less  than  2 1/2  per  cent,  of  the  original  value  of  the 
coal,  which  is  a  very  radical  difference  from  the  loss  mentioned  by 
von  Jiiptner,  wherein  20  per  cent,  of  the  total  value  was  thrown 
away  from  this  cause. 

(2)   Sensible  heat  in  gas  and  steam. 

The  sensible  heat  of  producer  gas  is  wholly  wasted,  for  in  a 
regenerative  furnace  it  makes  no  difference  what  the  temperature 
of  the  entering  gas  may  be,  as  the  temperature  of  the  outgoing 
products  of  combustion  on  the  opposite  end  will  be  just  that  much 
higher,  so  that  the  loss  on  one  end  balances  the  gain  on  the  other. 
In  the  experiment  before  mentioned  by  von  Jiiptner,  the  average 
temperature  of  the  producer  gas  in  four  experiments  is  267°  C. 
I  am  much  inclined  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  these  temperatures, 
for  I  find  that  von  Jiiptner's  loss  from  radiation  and  conduction 
alone  was  as  much  as  all  the  factors  in  the  Steelton  practice  com- 
bined, while  the  loss  from  sensible  heat  of  gas  and  steam  was  low 
on  account  of  the  low  temperature  of  the  escaping  gases.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  loss  by  radiation  is  determined  by  difference, 
and  it  is  clear  that  a  cold  fire  should  not  give  as  much  loss  by 
radiation  as  a  hot  one,  so  that  the  matter  may  be  straightened  out 
by  assuming  that  von  Jiiptner  took  the  temperature  of  the  gases  at 
some  distance  from  the  producer  and  that  the  item  of  radiation 
included  a  part  of  the  sensible  heat  of  the  gas.  Under  this  as- 
sumption the  true  radiation  from  the  body  of  the  producer  becomes 
more  nearly  what  would  be  expected,  although  a  detailed  compari- 
son of  the  producer  calculation  is  useless  owing  to  the  confusing 
way  in  which  von  Jiiptner  calculates  the  heat  history  of  the  hydro- 
gen on  the  basis  of  its  full  calorific  value,  including  the  latent  heat 
of  condensation.  This  has  already  been  referred  to  at  length  in 
Sec.  VIIIi. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  fires  were  at  a  low  temperature  for 


FUEL.  243 

a  short  time,  but  I  hardly  believe  that  they  could  be  run  con- 
tinuously under  such  conditions.  I  have  made  experiments  on 
that  line  and  operated  a  fire  for  several  hours  at  a  black  heat,  but 
at  the  end  of  that  time  the  whole  top  of  the  fire  had  become  a  bed 
of  tar,  so  that  it  was  .impossible  to  do  any  poking,  and  it  was  neces- 
sary to  stop  charging  fresh  coal  and  to  decrease  the  amount  of 
steam  and  to  allow  the  fire  to  burn  up  and  distill  and  break  up  the 
tarry  matters  so  that  the  fire  could  be  worked  properly.  In  the 
experiments  at  Steelton  the  gases  were  at  655°  C.  and  it  is  quite 
certain  that  most  producers  are  run  at  this  temperature. 

It  may  appear  at  first  sight  that  the  presence  of  carbonic  acid 
(C02)  in  the  gas  must  be  taken  as  the  first  and  most  important 
loss,  but  a  little  reflection  will  show  that  this  item  is  taken  care  of 
under  the  head  of  sensible  heat  and  under  radiation;  for  the  pro- 
duction of  an  excess  of  carbonic  acid  must  give  rise  to  heat  and 
this  heat  must  show  itself  somewhere.  If  it  is  used  to  dissociate 
steam  then  it  is  not  lost,  for  the  gas  will  be  enriched  by  the  hydro- 
gen. Consequently  it  is  not  entirely  right  to  assume  that  a  slight 
increase  in  carbonic  acid  necessarily  means  poorer  practice.  The 
gas  above  quoted  as  made  at  Steelton  ran  as  follows : 

C02=5.7  H=10.5 

It  is  clear  that  if  less  steam  nad  been  used  the  fire  would  have 
been  hotter  and  if  properly  poked  would  have  shown  a  lower  per- 
centage of  C02;  but  it  would  probably  also  have  shown  a  lower 
percentage  of  H,  so  that  nothing  would  have  been  gained  in  the 
calorific  value  of  the  gas,  and  the  heat  value  of  the  coal  would  not 
have  been  better  conserved. 

TABLE  IX-D. 

Percentage  of  the  Total  Heat  Value  of  the  Coal  Represented  by 
Varying  Amounts  of  C02  in  Gas. 

2  per  cent/CO2=  5.3  per  cent,  loss 


8.0 

10.8  " 

13.7  " 

16.6  " 

19.6  " 

23.0  " 


9     «       «          "      26.5 
10     "       "         "      30.0 


244  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

Notwithstanding  this  theoretical  fact  that  a  higher  content  of 
carbonic  acid  is  by  no  means  a  proof  of  bad  practice,  it  remains 
true  that  under  usual  conditions  the  percentage  of  carbonic  acid  is 
an  index  of  the  fuel  economy,  and  it  is  possible  to  calculate  by  a 
rather  long  process  the  percentage  of  heat  represented  by  certain 
proportions  of  this  gas.  Table  IX-D  shows  the  percentage  of  the 
total  heat  value  of  the  coal  which  is  represented  by  certain  propor- 
tions of  C02  in  the  gas,  provided  that  the  heat  produced  by  its 
formation  is  not  utilized  in  the  decomposition  of  steam. 

In  the  producer  gas  previously  considered  there  was  5.7  per  cent, 
of  carbonic  acid,  which,  according  to  this  table  would  represent 
15.7  per  cent,  of  the  total  value  of  the  coal.  The  calculation  of 
Prof.  Kichards  in  Table  VIII-A  shows  that  the  formation  of  C02 
in  the  case  there  under  consideration  produced  207,300  calories, 
when  the  total  heat  value  of  the  coal  was  1,405,000  calories.  The 
carbonic  acid  in  this  case  represented  14.8  per  cent.,  while  Table 
IX-D  would  indicate  15.7  per  cent,  for  the  same  gas.  The  agree- 
ment is  sufficiently  close,  since  the  table  does  not  pretend  to  be 
absolute,  but  is  constructed  for  purposes  of  comparison  only.  In 
ordinary  producer  practice  the  carbonic  acid  runs  from  4  to  6 
per  cent.,  indicating  a  loss  from  this  cause  of  11  to  16  per  cent,  of 
the  total  heat  value  of  the  coal,  but  under  exceptionally  good  prac- 
tice the  gas  will  carry  between  3  and  4  per  cent,  of  carbonic  acid, 
indicating  a  loss  of  from  8  to  11  per  cent.,  thus  causing  a  saving 
of  say  5  per  cent,  in  the  amount  of  coal  used.  With  bad  practice 
the  gas  may  contain  10  per  cent,  of  carbonic  acid,  indicating  a  loss 
of  30  per  cent,  of  the  total  heat  value,  which  is  about  17  per  cent, 
more  than  is  necessary,  so  that  under  this  practice  the  amount  of 
coal  consumed  is  one-sixth  greater  than  would  be  used  in  good 
practice.  A  high  percentage  of  carbonic  acid  may  usually  be  de- 
tected without  the  aid  of  a  chemist,  for  it  is  bound  to  show  itself 
/n  a  hot  fire,  and  the  sensible  heat  of  the  gases  in  the  tube  is  not 
only  the  result,  but  the  exponent  and  measure  of  the  waste. 

(b)  Hard  coal: 

Hard  coal  is  about  equal  to  soft  coal  when  used  for  firing  boil- 
ers, both  in  facility  of  working  and  in  the  quantity  required,  and 
the  smaller  sizes  are  extensively  used  for  this  purpose  in  the  east- 
ern portion  of  the  United  States.  The  smallest  sizes  are  used,  as 
they  are  not  marketable  for  household  purposes  and  can  be  had  at 
a  less  cost.  They  are,  however,  more  troublesome  and  require 


FUEL.  245 

special  grates  and  usually  forced  draft.  This  material  has  also 
been  used  successfully  in  producers,  the  gas  consisting  almost 
wholly  of  carbonic  oxide  (CO)  and  nitrogen. 

In  operating  such  a  fire  it  is  necessary  to  inject  steam  at  the 
grate  or  the  producer  becomes  unmanageably  hot.  The  steam  rots 
the  clinkers  and  cools  the  fire,  and  hydrogen  is  produced  as  in  the 
manufacture  of  water  gas.  The  gas  produced  is  of  about  the 
following  composition: 

Per  cent, 
by  volume. 

CO    27.0 

H 12.0 

CH4+C2H4     1.2 

C02 2.5 

N    57.3 

This  is  nearly  the  same  result  that  will  be  obtained  in  a  soft  coal 
producer,  but,  when  the  attempt  is  made  to  substitute  the  one  for 
the  other,  it  is  found  that  while  gas  from  anthracite  is  nearly 
equal  in  producing  low  temperatures,  such  as  firing  boilers  or 
drying  ladles,  it  is  far  inferior,  if  not  entirely  valueless,  in  creating 
an  intense  heat,  even  when  properly  regenerated;  it  is  supposed 
with  much  reason  that  this  inferiority  lies  in  the  absence  of  the 
suspended  volatilized  tarry  matters,  which  are  characteristic  of 
soft  coal  gas.  These  components  have  quite  an  appreciable  heating 
value,  but  their  main  function  is  to  give  luminosity  to  the  flame, 
and,  by  increasing  its  power  of  radiation,  augment  enormously  its 
practical  value.  The  absence  of  these  components,  however,  makes 
anthracite  producer  gas  particularly  well  adapted  for  use  in  gas 
engines,  as  for  this  work  it  is  necessary  to  avoid  any  soot  producing 
components  on  account  of  the  dangers  of  premature  ignition. 

SEC.  IXc. — Miscellaneous  fuels.  There  are  some  fuels  which  are 
essentially  local  in  their  character  like  natural  gas  and  oil;  a  few 
remarks  will,  therefore,  suffice  for  them,  and  for  water  gas  also, 
which  is  used  somewhat  in  metallurgical  operations. 

(a)  Natural  gas: 

In  the  favored  district  lying  just  west  of  the  Alleghenies  in 
Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Ohio  and  Indiana,  natural  gas  has 
been  almost  universally  used  for  all  kinds  of  heating  from  about 
1884  until  the  present  time.  The  composition  varies  in  different 
wells,  but  in  all  cases  the  gas  is  made  up  of  members  of  the  paraf- 
fine  series,  with  not  over  one-half  of  1  per  cent,  of  carbonic  acid 


246  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

(C02)  and  from  2  to  12  per  cent,  of  nitrogen.  By  ultimate  analysis 
it  gives  about  70  per  cent,  of  carbon  and  23  per  cent,  of  hydrogen, 
while,  by  ordinary  methods,  it  shows  from  67  to  93  per  cent,  of 
marsh  gas,  the  remainder,  when  the  marsh  gas  is  low,  being  prin- 
cipally hydrogen.  At  first  this  gas  was  passed  through  regenera- 
tive chambers,  but  this  was  discontinued  owing  to  the  deposition 
of  soot  and  to  the  discovery  that  sufficient  heat  was  obtained  by 
leading  the  gas  directly  to  the  ports  and  burning  it  with  air  which 
had  been  regenerated  in  the  usual  manner. 

Of  late  years  the  supply  of  gas  has  been  decreasing  and  the 
demand  has  been  met  by  the  constant  drilling  of  new  wells  in  new 
territory.  There  is  a  limit  to  this  method,  and  it  would  seem 
that  before  many  years  this  fuel  would  cease  to  be  a  factor  in  the 
larger  operations  of  a  steel  works. 
^  (b)  Petroleum: 

Crude  oil  may  be  transformed  into  a  vapor  by  atomizing  with 
steam  and  then  superheating  the  mixture,  but  unless  exposed  for 
sometime  to  a  yellow  heat  it  remains  a  vapor,  and  hence  will  con- 
dense if  carried  through  long,  uncovered  pipes  or  introduced  into 
the  cold  valves  of  a  regenerative  furnace^  It  may  be  put  into  the 
chambers  at  some  point  where  the  temperature  is  high,  and  in  this 
way  condensation  will  be  prevented  as  well  as  the  waste  heat  be 
utilized.  There  is  also  a  partial  molecular  rearrangement  with 
the  steam,  but  the  action  is  far  from  perfect,  for,  after  passing 
through  20  feet  of  small  brick  flues  at  a  yellow  heat,  the  product 
may  contain  20  per  cent,  of  free  aqueous  vapor.  The  mixture  of 
oil  vapor  and  steam  may  be  burned  in  a  muffle,  for,  after  the  walls 
are  red  hot,  there  is  a  reciprocal  sustention  of  heat;  but  the  use 
in  reverberatory  furnaces  is  very  wasteful  since  the  action  is  very 
sluggish.  Even  in  regenerative  practice  a  charge  of  cold  stock 
retards  combustion  much  more  with  oil  than  with  coal  gas, 
and  even  at  maximum  temperatures,  the  flame  is  longer  on  ac- 
count of  there  being  double  work  to  do  before  the  combustion  is 
complete.  Each  molecule  of  oil,  as  it  comes  into  a  hot  furnace, 
undergoes  a  process  of  dissociation,  the  rich  hydrocarbons  break- 
ing up  under  the  tension  of  internal  molecular  activity.  This 
absorbs  heat  and  thus  for  an  instant  the  action  of  disruption  lowers 
the  temperature  below  the  point  of  ignition.  Moreover,  as  each 
point  of  oil  explodes,  it  makes  a  small  balloon  of  gas,  and  it  takes 
a  moment  for  this  to  become  mixed  with  the  air  necessary  for  its 


FUEL.  247 

combustion.  If  steam  is  present  its  reduction  by  carbon  entails  a 
certain  delay. 

These  matters  may  seem  trifling,  but  they  are  probably  the  ex- 
planation of  the  very  important  fact  that,  under  the  usual  condi- 
tions of  furnace  operation,  a  flame  from  oil  vapor  is  longer  than  a 
flame  from  coal  gas.  In  the  burning  of  clear  carbonic  oxide,  or  a 
mixture  of  it  with  nitrogen,  there  is  no  preliminary  decomposition 
to  be  performed,  the  air  being  free  to  immediately  touch  and  burn 
the  molecules  of  the  fuel. 

It  is  impossible  to  state  the  comparative  economy  in  the  use  of 
coal  and  oil,  since  their  relative  values  vary  so  widely  in  different 
localities.  It  often  happens  that  the  freight  on  fuel  is  three,  four, 
five  or  perhaps  ten  times  its  value  at  the  source  of  supply,  and  it 
will  be  evident,  since  oil  contains  so  much  more  calorific  power, 
that  the  freight  per  unit  of  heat  value  becomes  less  and  less,  com- 
pared with  coal,  as  the  absolute  transportation  charge  increases ;  so 
that  if  both  were  to  be  carried  fifty  miles,  coal  might  be  much  the 
cheaper,  while  if  the  distance  were  a  thousand  miles,  the  status 
would  be  just  the  reverse;  moreover,  the  price  of  oil  is  constantly 
varying  through  very  wide  limits  owing  to  the  discovery  of  new 
methods  of  utilizing  what  have  before  been  subsidiary  or  waste 
products.  A  rough  comparison  may  always  be  made  by  assuming 
that  50  gallons  of  oil  are  equivalent  to  about  1000  pounds  of  soft 
coal  when  used  in  regenerative  furnaces  or  under  boilers.  In  the 
latter  case,  the  success  of  the  practice  depends  upon  the  arrange- 
ments made  to  prevent  chilling  of  the  flame  before  vigorous  com- 
bustion is  in  progress. 

(c)   Water  gas: 

NOTE  :  This  discussion  on  the  manufacture  and  use  of  water  gas  Is  con- 
densed from  a  much  longer  article  by  George  Lunge,  in  The  Mineral  Industry 
for  1901. 

When  steam  is  passed  over  incandescent  carbon  (preferably  in 
the  shape  of  coke  or  anthracite)  the  subjoined  reaction  takes  place : 

C+H20=CO+H2 

That  is  to  say,  equal  volumes  of  carbon  monoxide  and  hydrogen 
are  formed,  the  mixture  possessing  the  caloric  value  of  2800  metric 
heat  units  per  cu.  m.,  an  amount  one-half  the  heat  value  of  gas 
made  by  distilling  bituminous  coal  in  retorts.  The  heat  produced 
by  gram-molecules  is  for  CO+H2+02=C02+H20=68.4+57.6 


248  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

=126  heat  units,  whereas  the  direct  combustion  of  carbon, 
C-j-02=C02,  produces  only  97  heat  units.  It  stands  to  reason 
that  the  introduction  of  an  incombustible  substance  like  water  can- 
not be  the  source  of  fresh  energy,  and  the  apparent  gain  of  energy 
represented  by  the  figure:  126 — 97=29  heat  units  must  be  ex- 
plained by  its  introduction  from  an  extraneous  source.  This  is 
found  in  the  heat  that  accumulates  in  the  incandescent  fuel.  The 
reaction:  C-f-H20=CO-|-H2  is  endothermic;  i.  e.,  it  takes  place 
with  expenditure  of  heat.  The  splitting  up  of  H20  requires  an 
expenditure  of  57.6  heat  units,  of  which  only  28.6  are  supplied 
by  the  reaction  0+0=00,  so  that  a  difference  of  29  heat  units 
has  to  be  made  good. 

In  the  long  run  these  29  heat  units  must  be  supplied  apart  from 
the  incandescent  fuel,  the  temperature  of  which  constantly  sinks 
and  soon  falls  below  the  point  where  the  reaction  C+H20=CO+H2 
is  prevailing  (assumed  to  be  above  1000°  C.).  Below  this  tempera- 
ture another  reaction  comes  into  play,  viz.,  C+2H20=C02-(-2H2, 
which  produces  a  gas  composed  of  one-third  inert  carbon  dioxide  and 
two-thirds  combustible  hydrogen.  This  second  reaction  is  also  of 
endothermic  character,  and  if  real  water  gas  is  to  be  made,  the 
operation  must  be  divided  into  two  distinct  phases  or  stages.  Be- 
ginning with  a  stock  of  incandescent  coal  in  a  generator  2  or  3  m. 
in  height  and  at  a  temperature  of  about  1200°  C.,  steam,  prefer- 
ably in  the  superheated  state,  is  introduced  and  water  gas  is  formed 
according  to  the  reaction, 

C+H20=CO-fH2. 

Soon,  however,  the  temperature  sinks  and  carbon  dioxide  C0a 
is  produced  in  the  gas  by  the  secondary  reaction, 

C-f2H20=C02+2H2. 

Before  the  carbon  dioxide  begins  to  prevail,  the  steam  must  be 
shut  off,  the  temperature  being  then  below  1000°  C.  This  whole 
period  of  "steaming"  lasts  4  or  5  minutes,  and  the  gas  produced 
during  this  period  is  called  ffblue  gas,"  containing  by  volume  48 
to  50%  H,  40  to  45%  CO,  4  to  5%  C02,  4  or  5%  N",  and  having 
a  calorific  value  of  about  2600  heat  units  per  cu.  m. 

Immediately  after  the  steam  is  shut  off,  the  "blowing  up"  or 
second  stage  begins;  air  is  blown  into  the  generator,  whereby  car- 


FUEL.  249 

bon  is  burnt  and  the  temperature  at  once  rises.  When  it  has 
reached  the  required  degree,  the  air  blast  is  shut  off,  and  the  gen- 
erator is  ready  for  another  "steaming."  Until  quite  recently  the 
blowing-up  was  carried  on  exactly  as  in  the  manufacture  of  ordi- 
nary producer  gas  (Siemens  gas),  so  that  the  carbon  was  burnt 
to  monoxide  only,  thereby  generating  29  heat  units  instead  of  97 
heat  units,  which  were  set  free  for  each  atom  of  carbon;  but  this 
was  considered  unavoidable,  as  the  great  bulk  of  fuel  contained  in 
the  generator  must  necessarily  reduce  any  carbon  dioxide  formed 
to  carbon  monoxide,  and  probably  at  such  high  temperatures  that 
from  the  first  carbon  monoxide  only  is  formed.  This  drawback  has 
been  overcome  by  the  Dellwik-Fleischer  process*,  whereby  such 
conditions  are  established  in  the  generator  that  during  the  blows 
a  practically  complete  combustion  to  carbon  dioxide  is  obtained 
within  the  bed  of  fuel  to  be  heated,  while  at  the  same  time  condi- 
tions are  maintained  favorable  to  the  making  of  water  gas.  The 
radical  difference  between  the  "old"  processes  and  the  method 
originated  by  Dellwik  is  that  in  the  former  the  gas,  while  leaving 
the  generator  during  the  "blow,"  contains  principally  carbon  mon- 
oxide, together  with  the  inevitable  nitrogen,  while  in  the  latter  it 
consists  principally  of  carbon  dioxide  and  nitrogen. 

Per  1  pound  carbon. 
Dellwik 

Old  way.         method. 

Water  gas,  cu.  ft 21.7  44.7 

Heat  units   3627  7465 

Per  cent,  utilized 48  92.5 

The  difference  in  results  is  outlined  herewith.  In  the  old  water 
gas  processes  the  quantity  of  gas  formed  during  the  blows  is  amply 
sufficient  to  raise  the  steam  needed  for  the  process ;  in  the  new  pro- 
cess the  escaping  heat  is  only  sufficient  to  preheat  the  feed  water 
for  the  boiler.  We  must,  therefore,  add  12  to  15%  of  fuel  for 
the  steam,  which  reduces  the  theoretical  quantity  of  gas  obtained 
from  12  Ib.  of  carbon  to  656  cu.  ft.,  and  limits  the  possible  utiliza- 
tion of  the  heating  value  of  the  fuel  to  about  80%. 

SEC.  IXd. — Heating  furnaces. 

(a)  Soaking  pits: 

Nothing  is  more  interesting  to  an  American  who  visits  the  steel 
plants  of  Europe  than  to  find  that  no  coal  furnaces  are  used  to 
heat  the  ingots  between  the  Bessemer  and  the  rolling  mill,  but  that 
*  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  May,  1900. 


250  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

they  are  allowed  to  heat  themselves  from  internal  heat  in  a  Gjers 
soaking  pit,  a  very  small  amount  of  coal  being  often  used  to  main- 
tain a  reducing  atmosphere.  This  old  device  appears  to  be  per- 
fectly satisfactory,  and  it  is  difficult  to  understand  why  it  cannot 
be  used  in  America,  but  although  it  has  been  thoroughly  tried  in 
this  country,  it  has  been  put  aside,  probably  forever.  It  is  one  of 
many  things  which  are  declared  to  be  perfectly  successful  in  Eu- 
rope, but  which  would  not  be  so  called  in  this  country  if  the  results 
were  the  same.  There  is  always  trouble  on  Monday  morning,  and 
the  first  round  of  ingots  must  be  allowed  to  heat  the  pits  and  then 
withdrawn  to  be  heated  elsewhere.  The  ingots  must  be  put  in 
without  delay  and  must  be  rolled  when  ready,  or  the  pit  will  cool. 
These  things  do  not  fit  into  American  practice,  where  no  one  factor 
must  be  allowed  to  retard  the  mill  a  moment.  It  is  better  to  burn 
a  little  coal  and  have  ingots  always  ready  to  roll  without  regard 
to  when  they  were  made. 

It  is  probable  also  that  failures  in  this  country  arose  in  great 
measure  from  the  kind  of  steel.  The  pits  work  much  better  on 
very  soft  steel,  and  as  the  carbon  is  raised  it  is  necessary  to  lengthen 
the  time  that  the  ingot  remains  in  the  furnace.  No  foreign  works 
makes  rail  steel  as  high  in  carbon  as  we  do  in  America,  and  more 
than  one  foreign  engineer  will  shake  his  head  over  the  problem  of 
regularly  heating  steel  in  this  manner  when  it  must  often  carry 
from  .50  to  .65  per  cent,  of  carbon,  with  higher  manganese  and 
phosphorus  than  is  used  abroad.  Whether  these  conditions  were  or 
were  not  the  cause  of  the  failure  and  abandonment  of  these  pits  in 
at  least  four  American  works  many  years  ago,  the  fact  remains  that 
they  were  thus  abandoned. 

(b)  Regenerative  furnaces: 

It  is  the  universal  practice  in  America  and  the  general  practice 
abroad  to  use  regenerative  furnaces  for  heating  ingots  or  blooms 
whenever  these  ingots  or  blooms  are  red  hot  to  start  with.  Under 
these  conditions  it  requires  less  fuel  in  a  regenerative  furnace  than 
in  any  other  type,  and  there  is  no  interruption  in  the  output  of  a 
furnace.  In  heating  ingots  the  amount  of  fuel  needed  is  very 
small.  The  furnaces  in  America  are  invariably  of  the  vertical 
type  and  resemble  a  Gjers  soaking  pit,  and  are  operated  in  much 
the  same  manner  save  that  small  quantities  of  gas  and  air  are 
admitted.  At  the  works  of  the  Maryland  Steel  Company  at  Spar- 
row's Point,  Md.,  only  40  pounds  of  coal  are  used  per  ton  of  ingots, 


FUEL.  251 

taking  the  average  from  week  to  week.  Counting  the  producer 
labor  this  does  not  cost  over  5  cents  per  ton,  which  is  much  better 
than  to  have  interruptions  of  work  with  unfired  pits  and  a  lot  of 
cold  ingots  every  Monday  morning. 

In  the  same  way  it  is  customary  in  America  to  use  regenerative 
furnaces  to  reheat  blooms  coming  from  the  blooming  mill  before 
finishing  into  small  shapes.  This  costs  something,  but  it  saves 
also,  as  such  furnaces  serve  as  a  sort  of  reservoir  to  receive  blooms 
when  the  ingots  are  rolled  faster  than  the  finishing  mill  or  to  deliver 
them  when  the  blooming  mill  is  behind.  In  other  words  reheating 
tends  toward  the  uninterrupted  operation  of  the  mill,  which  is  the 
first  requisite  of  economy.  It  also  saves  the  wear  of  the  rolls  and 
the  consumption  of  steam  fuel  in  the  finishing  mill.  As  above 
stated,  for  giving  a  wash  heat  to  hot  blooms  in  this  method  of 
work,  the  regenerative  furnace  is  most  convenient  and  economical. 

(c)   Soft  coal  in  reverberatory  furnaces: 

A  reverberatory  furnace  is  one  in  which  the  fire  is  at  one  end, 
the  stack  at  the  other,  and  the  stock  is  placed  on  the  hearth  be- 
tween, the  flame  passing  over  the  top  of  whatever  is  placed  upon 
the  hearth  to  be  heated.  Such  a  furnace  is  suitable  for, heating 
cold  blooms  or  billets.  A  regenerative  furnace  is  not  suitable  be- 
cause each  charge  of  cold  material  lowers  the  temperature  of  the 
regenerators  and  after  about  four  or  five  successive  charges,  it  takes 
longer  to  heat  the  blooms  than  would  be  required  in  a  coal  fired 
furnace.  The  operation  of  a  reverberatory  furnace  is  far  from 
satisfactory.  When  the  furnace  is  filled  with  cold  blooms,  the  ab- 
sorption of  heat  is  so  great  that  combustion  is  retarded  and  a  clear 
hot  flame  cannot  be  obtained.  At  a  later  period  of  the  operation, 
when  the  blooms  are  hot,  a  clear  hot  flame  cannot  be  carried,  as 
the  metal  would  be  oxidized.  During  the  advanced  stages,  it  is 
necessary  to  run  more  or  less  of  a  smoky  flame  and  as  the  blooms 
on  the  hearth  are  of  very  nearly  the  same  temperature  as  the  flame, 
it  follows  that  very  little  heat  is  utilized  in  the  furnace,  but  that 
most  of  the  energy  passes  out  the  flue.  After  the  blooms  have 
reached  their  proper  state  and  during  the  time  that  the  blooms 
are  being  drawn  and  rolled  one  at  a  time,  it  is  evident  that  all  the 
heat  entering  the  furnace  goes  out  the  stack,  except  what  is  lost  by 
radiation  and  conduction.  In  the  ordinary  reverberatory  furnace 
the  amount  of  fuel  actually  used  to  heat  a  ton  of  steel  is  twenty 
times  as  much  as  theory  would  call  for. 


252  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

One  common  way  of  getting  more  perfect  combustion  is  to  in- 
troduce air  at  the  bridge  wall  or  just  over  the  fire,  but  oftentimes, 
this  results  in  more  loss  than  gain,  for  the  average  heater  will  not 
regulate  the  amount  of  air  each  minute  to  correspond  to  the  exact 
amount  of  smoke  that  comes  from  the  fire,  and  if  it  is  not  so  regu- 
lated, the  flame  will  often  be  too  sharp  and  the  metal  on  the  hearth 
will  be  oxidized.  The  cost  of  an  increase  in  the  loss  of  metal  of 
only  1  or  2  per  cent,  will  more  than  balance  the  gain  in  coal,  and 
may  even  equal  the  entire  cost  of  the  fuel.  In  more  than  one 
European  works  I  have  been  given  very  good  figures  for  coal  con- 
sumption, but  have  been  told  that  the  waste  by  oxidation  was  from 
5  to  7  per  cent. 

In-  many  localities  where  fuel  is  cheap  it  has  been  the  practice  to 
let  the  flame  from  the  heating  furnace  escape  directly  into  a  stack, 
but  no  argument  is  needed  to  show  that  the  hot  products  of  com- 
bustion should  be  passed  through  a  boiler.  The  amount  of  heat 
available  cannot  very  well  be  calculated,  but  is  known  by  experi- 
ence. It  varies  with  the  condition  of  the  charge,  being  less  after 
the  furnace  is  filled  with  cold  blooms,  and  greatest  when  they  are 
at  the  full  heat.  It  is  quite  evident  that  it  is  not  a  good  invest- 
ment to  put  up  a  boiler  big  enough  to  absorb  every  particle  of 
waste  heat  during  the  short  period  when  the  furnace  is  at  its  high- 
est temperature,  and  it  is  also  evident  that  the  boiler  should  be  more 
than  enough  to  handle  the  minimum.  The  exact  point  of  economy 
will  depend  necessarily  upon  the  price  of  coal,  because  if  fuel  is 
high,  a  larger  boiler  will  be  warranted  than  when  coal  is  cheap. 
It  is  doubtful  if  any  works  has  erred  in  spending  too  much  for 
boilers  over  the  furnace.  Nearly  all  have  done  the  opposite. 
Steam  must  be  made,  and  if  it  is  not  made  by  this  waste  heat,  which 
calls  for  no  expenditure  of  labor  in  handling  coal  or  ashes,  then  it 
must  be  supplied  by  boilers  in  the  fire  room. 

After  considerable  investigation  of  this  subject,  I  would  give  as 
my  opinion  the  following : 

(1)  For  each  ton  of  coal  used  in  twelve  hours,  the  waste  heat 
from  the  furnace  averages  from  25  to  30  horse  power. 

(2)  When  the  furnace  is  at  its  highest  heat,  it  represents  a  con- 
tinuous development  of  35  horse  power  per  ton  of  coal  burned  in 
twelve  hours. 

(3)  When  a  furnace  is  supplied  with  a  boiler  capable  of  absorb- 
ing one-half  of  all  the  heat  created  at  the  highest  temperature  of 


0«FA*r*ICMT  OF  CIVIL  EMCUMKC*4NCI 
BE«KE«_£Y,  CAU -OftNIA 


FUEL. 


253 


the  furnace,  the  average  loss  throughout  the  day  will  be  about  one- 
third  of  the  total  made,  or  about  one-half  of  what  is  utilized,  this 
being  due  to  the  fact  that  this  limited  capacity  is  enough  at  certain 
periods,  and  that  the  boiler  makes  beyond  its  rated  and  economical 
capacity,  as  shown  by  the  great  loss  of  heat  in  the  escaping  gases. 

(4)  When  a  furnace  is  equipped  with  ample  boiler  capacity,  the 
horse  power  developed  by  each  ton  of  coal  put  into  the  fire  box  will 
be  about  one-half  as  much  as  would  be  developed  by  the  same  coal 
if  burned  under  an  ordinary  stationary  boiler. 

In  Table  IX-E  are  given  analyses  of  the  waste  gases  from  soft 
coal  reverberatory  furnaces  after  passing  through -boilers.  In  the 
first  column  is  given  the  interval  from  the  time  when  the  furnace 
was  charged  to  the  time  when  the  test  was  taken,  and  in  the  second 
column  is  given  the  number  of  tests  that  were  averaged  to  give  the 
composition  stated. 

TABLE  IX-E. 
Waste  Gases  from  Reverberatory  Furnaces. 


Interval  from  charging  furn- 
ace to  taking  tests. 

No.  of 

Tests. 

CO, 

CO 

O 

Less  than  20  minutes  

17 

10  8 

4  9 

4  2 

20  minutes  to  1  hour 

18 

11  9 

3  a 

2  a 

1  hour  to  2  hours  .  .  . 

6 

11  8 

7  5 

0  5 

2  hours  to  3  hours 

7 

10  6 

7  2 

j  1 

3  hours  to  4  hours.  .   ,  .  .     . 

g 

9  8 

4  2 

5  4 

True  average  

54 

11  0 

5  0 

3  0 

Observations  were  made  as  to  the  time  when  fresh  coal  was  added, 
but  the  analyses  did  not  seem  to  show  any  relation  thereto.  Thus 
there  were  14  tests  showing  over  6  per  cent.  CO  and  the  average 
time  since  coaling  for  these  was  13  minutes.  There  were  20  tests 
showing  less  than  3  per  cent.  CO,  and  the  average  time  since  coal- 
ing was  16  minutes.  There  were  8  tests  with  over  6  per  cent, 
oxygen,  and  the  average  time  since  coaling  was  16  minutes. 

The  results  are  so  nearly  uniform  for  the  different  periods  of  the 
operation  that  we  may  take  the  average  as  representing  the  general 
history,  and  find  the  loss  of  heating  power  due  to  the  escape  of  un- 
turned CO  and  also  the  loss  of  heat  by  the  excess  of  air  or  oxygen 
that  is  present.  In  the  same  way  the  gases  taken  at  the  later 
periods  of  the  work  may  be  compared.  The  seven  tests  taken 
about  two  hours  and  a  half  after  charging  show  a  high  percentage 


254 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


of  CO  and  a  moderately  low  percentage  of  oxygen,  while  those  taken 
an  hour  later  show  a  smaller  waste  of  CO,  but  a  large  excess  of  air. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  take  into  account  the  actual  consumption 
of  coal.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  was  not  taken  at  the  particular 
time  that  the  tests  were  made,  except  in  one  case,  when  it  ran  490 
pounds  of  coal  per  ton  of  blooms  heated.  Having  the  composition 
of  the  gas  it  is  easy  to  find  the  amount  of  each  component  in  a 
given  volume  or  weight  of  gas  and  to  find  what  proportion  of  car- 
bon is  burned  to  C02,  what  proportion  to  CO,  what  oxygen  is  re- 
quired and  what  percentage  of  excess  is  present  and  the  loss  of  heat 
from  each  cause:  The  results  are  given  in  Table  IX-F,  the  loss  from 
excess  of  oxygen  being  calculated  on  the  assumption  that  the  gases 
leave  the  boiler  at  a  temperature  of  250°  C.=480°  F.,  which  is 
higher  than  should  obtain  in  good  boiler  practice,  but  which  is 
much  lower  than  the  average  of  fairly  well-equipped  furnace  boil- 


ers. 


TABLE  IX-F. 
Calculations  on  Waste  Gases  from  Eeverberatory  Furnaces. 


Kind  of  Gas. 

Average. 

2  h.  30  m. 

3h.  30m. 

&C    ]  COa  per  cent  

11.0 
3.0 
5.0 

21.5 
3.6 

10.6 
7.2 
1.1 

27.8 
0.5 

9.8 
4.2 
5.4 

20.8 
3.3 

J.2  •<  CO  percent  

Loss  from  CO  per  cent 

Loss  from  oxygen  per  cent  

Total  loss  per  cent 

25.1 

28.3 

24.1 

It  will  be  seen  that  even  with  gases  varying  through  pretty  wide 
limits  the  loss  due  to  unburned  combustible  and  to  an  excess  of 
air  is  fairly  constant.  As  already  explained,  the  operation  cannot 
be  conducted  for  the  benefit  of  the  boiler.  The  proper  heating  of 
the  steel  is  the  first  consideration  and  the  boiler  must  take  care  of 
itself.  Moreover,  we  cannot  expect  good  combustion  to  take  place 
after  the  gases  have  gone  into  the  boiler,  since  unburned  gases  will 
go  through  side  by  side  with  oxygen,  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
everything  has  been  done  that  can  be  done.  There  is  room  for  im- 
provement when  over  one-fifth  of  all  the  power  is  wasted  by  non- 
combustion,  but  even  under  ordinarily  good  arrangements,  it  is 


FUEL.  255 

possible  to  run  a  rolling  mill  with  the  power  obtained  from  boilers 
over  the  heating  furnaces,  without  any  assistance  from  the  fire 
room. 

(d)   Continuous  furnaces: 

A  continuous  furnace  is  a  reverberatory  furnace,  but  it  is  not 
charged  with  a  whole  heat  of  cold  blooms  at  one  time.  The  blooms 
or  billets  are  fed  in  at  the  flue  end,  pushed  toward  the  firebox 
and  drawn  when  they  reach  the  hottest  part.  The  pieces  are 
always  hot  when  they  reach  the  vicinity  of  the  fire,  and,  therefore, 
the  combustion  of  the  fuel  is  facilitated,  as  the  flame  coming  over 
the  bridge  wall  is  never  cooled  by  a  lot  of  freshly  charged  blooms, 
as  in  the  intermittent  furnace.  As  the  flame  goes  onward  to  the 
flue  end,  it  constantly  finds  colder  and  colder  blooms  and  gives  up 
its  heat,  so  that  if  we  conceive  a  furnace  of  indefinite  length,  the 
escaping  gases  will  be  entirely  cold  and  every  particle  of  specific 
heat  utilized,  except  what  is  lost  by  radiation. 

Notwithstanding  these  theoretical  advantages,  there  are  certain 
obstacles  in  the  road.  The  same  rules  hold  good  that  have  been 
before  enunciated,  regarding  a  certain  necessary  loss  of  combustible 
to  insure  against  oxidation  of  steel,  while  the  loss  from  unburned 
carbonic  oxide  and  from  excess  of  air  will  probably  be  much  the 
same  as  shown  in  the  discussion  of  reverberatory  furnaces. 

One  of  the  difficulties  about  a  continuous  furnace  is  to  move  the 
pieces  from  one  end  to  the  other.  It  is,  of  course,  the  natural  and 
almost  universal  way  to  put  the  hearth  on  an  angle,  but  some  power 
must  be  applied.  In  Europe,  where  such  furnaces  are  very  com- 
mon, it  is  not  unusual  to  roll  the  blooms  or  ingots  forward  by  hand 
labor  only,  the  pieces  being  tipped  over  by  means  of  bars  through 
doors  at  the  side,  but  the  cost  of  such  labor  would  be  prohibitive 
in  America,  while  this  practice  gives  rise  to  heavy  loss,  as  the 
coating  of  scale  falls  off  at  every  turn  and  exposes  a  fresh  sur- 
face to  oxidation.  It  is  impossible  to  say  how  much  of  the 
heavy  oxidation  is  due  to  this  cause  and  how  much  to  a  sharper 
flame  than  is  customary  in  America,  but  both  causes  doubtless 
contribute  to  the  result.  In  one  foreign  works  rails  are  buried  in 
the  hearth  of  the  furnace,  which  are  replaced  when  they  burn  away, 
and  when  the  furnace  is  repaired,  the  ingots  being  pushed  forward 
by  power;  in  other  cases,  no  rails  are  used,  but  the  ingots  are 
simply  pushed  along  the  sand  bottom,  which  is,  of  course,  much 
torn  by  the  operation. 


256  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

In  America  the  invariable  practice  is  to  have  the  billets  rest  on 
water-cooled  pipes.  These  pipes  absorb  considerable  heat  and  cool 
the  under  side  of  the  bloom  somewhat,  but  the  gain  in  time  and 
labor  completely  overshadows  this  small  loss.  Such  furnaces  in 
this  country,  with  few  exceptions,  are  used  for  billets  not  over  six 
inches  square,  since  it  seems  difficult  to  heat  larger  blooms  suffi- 
ciently uniformly  on  the  top  and  bottom,  and  there  is  not  time 
when  they  reach  the  end  of  the  furnace  to  turn  them  over  and  let 
the  under  side  get  hot.  In  the  exceptions  before  noted,  the  blooms 
are  of  nearly  uniform  size  and  the  conditions  are  favorable,  a  fur- 
nace of  this  type  being  successfully  operated  on  pieces  8  inches 
square  and  10  feet  long.  Much  time,  money  and  ingenuity  are 
being  spent  on  this  problem,  and  the  end  is  not  yet. 

It  is  with  much  hesitation  and  a,  consciousness  of  rank  heresy 
that  I  wish  to  register  my  doubts  as  to  whether  there  is  any  econ- 
omy to  be  gained  in  thus  handling  heavy  blooms  and  miscellaneous 
material.  The  labor  of  charging  a  continuous  furnace  is  less  than 
for  any  other  type,  but  with  modern  machinery  the  ordinary  fur- 
nace can  be  charged  and  drawn  very  nearly  as  cheaply.  The  con- 
trol of  the  temperature,  in  cases  where  this  is  important  can  be 
regulated  much  better  in  the  old  way,  and  the  consumption  of  fuel 
is  not  very  different,  when  all  factors  are  considered.  The  argu- 
ment has  already  been  made  that  steam  must  be  produced  in  some 
way,  and  the  question  is  whether  the  total  coal  consumed  in  the 
furnace  and  at  the  fire  room  is  greater  in  the  one  case  than  in  the 
other.  I  have  asked  that  simple  question  of  two  score  men  in 
America  and  Europe,  and  have  not  found  one  who  knew  from 
actual  investigation.  In  most  cases  the  old  furnaces  had  never 
been  fitted  with  proper  boilers.  In  the  few  cases  where  the*  data 
were  at  hand,  the  only  conclusion  possible  was  that  no  fuel  was 
saved  by  the  continuous  furnace. 

SEC.  IXe. — Coke  ovens. — Almost  all  the  coke  of  America  and 
about  three-fourths  of  that  produced  in  England  is  made  in  the 
old  bee-hive  ovens,  whereby  a  pile  of  coal  is  burned  slowly  until 
the  volatile  matters  are  expelled,  these  volatile  matters  passing 
away  in  clouds  of  smoke.  This  smoke  is  a  rich  gas  during  the 
early  stages  of  the  operation,  and  might  be  used  as  a  source  of  heat 
if  it  were  not  that  such  plants  are  seldom  in  the  neighborhood  of 
industrial  establishments. 

In  Belgium  and  Germany  this  system  was  long  since  discarded 


FUEL.  267 

as  wasteful  and  the  coal  is  burned  in  retort  ovens,  by  which  is  meant 
any  construction  wherein  the  coal  itself  does  not  burn,  but  where 
it  is  heated  in  a  closed  muffle  by  the  combustion  of  the  gases  dis- 
tilled from  itself.  The  gases  so  distilled  may  be  taken  from  the 
tops  of  the  retorts  and  carried  to  purifiers,  where  the  tar  and  am- 
monia are  extracted  and  sold,  in  which  case  they  are  called  by- 
product ovens.  The  profits  from  these  by-products  vary  very 
much;  in  some  years  of  high  prices  they  are  very  attractive;  in 
other  years  they  are  nothing. 

In  other  cases  the  gas  is  taken  directly  from  the  upper  part  of 
the  coal  chamber  to  the  combustion  passages  underneath.  By  this 
method  the  by-products  cannot  be  obtained,  but  the  advantage  is 
gained  that  the  gases  reach  the  flues  at  a  red  heat,  while  in  by- 
product work  they  are  thoroughly  cold.  Consequently  when  no 
by-product  work  is  attempted,  less  gas  is  needed  to  perform  the 
coking  and  more  heat  is  available  for  steam  raising.  It  is  also 
possible  to  use  a  leaner  coal,  containing  less  volatile  matter.  Thus 
we  might  say  that  if  the  gas  be  scrubbed  free  from  tar  and  thor- 
oughly cooled,  the  coal  should  contain  18  per  cent,  of  volatile  mat- 
ter in  order  that  sufficient  calorific  value  be  brought  to  the  flues, 
while  a  coal  with  15  per  cent,  of  volatile  matter  would  furnish 
sufficient  gas,  if  this  gas  were  brought  red  hot  into  the  flues  with 
all  the  tar  in  suspension.  These  figures  are  not  to  be  accepted 
literally,  as  much  depends  on  the  nature  of  the  volatile  matter. 
I  am  informed  by  W.  H.  Blauvelt  that  some  Semet  Solvay  ovens 
in  Belgium  are  working  on  coal  with  only  17  per  cent,  of  volatile 
matter,  with  profitable  recovery  of  the  by-products.  In  this  coun- 
try some  Pocohontas  coal  has  been  worked  with  18  per  cent,  of 
volatile  constituents. 

In  Germany  a  very  considerable  proportion  of  the  ovens  have 
no  by-product  plant  attached  and  some  of  these  are  new  installa- 
tions. At  many  other  works  the  chemical  industry  is  very  profit- 
able. This  difference  often  arises  from  the  great  variation  be- 
tween the  coal  of  different  seams  and  mines  in  the  same  locality. 
In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the  retort  oven  without  by-products 
is  the  most  advantageous  system  where  the  value  recoverable  from 
these  products  is  small,  and  where  the  retort  system  yields  a  large 
increased  percentage  of  coke  in  comparison  with  the  bee-hive,  or 
where  the  superior  density  which  the  narrower  retort  oven  gives 
to  a  spongy  coke  is  of  advantage. 


258  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

In  every  prospectus  of  retort  ovens  much  is  said  of  the  great 
excess  of  gas  which  can  be  reckoned  upon  as  a  by-product,  but  a 
journey  through  the  coke  plants  of  Europe  does  not  bear  out  this 
argument.  All  the  European  plants  burn  their  gas  under  boilers 
and  make  no  attempt  to  use  it  in  any  other  way,  and  most  of  this 
steam  so  made  is  used  in  the  chemical  plant  and  the  coal  washer, 
the  excess  for  general  use  not  being  important  in  a  single  instance. 
It  should  be  stated  that  in  most  of  the  Westphalian  ovens  the  coal 
is  selected  so  as  to  get  as  cheap  a  mixture  as  will  give  good  results, 
and  the  lower  the  volatile  matter  the  greater  will  be  the  yield  of 
coke,  but  this  reasoning,  however,  does  not  apply  to  the  ovens  in 
Silesia,  where  the  percentage  of  volatile  matter  is  very  high,  but 
where  the  excess  gas  is  of  little  importance.  It  has  been  the  rule 
in  America  that  the  surplus  gas  has  been  much  less  than  was 
expected,  although  the  plant  at  Ensley,  Ala.,  furnishes  gas  sufficient 
for  the  heating  furnaces  in  the  rolling  mill,  the  coal  containing  32 
per  cent,  of  volatile  matter.  With  Pocahontas  coal  there  is  no 
excess. 

It  is  possible  to  get  a  large  amount  of  gas  by  a  combination  of 
two  conditions: 

(1)  A  high  percentage  of  volatile  matter. 

(2)  A  neglect  of  the  character  of  the  coke,  with  a  view  of  obtain- 
ing the  greatest  quantity  of  gas. 

It  will  be  evident  that  the  gas  expelled  from  the  coal  during  the 
first  stages  of  the  operation  will  be  very  rich  and  in  great  volume, 
but  there  follows  a  time  when  it  decreases,  but  it  is  necessary  to 
continue  the  distillation  in  order  to  have  the  coke  dense.  During 
this  latter  period  the  coal  is  not  self-supporting,  in  that  the  gas 
burned  in  the  flues  is  more  than  the  gas  produced,  and  the  freshly 
charged  ovens  nearby  must  make  up  the  deficit,  so  that  if  the  coke 
is  to  be  used  as  ordinary  fuel,  as  in  locomotives,  or  for  any  similar 
purpose,  it  is  well  to  pay  no  attention  to  quality ;  but  for  blast  fur- 
nace work  the  extra  time  necessary  may  use  up  all  the  surplus  gas. 

It  is  possible  to  keep  separate  the  product  made  during  the  early 
part  of  the  process  and  use  this  in  supplying  cities  with  illuminat- 
ing gas,  reserving  the  later  product,  containing  less  illuminants, 
for  burning  in  the  flues,  the  high  price  commanded  by  illuminants 
making  this  a  very  attractive  proposition. 

There  are  many  systems  in  use  for  building  .coke  ovens,  and  it 
seems  to  the  casual  observer  that  the  so-called  patents  are  of  little 


FUEL.  259 

validity,  but  that  the  main  point  gained  in  employing  any  par- 
ticular engineer  is  to  get  the  advantage  of  his  special  knowledge. 
Some  of  the  ovens  are  regenerative,  while  many  plants  have  aban- 
doned this  arrangement,  the  main  trouble  with  a  regenerative  con- 
struction being  the  loss  of  heat  by  leakage  if  the  foundations  give 
way,  and  in  most  of  the  plants  that  have  come  under  my  observa- 
tion, whether  regenerative  or  not,  the  deformation  was  very  marked. 

The  general  principles  of  coke  oven  construction  have  been  dis- 
cussed by  W.  H.  Blauvelt,*  and  the  following  is  quoted  from  his 
paper : 

"While  the  principles  of  operation  are  the  same,  there  are  two 
distinct  types  of  retort-ovens,  viz.,  the  vertical  and  horizontal  flue 
types.  In  the  former  there  are  some  thirty-odd  vertical  flues  in 
each  wall  between  the  ovens.  These  are  connected  at  the  top  and 
bottom  by  larger  horizontal  flues,  running  the  length  of  the  oven, 
the  lower  one  being  divided  into  two  parts  by  a  partition  midway 
between  the  ends.  The  gas  is  burned  in  the  lower  flue,  the  flame 
rising  through  half  the  vertical  flues  and  descending  through  the 
other  half  and  escaping  usually  to  regenerators  of  the  ordinary 
reversing  type,  wiiieh  heat  the  air  for  the  combustion.  The  course 
of  the  gases  is  reversed  about  every  hour  and  sent  through  the  flues 
in  the  opposite  direction. 

"In  the  horizontal  flue  oven  the  gas  is  burned  in  horizontal  flues, 
usually  three  in  number,  which  are  connected  at  the  ends  so  as  to 
form  a  continuous  system,  the  gas  being  admitted  through  small 
pipes  at  the  ends  of  the  top  and  middle  flues,  where  it  meets  the 
air  for  the  combustion.  The  gases  travel  from  above  downward, 
pass  under  the  bottom  of  the  oven,  through  a  simple  recuperative 
arrangement  for  heating  the  air,  and  then  to  boilers,  where  steam 
is  made  for  operating  the  plant." 

In  Fig.  IX-C  is  given  an  example  of  the  Semet-Solvay  hori- 
zontal flue  type,  as  erected  at  Ensley,  Ala,,  while  Fig.  IX-D  shows 
the  regenerative  Otto  Hoffman  ovens  now  building  at  the  works 
of  the  Maryland  Steel  Company  at  Sparrow's  Point,  Md. 

Of  the  total  number  of  coke  ovens  in  the  United  States  in  1899 
as  given  in  the  Census  Eeport  only  about  two  per  cent  were  of 
retort  construction,  while  in  Germany  there  were  not  2  per  cent, 
of  bee-hives.  This  difference  is  due  to  several  causes.  One  is  that 

*  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  1898. 


260 


METALLURGY    OF    IROX    AXD    STEEL. 


the  bee-hive  oven  makes  a  very  superior  coke  from  Connellsville 
coal,  and  there  is  a  prejudice  or  belief  that  the  retort  coke  will 
not  be  as  good.  Another  reason  is  that  the  cost  of  the  ovens  is 


SECTION  E-E 
SECTION  D-D  ^-Jl^  SECTION  F-F 


CROSS  SECTION 


LONGITUDINAL  SECTION 

FIG.  IX-C.— SEMET-SOLVAY  COKE  OVEN. 


FUEL. 


261 


very  much  greater,  and  when  the  price  of  coke  is  low  the  com- 
panies have  no  money  to  spend,  and  when  there  is  a  boom,  bee-hives 
are  put  up  as  being  quicker  to  build  and  as  paying  for  themselves 
in  a  year. 


X 


i 


262  METALLURGY    OF    IROX    AND    STEEL. 

The  prejudice  against  retort  ovens  crystallized  around  investi- 
gations made  many  years  ago  by  the  leading  metallurgists  of  the 
Cleveland  district  in  England  who  advised  against  the  new  method. 
Since  then  a  new  light  has  been  seen,  and  Middlesborough  is  rap- 
idly introducing  the  by-product  ovens  into  many  of  her  works. 

The  advantages  of  retorts  appears  very  strongly  in  using  a  coal 
poor  in  volatile  matter,  for  when  such  coal  is  coked  in  bee-hives, 
a  great  deal  of  the  fixed  carbon  must  be  burned  to  supply  heat, 
and  the  yield  of  coke  is  small ;  but  with  the  closed  oven  the  amount 
of  heat  required  is  less,  and  a  smaller  amount  of  combustible 
suffices  and  the  only  loss  in  weight  is  the  volatile  part.  Thus  with 
a  rich  coal  the  yield  of  coke  is  about  the  same  in  the  bee-hive  and 
the  retort,  the  latter,  however,  giving  an  excess  of  gas  for  other 
uses;  while  with  poor  coals  the  yield  of  coke  is  much  greater  in 
the  retort  oven.  It  is  not  correct  to  say  that  the  yield  of  coke 
can  be  accurately  estimated  from  the  laboratory  tests  on  fixed 
carbon,  for  there  is  a  complicated  reaction  in  the  retort  oven,  and 
probably  also  in  the  bee-hive,  whereby  the  dense  hydrocarbons  are 
broken  up  after  they  are  distilled  and  deposit  carbon  in  the  mass 
of  coal,  so  that  it  is  possible  to  produce  more  coke  than  there  was 
fixed  carbon  in  the  coal.  The  proportion  so  made  depends  upon 
the  molecular  arrangement  of  each  particular  coal. 

As  indicated  above,  England  has  been  slow  in  building  retort 
ovens.  They  have  been  used  for  many  years  on  the  lean  coals  of 
South  Wales,  but  it  is  only  comparatively  recently  that  they  have 
come  into  general  use  in  the  Cleveland  district  and  around  Leeds. 
Rapid  progress  has  been  made  within  a  few  years.  The  total  coke 
production  of  England  is  supposed  to  be  from  twelve  to  thirteen 
million  tons,  and  the  retort  ovens  now  erected  in  the  Kingdom 
have  about  one-quarter  of  that  capacity.  Table  IX-G  is  taken  from 
The  Iron  and  Coal  Trades  Review,  and  shows  the  number  of  each 
type  in  England. 

In  Table  XXIII-F,  in  Chapter  XXIII,  will  be  given  a  list  of 
the  coke  ovens  in  each  State  of  the  Union,  while  Table  IX-H  gives 
detailed  information  concerning  the  retort  ovens  in  operation  or 
construction  in  1901.  The  figures  for  the  Otto  Hoffman  type 
are  from  an  article  by  Dr.  Schniewind  in  The  Iron  Age,  July  18, 
1901,  while  I  am  indebted  to  a  private  communication  from  W.  H. 
Blauvelt  for  the  data  on  the  Semet-Solvay. 


FUEL. 


263 


TABLE  IX-G. 
Coke  Ovens  in  England  in  1900. 


Annual  capacity. 
Tons. 

Coppee  2296  ovens 

Semet-Solvav,  450  ovens  

500  000 

Simon  Carves  

450  000 

Otto   

350  000 

Collin  

120  000 

3,220,000 

TABLE  IX-H. 

List  of  Otto-Hoffman  and  Semet-Solvay  Coke  Ovens  Erected  or 
Projected  in  United  States  and  Canada  at  Close  of  1901. 


Owner. 

Location  of  Ovens. 

Number  of 
Ovens. 

Daily 
Capacity. 
Tons. 

Otto  Hoffman- 
Cambria  Steel  Co  

Johnstown,  Pa  

160 

Pittsburgh  Gas  and  Coke  Co 

Glassport  Pa.  ... 

120 

New  England  Gas  and  Coke  Co  

Everett,  Mass  

400 

Dominion  Iron  and  Steel  Co 

Sydney,  Cape  Breton.  .  .  . 

400 

Hamilton  Otto  Coke  Co  

Hamilton,  Ohio  

50 

Lackawanna  Iron  and  Steel  Co 

Lebanon,  Pa  

232 

Lackawanna  Iron  and  Steel  Co  

Buffalo,  N.  Y  

564 

South  Jersey  Gas  E  and  T  Co 

Camden,  N.  J  

100 

Maryland  iSteElCo 

Sparrow's  Point  Md  

200 

«            •  • 

Total 

2226 

Semet-Solvay— 
Solvay  Process  Co 

Syracuse  N.  Y  

30 

150 

Dunbar  Furnace  Co      

Dunbar,  Pa  

110 

450 

National  Steel  Co                    .         .... 

Sharon,  Pa  

25 

80 

Tennessee  Coal  I.  and  R.  Co  
National  Tube  Co    

Enslev,  Ala  
Wheeling,  W.  Va  

240 
120 

1000 
500 

Solvay  Process  Co  

Detroit,  Mich  

30 

150 

Total 

555 

2330 

SEC.  IXf.— Coal  washing.— There  are  many  deposits  of  coal 
which  contain  a  high  percentage  of  ash  or  of  sulphur  or  of  both, 
and  which  consequently  give  a  coke  of  inferior  quality, 
quality  can  be  much  improved  by  washing  the  coal  before  it  goes  to 
the  coke  oven,  it  being  possible  in  this  way  to  materially  reduce 
the  proportion  of  slate  and  sulphur.  A  considerable  proportion 
of  the  slate  can  be  separated  from  the  coal  without  any  difficulty, 
the  extent  of  the  purification  depending  upon  the  fineness  to  which 
the  coal  is  crushed  and  the  care  taken  in  operating  the  machines. 


264  METALLURGY  OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

The  sulphur  presents  greater  problems.  In  some  cases  it  is 
present  in  coarse  grains  of  iron  pyrites,  while  in  other  cases  it  is 
in  flat,  thin  films,  which  float  in  the  water  during  the  process  of 
washing  and  thus  accompany  the  coal  in  spite  of  the  difference  in 
specific  gravity.  Sometimes  the  sulphur  is  in  the  form  of  an  organic 
compound,  and  this  -tannot  be  separated  by  ordinary  methods. 

There  are  two  different  kinds  of  coal  washing  plants;  one  de- 
pending on  a  combination  of  sieves  and  jigs;  another  where  a 
bumping  table  is  used.  These  two  systems  are  both  good  and  the 
underlying  principles  will  be  separately  considered. 

A. — Sieves  and  Jigs. — If  a  thousand  bullets  and  a  thousand 
feathers  be  dropped  simultaneously  into  a  wooden  box  ten  feet 
high,  the  bullets  will  be  found  in  a  layer  at  the  bottom  of  tihe 
box  and  the  feathers  will  be  on  top,  because  the  air  obstructs  very 
much  the  fall  of  the  feathers,  while  its  effect  upon  the  bullets  will 
be  slight.  The  action  of  air  in  separating  unlike  substances  is 
used  in  very  few  cases,  the  winnowing  of  wheat  being  the  most 
familiar  example.  In  the  treatment  of  minerals,  water  is  the  agent 
used,  but  the  principle  is  identically  the  same.  It  is  inconvenient 
to  have  a  high  column  of  water  and  so  an  upward  stream  is  sub- 
stituted, down  through  which  and  against  which  the  particles 
must  fall.  Taking  for  instance  a  mixture  of  slate  and  coal,  where 
the  pieces  are  of  uniform  size,  it  will  be  evident  that  if  a  shovelful 
is  thrown  into  a  strong  upward  current  of  water,  the  slate  will 
get  to  the  bottom  quicker  than  the  coal,  owing  to  its  greater  weight. 
In  practice  the  separation  is  rendered  easier  by  having  a  very  short 
column  of  water  with  a  sieve  at  the  bottom,  and  the  water  comes  up 
tlhrough  the  sieve  in  pulsations,  thus  making  a  quicksand  out  of 
the  mass  and  allowing  each  particle  full  freedom  to  find  its  proper 
place.  When  a  mixture  of  slate  and  coal  has  been  separated  in 
this  manner,  and  while  it  is  being  kept  in  the  condition  of  quick- 
sand by  the  continual  pulsation  of  the  water  from  beneath,  the 
two  minerals  separate  into  well-defined  layers  and  a  stream  of 
mixed  coal  and  slate  may  be  fed  into  one  end  of  the  box,  while 
the  slate  may  be  drawn  off  through  one  orifice  at  the  other  end,  and 
the  coal  through  another  orifice. 

In  this  description  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  necessary 
that  the  pieces  of  slate  and  coal  shall  be  of  uniform  size,  for  the 
rate  of  falling  in  water  depends  upon  this  as  well  as  upon  the  spe- 


FUEL.  265 

cific  gravity.  A  bullet  will  fall  to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  quicker 
than  a  pebble  of  equal  size,  but  a  rock  two  feet  in  diameter  will 
fall  faster  than  fine  bird  shot.  This  arises  from  the  fact  that 
both  the  area  of  resistance  and  the  area  of  frictional  surface  in- 
crease only  as  the  square  of  the  diameter,  while  the  weight  increases 
as  its  cube.  For  this  reason,  a  coal-washing  plant  of  this  kind 
should  include  a  crusher  to  crush  the  coal  to  a  certain  size;  it 
should  then  have  an  arrangement  of  sieves  which  will  separate  the 
crushed  coal  into  several  different  lots,  each  lot  being  composed 
of  pieces  of  nearly  equal  size ;  it  must  then  treat  each  of  these  lots 
separately  in  pulsating  water  or  by  some  equivalent  method  and 
collect  the  coal  and  slate  separately  from  each  of  these  lots.  There 
will  also  be  a  certain*  proportion  of  very  fine  material  which  cannot 
be  handled  by  any  known  economical  method  and  which  can  only 
be  collected  in  a  settling  basin. 

The  separation  into  lots  of  equal  size  is  called  "sizing,"  and  the 
separation  into  lots  having  equal  rates  of  falling  in  water  is  called 
"sorting."  In  the  above  description,  it  is  stated  that  the  coal  is 
first  sized  and  then  sorted,  but  it  is  perfectly  possible  to  first  sort 
and  then  size.  In  practice  the  separation  of  slate  and  coal  is  never 
complete,  because  the  particles  are  of  very  irregular  shape,  and  it  will 
be  evident  that  a  flat  disc  of  slate  or  coal  will  not  follow  the  same 
law  of  falling  in  water  as  a  more  compact  body ;  that  if  it  happens 
to  fall  edge  downward  it  will  fall  faster  than  a  sphere  or  cube, 
while  if  it  remains  flatwise,  it  will  fall  slower.  For  this  reason,  and 
because  there  are  many  pieces  that  are  neither  pure  coal  nor  pure 
slate,  but  are  a  mixture  of  both,  the  coal  will  always  contain  some 
slate  and  the  slate  will  always  contain  some  coal.  The  greater  the 
number  of  different  "sizes"  made,  the  more  perfect  the  separa- 
tion, but  each  "-size"  involves  complication  of  the  plant  and  in- 
creased cost  of  maintenance.  In  a  very  complete  and  economical 
coal-washing  plant  in  Western  Germany  the  coal  in  its  natural 
state  carries  from  22  to  30  per  cent,  of  ash.  It  is  crushed  and 
separated  into  six  sizes  on  wet  sieves.  After  the  washing  is  com- 
pleted the  ash  in  the  coal  runs  about  10  per  cent.,  giving  a  coke 
containing  from  12  to  14  per  cent.  The  fine  dust  that  is  collected 
in  settling  basins  can  be  used  under  boilers.  The  loss  of  coal  in 
the  slate  is  not  over  3  per  cen<t.  and  the  total  cost  of  the  process  is 
about  5  cents  per  ton. 


266  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

At  an  English  works  the  natural  coal  contains  30  per  cent,  of 
ash,  but  it  is  washed  so  as  to  give  a  coal  of  from  5  to  7  per  cent., 
making  a  coke  with  7  to  10  per  cent.  Tihere  is  also  some  very 
fine  stuff  produced,  running  about  10  per  cent,  ash,  which  is  put 
into  coke.  In  addition  to  the  slate  that  is  separated,  about  3  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  comes  in-  the  shape  of  middlings,  or  mixed  slate 
and  coal,  which  is  thrown  a,way.  The  very  finest  settlings  contain 
14  per  cent,  ash  and  are  used  for  firing  boilers. 

B — The  Bumping  Table. — If  a  flat,  horizontal  table  be  oscillated 
back  and  forth  by  means  of  a  cam  and  arrangements  be  made  that 
it  strikes  a  solid  block  of  wood  or  metal  every  time  it  is  set  free  by 
the  revolution  of  the  cam,  there  will  be  a  bumping  action  produced, 
and  if  coal  or  other  mineral  be  fed  to  such  a  table  the  material  will 
not  be  moved  at  all  during  any  part  of  the  cycle  of  revolution  except 
during  the  bump,  at  which  moment  every  particle  without  regard 
to  size  or  specific  gravity  will  'be  thrown  forward  a  certain  distance. 
If  now  the  table  be  inclined  slightly  at  right  angles  to  the  bumping 
force  and  if  water  be  allowed  to  flow  in  a  sheet  over  this  inclined 
plane,  there  will  be  two  forces  at  work,  the  bumping  action  throw- 
ing everything  lengthwise  and  the  water  flowing  crosswise,  carrying 
everything  at  right  angles  to  the  length.  The  result  is  a  zig-zag 
course  diagonally  across  the  table.  In  the  case  of  the  smaller  par- 
ticles and  with  those  of  greater  specific  gravity,  the  water  will  have 
less  effect,  while  the  larger  and  lighter  pieces  will  be  washed  rapidly 
across  the  table  by  the  water.  Thus  the  small  and  heavy  particles 
will  travel  the  entire  length  and  be  delivered  from  the  end  of  the 
table,  while  the  lighter  and  larger  particles  will  be  delivered  from 
the  side. 

The  material  worked  on  such  a  table  should  be  first  sorted  and 
were  this  done  the  production  would  be  much  increased  and  the 
separation  made  very  much  more  perfect.  In  washing  coal  it  is 
not  the  practice  to  do  this  preliminary  sorting,  as  there  is  a  great 
difference  in  the  specific  gravity  of  coal  and  of  iron  pyrites,  and  if 
all  the  material  is  crushed  below  one  quarter  inch,  and  if  special 
arrangements  be  made  for  handling  the  fine  stuff,  both  the  ash  and 
the  sulphur  may  be  much  reduced  at  a  very  small  cost. 

Such  tables  have  done  very  good  work  at  Sydney,  Cape  Breton. 
The  raw  coal  contains  about  6.5  per  cent,  of  ash  and  2  per  cent, 
of  sulphur.  As  it  leaves  the  table  it  contains  from  3  to  4  per  cent. 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL.  267 

of  ash  and  from  1.2  to  1.4  per  cent,  of  sulphur.  The  refuse  amounts 
to  about  4  per  cent,  of  the  total  and  it  carries  40  to  50  per  cent,  of 
aish  and  from  10  to  15  per  cent,  of  sulphur,  the  remaining  35  to  40 
per  cent,  being  coal.  Inasmuch  as  the  coal  contains  one  per  cent, 
of  organic  sulphur,  the  results  may  be  regarded  as  very  good. 

Any  process  of  washing  leaves  the  coal  saturated  with  water, 
which  is  sometimes  an  objection  owing  to  the  amount  of  heat 
required  in  the  coke  oven  to  evaporate  the  moisture,  but  with  many 
coals  and  in  by-product  ovens,  the  coke  is  much  improved  by  using 
wet  coal,  so  that  there  is  no  loss  from  this  cause. 

The  purification  of  coal  is  of  great  importance  in  Alabama,  both 
on  account  of  the  high  percentage  of  ash  and  the  high  content  of 
sulphur,  and  the  adoption  of  good,  methods  are  advocated  in  a  report 
of  the  Alabama  Geological  Survey  by  Wm.  B.  Phillips.  He  cites  in- 
stances of  proper  washing,  where  coal  averaging  17.69  per  cent,  of 
ash  was  brought  down  to  an  average  of  6.72  per  cent.  The  coke 
from  untreated  coal  ran  from  1.50  to  1.75  per  cent,  in  sulphur, 
while  with  washed  coal  it  averaged  0.74  per  cent,  over  a  period  of 
six  months. 

SEC.  IXg. — General  remarks  on  fuel  utilization. — The  present 
condition  of  the  steel  industry  is  far  from  satisfactory  in  regard  to 
fuel  utilization.  Of  late  years,  however,  much  attention  has  been 
given  to  this  subject  and  newer  plants  have  been  constructed  with 
good  equipment.  Much  attention  has  been  given  to  this  subject 
in  some  German  plants,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  new  works  at 
Eombach,  designed  by  Mr.  Oswald,  which  is  supplied  with  the 
most  efficient  boilers  and  engines,  with  steam  superheaters,  with  a 
most  complete  electric  outfit,  while  gas  engines  driven  by  furnace 
gas  are  being  introduced. 

A  reduction  in  the  amount  of  fuel  can  be  effected  in  many  ways. 

a — Power  FueL 

(1)  By  the  introduction  of  gas  engines  driven  by  blast  furnace 
gas,  or  by  gas  from  coal,  whereby  a  much  greater  amount  of  power 
can  be  developed  from  a  given  amount  of  fuel.     This  change  is 
now  imminent,  but  is  delayed  by  the  great  cost  of  the  installation. 

(2)  By  the  use  of  the  best  compound  condensing  engines. 

(3)  By  a  proper  equipment  of  boilers  supplied  with  economizers. 

(4)  By  better  regulation  of  combustion  in  the  boilers. 

(5)  By  the  use  of  high  steam  pressures. 


268  METALLURGY   OF  IRON  AND  STEEL. 

(6)  By  the  use  of  superheaters. 

(7)  By  the  use  of  a  central  power  station  of  both  boilers  and 
engines  to  create  power  and  to  distribute  electricity  to  all  parts  of 
the  plant. 

(8)  By  driving  all  pumps  and  small  machinery,  table  rollers, 
etc.,  from  this  plant. 

(9)  By  driving  all  rolling  mills  from  a  central  power  station, 
the  rolling  mills  being  driven  by  a  motor.    This  change  will  come 
in  the  future. 

b — Furnace  Fuel. 

(1)  By  the  direct  rolling  of  material,  thereby  avoiding  extra 
heating.    This  is  much  more  common'  in  Europe  than  in  America. 

(2)  By  devices  for  quick  handling  to  avoid  cooling  of  the  piece. 

(3)  By  saving  the  heat  in  the  escaping  gases  from  regenerative 
furnaces  by  making  the  chambers  larger. 

(4)  By  saving  tfte  heat  in  the  escaping  gases  from  reverberatory 
furnaces,  either  by  absorbing  the  energy  in  boilers,  or  in  the  enter- 
ing blooms,  as  in  the  case  of  continuous  furnaces. 

The  sum  total  of  all  these  possible  economies  represents  a  divi- 
dend on  the  whole  plant. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  ACID  OPEN-HEARTH  PROCESS. 

SECTION  Xa. — Nature  of  the  charge  in  a  steel-melting  furnace. 
— In  acid  open-hearth  practice  the  shell  is  first  lined  with  nine 
inches  or  more  of  clay  brick.  The  furnace  is  then  heated  to  nearly 
the  working  temperature,  and  sand  is  spread  in  successive  layers 
over  the  entire  hearth.  Each  layer  is  heated  to  a  full  heat  for 
about  ten  minutes  or  until  it  is  "set"  so  as  to  be  hard,  the  sand 
being  selected  so  that  it  will  give  as  dense  and  solid  a  bottom  as 
possible.  When  finished,  the  thickness  of  the  lining  within  the 
shell  should  be  from  18  to  24  inches. 

The  area  of  the  cavity  for  holding  the  charge  will  be  determined 
by  the  size  of  the  furnace,  for  the  depth  of  the  metal  should  be 
about  12  to  15  inches  in  a  5-ton  furnace  and  from  18  to  24  inches 
when  the  charge  is  30  to  50  tons.  If  the  bath  is  very  shallow,  the 
oxidation  is  excessive,  while  if  very  deep,  the  rate  of  melting  is 
slow. 

The  proportions  of  the  constituents  of  the  charge  vary  in  differ- 
ent places.  Sometimes  pig-iron  alone  is  used,  but  when  scrap 
can  be  obtained  it  forms  part  of  the  mixture.  It  is  always  neces- 
sary, however,  to  have  a  certain  amount  of  pig-iron  as  a  source  of 
supply  of  the  foreign  elements,  which  protect  the  iron  from  oxida- 
tion. The  stock  must  be  of  known  composition  as  far  as  sulphur 
and  phosphorus  are  concerned,  for  there  is  no  appreciable  elimina- 
tion of  these  elements,  and  the  finished  product  will  show  a  per- 
centage equal  to  the  average  of  the  material  charged. 

The  content  of  silicon,  manganese  and  carbon  is  not  limited  by 
such  narrow  bounds,  for  these  elements  are  oxidized  during  the 
process  and  their  presence  in  greater  or  lesser  amounts  alters  the 
working  of  the  charge  rather  than  the  composition  of  the  product. 
In  the  manufacture  of  soft  steel  it  is  the  usual  practice,  when 
scrap  is  available,  to  regulate  the  proportion  of  pig-iron  so  that 
the  melted  bath  shall  be  free  from  silicon  and  manganese,  and  shall 

269 


270  METALLURGY    OF   IRON   AND   STEEE. 

contain  from  three-fourths  to  one  per  cent,  of  carbon.  During 
the  elimination  of  this  element,  the  metal  is  in  a  state  of  continual 
ebullition,  and  its  temperature  and  condition,  as  well  as  the  char- 
acter of  the  slag,  may  be  completely  controlled  in  preparation  for 
recarburizing  and  casting. 

If  too  small  an  amount  of  pig-iron  is  used  in  making  up  the 
charge,  the  molten  bath  will  contain  neither  silicon,  manganese, 
nor  carbon,  and  will  be  viscous  and  pasty.  Such  a  mass  will  be 
oxidized  by  the  flame  and  the  oxide  of  iron  will  scorify  the  bottom. 
At  some  furnaces  it  has  been  the  custom  to  first  charge  and  melt 
the  pig-iron  and  then  add  scrap  which  has  previously  been  heated 
in  a  separate  furnace,  but  this  practice  is  expensive  and  possesses 
no  advantages  over  the  charging  of  the  entire  heat  at  one  time. 

SEC.  Xb. — Chemical  history  of  an  acid  open-hearth  charge  dur- 
ing melting. — The  amount  of  oxidation  which  takes  place  during 
melting  is  affected  by  many  conditions,  being  increased  by  the 
presence  of  hydrogen  in  the  gas,  by  a  sharp  flame,  and  by  a  port 
construction  that  allows  free  air  to  impinge  upon  the  metal.  It 
is  also  determined  in  great  measure  by  the  manner  in  which  the 
stock  is  charged.  The  pig-iron  should  be  spread  as  evenly  as  pos- 
sible over  the  scrap,  so  that  it  will  melt  first  and  trickle  over  the  hot 
steel,  and  thus  each  atom  of  iron  will  be  protected  by  the  con- 
tiguity of  an  atom  of  silicon  or  carbon  for  which  the  oxygen  has  a 
greater  affinity. 

Practically  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  perfect  protection,  and 
when  only  a  small  proportion  of  pig  is  used  there  will  be  spots 
where  the  scrap  is  entirely  uncovered,  and  in  these  places  large 
amounts  of  iron  oxide  will  be  produced.  If  this  cinder  forms  a 
pool  on  the  viscous  surface  of  the  charge,  it  will  be  mixed  sooner 
or  later  with  high-carbon  metal,  and  an  interchange  will  occur  with 
reduction  of  iron,  the  result  being  the  same  as  if  mixture  had  taken 
place  at  an  earlier  stage;  but  if  the  fused  oxide  eomes  in  contact 
with  the  hearth,  scorification  will  ensue  with  formation  of  silicate 
of  iron,  and  though  at  a  later  period  this  scoria  may  be  mixed  with 
high-carbon  metal,  the  harm  cannot  be  completely  remedied.  A 
portion  of  the  iron  may,  perhaps,  be  reduced  and  a  higher  silicate 
be  formed,  but  silica  once  having  entered  the  slag  is  there  to  stay, 
and  will  permanently  hold  a  greater  or  less  amount  of  iron  oxide. 

The  value  of  the  elements  found  in  pig-iron  in  protecting  the 


THE    ACID   OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS. 


271 


scrap  from  oxidation  will  be  in  proportion  to  their  ability  to  unite 
with  oxygen.     Calculating  this  we  have  the  following  table: 

1  unit  of  carbon   combines  with  1.333  units  of  oxygen  to  form  CO. 
1  unit  of  silicon  combines  with  1.143  units  of  oxygen  to  form  SiO2. 
1  unit  of  manganese  combines  with  0.291  unit  of  oxygen  to  form  MnO. 
1  unit  of  titanium  combines  with  0.176  unit  of  oxygen  to  form  TiO2. 

This  table  represents  a  very  broad  truth,  but  it  must  not  be 
translated  too  literally,  for  some  elements  are  preferable  to  others-. 
It  is  necessary  that  after  melting  the  metal  should  be  protected 
from  the  flame  by  a  layer  of  slag  containing  about  50  per  cent,  of 
silica.  If  the  charge  is  made  up  of  one-quarter  pig-iron  carrying 
1  per  cent,  silicon,  the  silica  produced  by  oxidation,  the  sand  at- 
tached to  the  pig-iron,  and  the  material  derived  from  the  scouring 
of  the  hearth,  are  usually  sufficient  for  the  requirements  of  the 
cinder,  but  with  very  low-silicon  pig-iron,  free  from  adhering  sand, 
it  may  be  necessary  to  add  additional  silica  to  prevent  the  basic 
slag  from  making  inroads  upon  the  bottom.  On  the  contrary,  if 

TABLE  X-A. 
Elimination  of  Metalloids  in  an  Open-Hearth  Charge. 


^Nat,ure  of  Sample. 

Group  I. 

Group  II. 

Pig-iron  pounds  

11,700 

20700 

Steel  Scrap  pounds 

45550 

86  «00 

Composition  of  original  charge,  per  cent,  (estimated) 

(Si 
JMn 
(0 

0.40 
0.90 
1.00 

0.65 
0.85 
1.50 

Metal  when  melted,  per  cent  

(Si 
<  Mn 

.02 
.09 

.05 

.06 

(C 

.54 

.64 

Slag  after  melting,  per  cent 

|g?& 

50.24 
21  67 

49.46 
18  16 

iFeO 

23.91 

83.27 

the  silicon  in  the  pig-iron  is  very  high,  the  slag  will  be  viscous 
and  infusible.  The  presence  of  manganese  helps  to  counteract  this 
viscosity,  but  in  the  absence  of  this  element  iron  oxide  must  be 
added  in  the  shape  of  ore,  or  formed  from  the  bath  by  waste  of 
iron. 

The  way  in  which  the  metalloids  are  eliminated  during  the  melt- 
ing will  be  best  understood  from  the  typical  records  given  in  Table 
X-A.  Each  column  represents  the  average  of  a  group  of  consecu- 
tive charges ;  Group  I  includes  nineteen  heats  melted  with  soft-coal 
producer  gas,  and  Group  II  six  heats  made  with  oil  vapor. 


•"272  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AXD    STEEL. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  oil  vapor  is  much  more  oxidizing  than 
the  coal  gas,,  so  that  although  the  original  charge  was  very  much 
higher  in  oxygen-absorbing  elements,  the  bath  after  melting  had 
about  the  same  composition  in  both  cases.  The  slag  shows  a  great 
variation  in  the  oxides  of  iron  and  manganese;  this  arises  from 
the  fact  that  the  amount  of  manganese  was  limited  by  the  content 
in  the  charge,  and  since  the  slag  required  a  certain  proportion  of 
bases,  the  deficit  was  made  up  by  oxidation  of  iron. 

SEC.  Xc. — Chemical  history  of  an  acid  open-hearth  charge  after 
melting. — After  the  melting  it  is  necessary  to  oxidize  the  remain- 
ing carbon,  manganese,  and  silicon,  by  keeping  the  bath  at  a  high 
heat  and  adding  iron  ore  in  successive  doses,  thus  forming  silic'a 
•and  oxide  of  manganese  which  go  into  the  slag,  and  carbonic  oxide 
which  escapes  with  the  flame.  This  combustion  of  carbon  produces 
a  bubbling  over  the  entire  surface  of  the  bath,  continually  exposing 
the  metal  to  the  flame,  and  aiding  materially  in  keeping  it  at  a 
high  temperature.  The  union  of  the  oxygen  of  the  ore  with  the 
silicon  and  carbon  sets  free  metallic  iron  which  is  immediately 
•dissolved  by  the  bath. 

If  the  ore  is  added  properly,  it  is  reduced  as  fast  as  it  is  put  in, 
;as  will  be  evident  from  Table  X-B,  which  shows  the  history  of  the 
metal  and  the  slag  in  the  groups  above  considered.  In  Group  I  an 
-average  of  1020  pounds  of  ore  was  used  on  each  heat  to  decarburize, 
while  on  Group  II  -only  850  pounds  was  added. .  It  will  be  seen 
that  in  spite  of  the  addition  of  the  ore  the  character  of  the  slag 
remains  unchanged.  There  is  an  increase  of  FeO,  but  this  does 
not  show  an  increase  in  basicity,  for  the  volume  of  slag  is  increas- 
ing throughout  the  operation  both  from  the  wear  of  the  hearth  and 
the  silica  from  the  ore,  so  that  in  order  that  the  composition  of  the 
slag  should  remain  absolutely  the  same  it  would  be  necessary  that 
there  be  a  simultaneous  supply  of  exactly  the  right  proportions  of 
both  MnO  and  FeO.  It  is  evident  that  this  cannot  happen,  for 
the  metal  after  melting  is  nearly  free  from  manganese,  and  since 
the  ore  contains  none  there  is  no  source  of  supply  of  this  element. 
With  the  dilution  of  the  slag,  therefore,  there  is  a  vacancy  left  for 
a  base,  and  iron  oxide  is  the  only  available  candidate.  That  this  is 
the  true  explanation  will  be  seen  from  the  totals  of  MnO  and  FeO, 
which  show  that  the  slag  at  the  end  of  the  operation  is  almost 
identical  with  the  slag  after  melting,  since  the  sum  of  these  factors 
represents  the  real  basicity  of  the  cinder. 


THE   ACID   OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS. 


273 


TABLE  X-B. 
History  of  Metal  and  Slag  in  an  Acid  Open-Hearth  Furnace. 


Subject. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

Group  I. 
19  heats  soft  coal  gas. 

Group  II. 
6  heats  oil  gas. 

After 
melting 

End  of 
operation. 

After 
melting. 

End  of 
operation. 

Metal. 

Si  

.02 
.09 
.54 

.02 
.04 
.13 

.05 
.06 
.64 

.01 
.02 
.12 

Mn 

c  

Slag. 

SiO,.. 

50.24 
21.67 
23.91 
45.58 

49.40 
16.50 
29.79 
46.29 

49.46 
13.16 
33  27 
46.43 

49.36 
11.30 
34.11 
45.41 

MnO 

FeO  

MnO+FeO  

SEC.  Xd. — Quantitative  calculations  on  acid  open-hearth  slags. — 
The  foregoing  results  are  purely  qualitative,  and  they  do  not  show 
the  alteration  in  the  amount  of  the  slag  which  takes  place  during 
the  progress  of  the  operation.  It  will  be  evident  that  it  is  out  of 
the  question  to  actually  weigh  the  cinder  at  different  periods,  but, 
nevertheless,  it  is  possible  to  approach  the  truth  by  the  following 
method :  The  final  slag,  after  tapping,  is  weighed  when  cold.  By 
subtracting  from  this  weight  the  MnO  produced  by  the  addition 
of  the  recarburizer  and  the  sand  derived  from  the  taphole  and 
ladle-linings,  the  amount  of  slag  which  was  in  the  furnace  before 
tapping  may  be  computed.  .  Given  the  analysis  of  the  slag  at  that 
time,  it  is  easy  to  calculate  the  weight  of  its  various  constituents, 
among  which  will  be  the  manganese ;  if  the  ore  contained  no 
appreciable  quantity  of  this  element,  the  amount  which  in  one 
form  or  another  was  present  throughout  the  operation  will 
be  known;  and  since  the  percentage  of  manganese  in  the 
slag  and  in  the  metal  can  be  determined  by  analysis,  and  the 
weight  of  the  metal  can  be  calculated  for  any  stage  of  the  work,  all 
the  requisite  data  are  at  hand  for  a  determination  of  the  weight  of 
the  slag  at  any  time.  With  this  determination  as  a  basis,  the  quan- 
titative estimation  of  the  factors  is  a  matter  of  simple  arithmetic. 

This  process  applied  to  the  two  groups  of  heats  in  Table  X-B 
gives  the  results  shown  in  Table  X-C,  where  it  is  shown  that 
although  nearly  twice  as  much  pig-iron  was  added  in  Group  II,  as 


274  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

recorded  in  Table  X-A,  the  greater  oxidizing  power  of  the  oil  flame 
took  care  of  this  extra  amount,  the  result  being  plainly  seen  in  the 
greater  quantity  of  slag  which  was  present  after  melting.  When 
the  bath  was  thoroughly  fluid,  the  oil  flame  still  acted  more  power- 
fully, but  it  was  unable  to  burn  any  of  the  iron  since  the  metalloids 
furnished  ample  protection,  and  the  increase  in  the  weight  of  slag 
during  oreing  is  no  greater  in  the  one  group  than  in  the  other.  .In 

TABLE  X-C. 

Calculation  on  the  Weight  of  Certain  .Open-Hearth  Slags  Men- 
tioned in  Table  X-B  and  the  Amount  of  FeO  Ee- 
duced  During  Oreing. 


Group  I. 

Group  IT. 

Subject. 

Coal  gas, 
pounds. 

Oil  gas, 
pounds. 

Slag  after  tapping      

4050 

5670 

Slag  after  melting                

2810 

4530 

Ore  added 

1020 

850 

FeO  in  ore  added            

643 

536 

FeO  reduced  during  oreing   

336 

313 

Group  I,  41  per  cent,  of  the  ore  was  reduced,  while  in  Group  II 
there  was  45  per  cent.  These  figures  have  no  general  significance, 
for,  if  the  slag  is  slightly  viscous  after  melting,  a  certain  amount  of 
ore  will  be  necessary  to  confer  fluidity  and  will  not  be  reduced. 
Since  this  quantity  will  be  a  constant  under  given  conditions  no 
matter  how  much  ore  is  afterward  needed,  it  will  be  evident  that  it 
might  be  90  per  cent,  of  a  small  addition  and  only  10  per  cent,  of  a 
large  one. 

SEC.  Xe. — Reduction  of  iron  ore  when  added  to  an  acid  open- 
hearth  charge. — This  reduction  of  ore  is  a  matter  of  vital  impor- 
tance in  using  large  proportions  of  pig-iron.  Quite  an  amount  of 
oxide  is  then  necessary  to  satisfy  the  silicon  of  the  pig  as  well  as 
the  sand  adhering  to  it,  but  after  the  slag  is  formed  there  is  no 
increase  in  its  volume  except  from  the  impurities  in  the  ore  and 
the  wear  of  the  hearth,  so  that  as  fast  as  the  ore  is  added  its  oxygen 
is  transferred  to  the  metalloids  and  its  iron  to  the  bath.  This  may 
be  illustrated  by  Table  X-D,  which  gives  the  records  of  heats  which 
are  not  included  in  the  tables  just  given,  on  each  of  which  1500 
pounds  of  ore  were  added  after  melting  to  decarburize  the  metal. 


TABLE  X-D. 


275 


TABLE  X-D. 

Data  on  Open-Hearth  Slag  and  Metal  at  Different  Periods  of  the 

Operation. 

COMPOSITION  oy  THE  SLAG. 


Pounds  of 

Constituents, 
after  addition  of  ore  as 

Number  of  Heat. 

ore  added. 

shown  in  first  column. 

7596 

7598 

7606 

7635 

Average 

None. 

SiO2>  per  cent. 

50.27 

51.96 

52.43 

52.94 

51.90 

500 

0 

49.27 

51.10 

55.82 

51.72 

51.98 

1000 

« 

52.77 

60.30 

55.73 

52.28 

62.77 

1500 

« 

50.97 

51.48 

55.66 

52.90 

62.75 

•   None. 

MnO,  per  cent. 

14.91 

21.65 

15.61 

21.84 

18.50 

500 

« 

15.20 

19.09 

15.31 

20.44 

17.51 

1000 

« 

14.70 

17.50 

13.89 

19.06 

16.29 

1500 

« 

14.22 

16.72 

12.40 

16.36 

14.92 

None. 

FeO,  per  cent. 

31.23 

22.59 

27.14 

23.18 

26.03 

500 

« 

80.68 

26.12 

25.11 

24.21 

26.53 

1000 

« 

26.96 

28.26 

26.20 

26.26 

26.92 

1500 

« 

31.70 

26.03 

26.96 

29.13 

28.45 

None. 

FeO  and  MnO,  per  cent. 

46.14 

44.24 

42.75 

45.02 

44.54 

500 

M 

45.88 

45.21 

40.42 

44.65 

44.04 

1000 

« 

41.66 

45.76 

40.09 

45.32 

43.21 

1500 

u 

45.92 

42.75 

39.86 

45.49 

43.88 

COMPOSITION  OF  THE  METAL. 


Heat 
No. 

Silicon,  per  cent. 

Manganese,  per  cent. 

After  adding  ore,  as  below. 

After  adding  ore,  as  below. 

None. 

500  Ibs. 

1000 
Ibs. 

1500 
Ibs. 

None. 

500 
Ibs. 

1000 
Ibs. 

1500 
Ibs. 

7596 
7598 
7606 
7635 

.07 
.04 
.04 
.13 

.01 
undet. 
.05 
.07 

.01 
undet. 
.03 
.05 

.01 
.01 
.02 
.06 

.10 
.02 
.08 
.19 

.02 
.02 
.05 
.08 

.02 
.02 
.03 
.09 

.02 
.02 
trace. 
.10 

Samples  were  taken  of  metal  and  slag  after  every  5CO  pounds 
of  ore.  These  groups  and  heats  were  not  selected  to  show  this 
special  action,  the  investigation  being  made  for  other  purposes; 
but  the  wonderful  regularity  in  results,  corroborated  as  it  is  by 
many  other  records,  shows  that  in  the  magnificent  alembic  of  the 
melting  furnace,  at  the  highest  heat  we  know  save  that  of  the  elec- 
tric arc,  at  a  temperature  when  wrought-iron  melts  like  wax  in  the 
candle  flame,  the  molecular  relations  are  guided  by  fixed  and  unal- 
terable laws.  It  is  this  stability  of  conditions  that  gives  to  the 
open-hearth  melter  the  ground  on  which  he  can  work  out  regular 
and  reliable  results,  and  which  makes  the  process  peculiarly  fitted 
for  the  manufacture  of  -structural  material. 

SEC.  Xf. — Pig-and-ore  process. — The  amount  of  ore  required  for 
a  charge  will  not  follow  closely  the  amount  of  carbon,  since  the 
flame  is  constantly  at  work,  and  ore  is  added  when  the  melter 
thinks  it  advisable  rather  than  when  it  is  absolutejy  necessary.  If 


276  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

the  charge  is  hot  it  dissolves  the  ore  rapidly  and  there  is  little 
chance  for  the  flame  to  do  its  share  of  oxidation,  while  if  the  charge 
is  cold  only  a  small  amount  of  ore  will  be  added  and  the  oxygen 
will  be  derived  from  the  gases.  Thus  any  attempt  to  make  an 
arbitrary  equation  of  the  action  must  fail,  but  it  may  be  broadly 
said  that  if  the  bath  contains  1  per  cent,  of  carbon,  1500  pounds  of 
ore  may  be  used  in  bringing  it  down  to  .05  per  cent.  The  first  500 
pounds  will  reduce  it  to  about  .80  per  cent,  of  carbon,  the  second 
to  .40  per  cent,  and  the  third  will  finish  the  work.  If  silicon  and 
manganese  should  be  as  low  during  the  interval  between  the  firs* 
and  second  ore  additions  as  at  a  later  time,  the  burning  of  the  car- 
bon might  be  the  same  then  as  later,  but  either  the  presence  of 
these  protectors  or  the  less  favorable  physical  condition  of  the  slag 
in  a  high-carbon  bath  retards  the  action  at  the  start.  When  large 
quantities  of  high-silicon  or  high-manganese  pig-iron  are  used,  the 
first  additions  of  ore  are  consumed  by  the  unburned  excess  of  these 
elements,  and  hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  pounds  of  ore  may 
be  added  after  melting  before  the  carbon  is  affected.  Therefore, 
when  it  is  necessary  to  charge  nothing  but  pig-iron,  it  is  advisable 
to  have  it  contain  as  little  silicon  as  possible,  and  even  then  the 
oxidation  of  carbon  requires  several  hours.  The  ore  is  not  lost, 
for  the  reduced  iron  makes  up  for  the  metalloids  which  are  burned, 
so  that  the  weight  of  the  steel  may  equal  or  exceed  the  weight  of 
the  pig-iron  charged. 

The  expense  of  the  pig-and-ore  process  rests  in  the  slow  combus- 
tion of  carbon,  for  it  is  impossible  to  hurry  the  work  without  caus- 
ing violent  boiling  of  the  voluminous  slag,  producing  scorification 
of  the  hearth  and  possibly  a  loss  of  metal  through  the  doors.  The 
process  upon  an  acid  hearth  is  much  slower  than  on  a  basic  bottom, 
for  in  the  latter  case  a  slag  rich  in  iron  does  not  have  such  disas- 
trous results  upon  the  hearth.  Since  the  fuel  consumption  per 
hour  is  nearly  the  same  during  the  period  of  oreing  as  it  is  during 
the  period  of  melting,  it  is  plain  that  there  is  a  considerable  de- 
crease in  product  with  an  increased  fuel  ratio.  By  the  use  of  a  tilt- 
ing furnace  this  difficulty  may  be  lessened,  for  as  soon  as  the  silicon 
has  been  oxidized,  the  contents  of  the  furnace  may  be  emptied  into 
the  ladle  and  then  the  metal  be  immediately  returned  to  the  furnace 
with  as  little  slag  as  desired. '  When  most  of  the  slag  is  thus  re- 
moved, the  action  is  much  more  rapid  and  there  is  no  trouble  from 
frothing.  The  tapping  of  slag  from  stationary  hearths  has  always 


THE    ACID    OPEN-HEARTH    PROCESS.  277 

resulted  unsatisfactorily,  and  the  same  is  true  of  attempts  to  remove 
it  from  a  tilting  furnace  by  surface  decantation,  but  this  process 
of  repouring  requires  no  handling  save  the  raising  of  the  ladle  in  a 
vertical  line  so  as  to  allow  the  metal  to  be  returned  to  the  furnace 
through  the  same  hole  from  which  it  has  just  been  tapped,  and 
seems  to  solve  the  question  of  slag  removal  in  a  simple  way. 

SEC.  Xg. — Conditions  modifying  the  character  of  the  product. — 
If  the  temperature  of  the  metal  is  very  high,  the  last  traces  of  sili- 
con will  not  be  oxidized,  for  the  affinity  of  silicon  for  oxygen  is  a 
function  of  the  temperature.  In  the  Bessemer  converter  the  metal 
may  contain  as  much  as  1  per  cent,  of  silicon  if  blown  sufficiently 
hot,  but  in  the  open-hearth  there  is  no  chance  for  the  bath  to  arrive 
at  an  intense  degree  of  heat  as  long  as  a  considerable  percentage 
of  this  element  is  present ;  for  superheating  is  not  readily  attained 
without  a  lively  bath,  and  the  bath  will  very  seldom  be  lively  as 
long  as  it  holds  a  high  content  of  silicon.  Thus  the  open-hearth 
cannot  rival  the  converter  in  producing  high-silicon  metal  by  non- 
combustion,  but  under  suitable  conditions  the  amount  carried 
along  in  the  metal  may  be  quite  appreciable,  and,  by  holding  the 
bath  at  a  very  high  temperature  with  a  silicious  slag,  there  will 
even  be  a  reduction  of  the  silica  of  the  hearth  according  to  the 
equation 

SiOa+2C=Si+2CO. 

This  variation  in  affinity  of  Si  for  0  plays  an  important  part  in 
the  production  of  steel  castings  where  a  higher  temperature  is  used 
than  for  ingots  of  ordinary  size.  The  constant  presence  of  a  small 
proportion  of  silicon,  due  to  the  high  temperature,  tends  to  prevent 
the  absorption  of  gases,  and  it  is  stated  by  Odelstjerna*  that  if  at 
any  time  the  metal  is  allowed  to  cool  so  that  the  last  traces  of  silicon 
are  burned,  the  gases  which  are  absorbed  cannot  be  expelled  by  a 
subsequent  superheating. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  Odelstjerna  is  correct  in  his  statements, 
but  that  there  may  be  other  factors  involved  in  a  full  explanation. 
It  is  certain  that  in  the  manufacture  of  small  ingots  which  are  to 
be  rolled  directly  into  plates,  there  are  delicate  adjustments  of 
temperature  and  slag  that  are  not  easily  explained  by  considering 
the  history  of  silicon  alone. 

One  of  these  factors,  which  may  be  cited  by  way  of  illustration, 

*  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXIV,  p.  308. 


278  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

is  the  extent  and  force  of  the  oxidizing  influence.  It  is  the  opinion 
of  some  metallurgists  that  the  best  quality  of  open-hearth  steel  can 
only  be  made  when  the  burning  of  the  metalloids  is.  carried  on  at  a 
very  slow  rate,  so  that  the  bath  shall  not  contain  an  excess  of 
oxygen  at  any  time,  and  it  is  stated  by  Ehrenwerth*  that  a  certain 
American  works  makes  a  practice  of  keeping  a  charge  in  the  fur- 
nace a  very  long  time  when  a  very  good  quality  of  steel  is  desired. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  works  in  question  did  carry  out  such  a 
system  at  one  time  out  of  respect  to  foreign  tradition,  but  found 
no  advantage  in  so  doing,  and  has  long  since  discontinued  the 
practice. 

It  is  also  an  opinion,  held  by  men  of  acknowledged  reputation, 
that  a  high  proportion  of  pig-iron  in  the  original  charge  will  give 
a  superior  product.  If  this  is  true,  it  probably  arises  from  the  fact 
that  the  presence  of  a  high  proportion  of  carbon  after  melting,  with 
the  consequent  long  exposure  to  the  flame,  will  result  in  a  thorough 
washing  of  the  bath.  I  believe  that  there  is  a  limit  to  this  action, 
and  that  very  little  can  be  gained  by  raising  the  content  of  carbon 
in  the  melted  bath  above  1  per  cent.,  for  this  proportion  insures  a 
vigorous  boil. 

'•  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  condition  of  the  bath,  after  it  has 
been  run  down  from  1  per  cent,  of  carbon  to  three-tenths  of  1  per 
cent.,  can  be  any  different  from  the  condition  which  would  have 
existed  if  the  original  content  had  been  2  per  cent.  It  would  seem 
probable  that  one  or  two  hours  of  exposure  of  the  completely  liquid 
bath  to  the  flame  would  give  ample  opportunity  for  any  reactions 
which  could  be  in  progress,  and  the  old  adage  that  "enough  is  as 
good  as  a  feast"  might  be  applied  to  the  present  case.  It  is  not 
unprofitable,  however,  to  consider  the  conclusions  from  practical 
experience,  however  invalid  they  may  appear,  for  they  may  some- 
times represent  a  vital  truth,  albeit  our  point  of  view  may  not  be 
high  enough  to  allow  a  complete  survey  of  the  field. 

SEC.  Xh. — History  of  sulphur  and  phosphorus. — In  the  above 
records  no  account  is  taken  of  sulphur  or  phosphorus,  but  numer- 
ous determinations  and  universal  experience  prove  that  the  content 
of  phosphorus  in  the  steel  will  be  determined  by  the  initial  content 
in  the  charge.  It  is  true  that  acid  open-hearth  slag  may  contain 
some  phosphorus,  and  I  have  found  one  case  where  it  held  0.04 

*  Das  Berg-  vnd  Hiittenwesen  auf  der  Weltausstellung  in  Chicago.  Ehren- 
warth,  1895,  p.  276. 


THE    ACID   OPEN-HEARTH    PROCESS.  27i* 

per  cent.,  but  it  would  require  a  higher  percentage  than  this  to 
make  a  difference  in  the  metal  that  could  be  detected  by  ordinary 
analysis,  so  that  for  practical  purposes  it  must  be  assumed  that 
every  molecule  of  phosphorus  that  is  present  in  the  pig-iron,  scrap 
and"  ore  will  appear  in  the  finished  metal. 

The  percentage  of  sulphur  cannot  be  predicted  with  so  much 
precision.  Traces  of  this  element  may  be  burned  during  melting 
and  pass  away  as  sulphurous  anhydride,  but  the  proportion  thus 
eliminated  is  small.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  tendency  to 
absorb  sulphur  from  the  flame.  With  fairly  good  coal  this  incre- 
ment may  be  neglected,  but  with, bad  coal,  and  especially  when  the 
slow  working  of  the  furnace  renders  it  necessary  to  expose  the 
charge  to  the  gases  for  a  long  time,  the  amount  thus  absorbed  may 
be  ruinous.  It  has  been  suggested  with  some  reason  that  the  addi- 
tion of  lime  in  the  producer  might  retain  at  least  a  part  of  the  sul- 
phur in  the  ashes  of  the  producer,  so  that  it  would  not  appear  in 
the  gas,  but  it  would  also  give  trouble  by  making  a  fusible  ash. 
The  ore  is  another  source  of  contamination,  for  it  generally  con- 
tains a  certain  proportion  of  pyrites.  As  the  ore  floats  on  the  sur- 
'  face  of  the  bath  some  sulphur  may  be  oxidized  above  the  surface 
and  the  products  pass  away  with  the  flame,  but  the  remainder 
will  be  absorbed  by  the  bath. 

•*  SEC.  Xi. — Method  of  taking  tests. — The  condition  and  nature  of 
the  metal  and  slag  are  determined  from  time  to  time  by  taking 
samples  from  the  furnace  by  means  of  a  small  ladle  and  casting 
test-ingots  with  a  cross-section  about  one  inch  square.  These  are 
chilled  in  water  and  broken,  and  the  carbon  is  estimated  from  the 
appearance  of  the  fracture.  The  reliability  of  such  a  determina- 
tion depends  upon  the  constancy  of  the  conditions  of  casting  and 
chilling,  and  the  expertness  of  the  judge,  but,  roughly  speaking, 
the  content  can  be  ascertained  within  10  per  cent,  of  the  true 
amount. 

SEC.  Xj.— Recarburization.— When  the  desired  point  has  been 
reached  the  recarburizer  is  added,  this  being  almost  invariably 
used  in  a  solid  state.  It  is  generally  heated  red  hot,  but.  this  is 
not  essential,  for,  in  making  structural  steel,  "ferro"  containing  80 
per  cent,  of  manganese  is  used  almost  exclusively,  and  the  weight 
of  the  addition  is  so  small  that  it  chills  the  bath  only  slightly.  The 
ferro  may  be  added  to  the  metal  while  in  the  furnace,  and  this 
method  has  the  advantage  that  the  bath  can  be  thoroughly  stirred 


280  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

after  the  recarburizer  has  melted,  but  it  has  the  disadvantage  that 
during  the  time  the  last  pieces  are  fusing,  the  portions  which 
melted  first  are  losing  their  manganese  to  the  oxygen  of  the  slag 
and  flame.  In  a  hot  furnace  this  action  is  very  rapid,  and  although 
the  entire  addition  may  melt  in  less  than  a  minute,  a  considerable 
proportion  of  manganese  is  lost  by  oxidation. 

When  the  recarburizer  is  added  in  the  ladle,  it  is  evident  that  the 
latter  action  will  not  occur,  but  there  will  be  a  certain  loss  on  ac- 
count of  the  oxide  of  iron  contained  in  the  metal,  and  the  function 
of  the  recarburizer  is  to  remove  this  oxygen.  The  loss  of  manga- 
nese will  be  the  same  whether  the  addition  is  made  in  the  furnace 
or  in  the  ladle,  but  in  the  latter  case  the  effects  of  slag  and  flame 
are  absent.  Hence  it  follows,  all  other  things  being  equal,  that  the 
loss  will  be  more  regular  when  recarburization  is  performed  in 
the  ladle,  and  this  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  the  content  of  man- 
ganese in  the  steel  can  be  made  more  nearly  alike  throughout  a 
series  of  heats. 

The  amount  of  manganese  lost  in  recarburization  not  only 
varies  with  the  way  in  which  it  is  added,  but  also  with  the  percent- 
age of  carbon  and  manganese  in-the  bath.  As  would  naturally 
be  supposed,  the  amount  of  oxide  in  the  bath  is  less  with  high 
than  with  low  carbons,  and  so  therefore  the  loss  of  manganese 
in  recarburizing  decreases  as  higher  steel  is  made.  It  is  found  that 
the  loss  is  less  with  smaller  percentages  of  manganese,  so  that  with 
the  same  bath,  if  1.00  per  cent,  of  Mn  be  added,  there  will  be  .60 
per  cent,  in  the  metal,  being  a  loss  of  .40  per  cent.,  while  if  .50  per 
cent,  be  added  the  steel  will  have  .40  per  cent.,  being  a  loss  of  only 
.20  per  cent.  It  seems  as  if  with  the  lower  manganese  the  action 
was  not  perfect,  and  that  with  each  successive  increment  of  ferro 
an  additional  atom  of  oxygen  is  removed.  This  fact  holds  good 
whether  the  recarburizer  is  added  in  the  furnace  or  in  the  ladle. 

The  fear  of  non-homogeneity  under  the  practice  of  adding  the 
ferro  in  the  ladle  is  not  entirely  unfounded  when  small  heats  are 
made  and  the  metal  is  not  very  hot,  but  when  charges  of  20  to  50 
tons  of  hot  steel  are  properly  poured  and  recarburized,'the  steel  is 
thoroughly  uniform.  When  metal  is  made  very  high  in  manganese, 
certain  precautions  must  be  taken,  but  in  ordinary  structural  steels, 
when  the  manganese  runs  below  .65  per  cent.,  there  is  an  all-per- 
vading action  throughout  the  melted  mass  which  dispels  all  thought 
of  non-homogeneity. 


THE   ACID   OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS.  281 

SEC.  Xk. — Advantages  of  the  open-hearth  process  in  securing 
homogeneity. — In  the  low  steel  of  the  Bessemer  process  there  is 
very  little  trouble  from  irregular  distribution,  although  the  more 
viscous  slag  sometimes  holds  pieces  of  the  solid  recarburizer  and 
keeps  them  from  melting  until  the  steel  is  nearly  all  poured.  The 
result  is  that  when  they  do  finally  fuse,  small  streams  of  high  man- 
ganese metal  flow  down  into  the  upper  part  of  the  last  ingot  and 
form  a  hard  spot  in  the  steel.  This  does  not  and  should  not  often 
happen,  and  most  Bessemer  soft  steel  is  uniform  throughout.  In 
making  high-carbon  steel,  however,  the  conditions  of  manufacture 
make. the  hearth  far  superior  to  the  converter.  The  metal  in  the 
Bessemer  process  is  always  blown  until  nearly  all  the  carbon  is 
eliminated,  since  it  has  been  found  impracticable  to  stop  the  opera- 
tion at  any  definite  intermediate  point.  All  the  carbon  content  of 
the  steel,  therefore,  must  be  added  in  the  recarburizer,  and  abso- 
lutely perfect  homogeneity  can  only  be  secured  by  absolutely  per- 
fect mixing.  In  the  open-hearth,  on  the  other  hand,  high-carbon 
steels  are  made  by  interrupting  the  process  at  the  desired  stage, 
and  it  is  plain  that  no  mixing  is  required  as  far  as  carbon  is  con- 
cerned, and  about  the  same  quantity  of  recarburizer  will  be  used 
for  a  given  manganese  whether  high  or  low  steel  is  being  made. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  BASIC  OPEN-HEARTH  PROCESS. 

SECTION  XIa. — Construction  of  a  basic  open-hearth  bottom. — 
The  basic  process,  as  herein  discussed,  consists  in  treating  a  charge 
of  either  melted  or  solid  pig-iron,  or  a  mixture  of  pig-iron  and  low- 
carbon  metal,  upon  a  hearth  of  dolomite,  lime,  magnesite,  or  other 
basic  or  passive  material,  and  converting  it  into  steel  in  the  presence 
of  a  stable  basic  slag  by  the  action  of  the  flame,  with  or  without  the 
use  of  ore,  and  by  the  addition  of  the  proper  recarburizers,  the 
operation  being  so  conducted  that  the  product  is  cast  in  a  fluid 
state. 

In  the  above  specification  that  the  slag  shall  be  stable,  no  recog- 
nition is  accorded  that  hybrid  practice  wherein  a  little  lime  is 
thrown  into  an  acid  furnace,  near  the  end  of  the  operation,  with  the 
intention  of  removing  a  part  of  the  phosphorus  by  the  temporary 
and  uncertain  action  of  a  partially  basic  slag.  Regular  metal- 
lurgical results  can  only  be  obtained  under  regular  conditions,  and 
to  this  end  the  hearth  should  be  made  of  material  that  will  not  be 
scorified  by  basic  additions.  The  current  belief  that  the  lining 
of  the  bottom  is  the  dephosphorizing  agent  is  a  complete  mistake, 
for  the  highest  function  of  the  hearth  is  to  remain  unaffected  and 
allow  the  components  of  the  charge  to  work  out  their  own  destiny. 
In  practice  it  is  never  possible  to  construct  either  an  acid  or  a  basic 
bottom  so  that  it  is  entirely  passive,  for  a  slag  which  is  viscous 
with  silica  will  slowly  attack  a  pure  sand  bottom,  and  a  cinder 
which  is  mucilaginous  with  lime  will  gradually  eat  into  a  dolomite 
hearth. 

For  the  construction  of  a  permanent  bottom,  carbon,  bauxite, 
lime,  chromite,  magnesite  and  dolomite,  have  been  used.  Mag- 
nesite gives  the  best  results  but  it  is  very  costly,  and  well-burned 
dolomitic  limestone  answers  well  enough.  In  some  places  the  stone 
is  used  in  its  n'atural  state,  but  this  is  a  doubtful  economy,  the  bet- 
ter plan  being  to  thoroughly  roast  it  in  a  kiln  or  cupola  and  then 

282 


THE   BASIC    OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS.  283 

grind  and  mix  with  tar.  The  roof  and  walls  being  made  of  silica 
bricks,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  joint  of  chromite  or  other  passive 
material  between  the  acid  and  the  basic  work ;  but  it  must  be  under- 
stood that  at  the  intense  heat  of  a  melting  furnace,  and  in  an  at- 
mosphere charged  with  spray  of  iron  oxide,  almost  any  two  sub- 
stances will  unite  if  pressed  together,  so  that  the  par$  of  the  joint 
which  bears  the  weight  of  the  superposed  brickwork  must  be 
shielded  from  the  direct  action  of  the  flame. 

SEC.  Xlb. — Functions  of  the  basic  additions. — Given  a  hearth 
capable  of  resisting  the  action  of  metal  and  slag,  the  problem  of 
the  basic  furnace  is  the  melting  and  decarburization  of  iron  as  in 
acid  practice,  with  the  additional  duty  of  removing  a  reasonable 
quantity  of  phosphorus  and  some  sulphur.  Under  the  oxidizing 
influence  of  the  flame  and  ore,  the  phosphorus  is  converted  into 
phosphoric  acid  (P205)  which  can  unite  with  iron  oxide,  but  the 
conjunction  will  be  only  temporary,  for  the  carbon  of  the  bath 
reduces  the  iron,  leaving  the  acid  helpless,  and  then  the  phosphorus 
in  its  turn  is  robbed  of  its  oxygen  and  returned  to  the  bath.  But 
if  lime  is  added,  the  acid  can  form  phosphate  of  calcium,  and  since 
the  oxide  of  this  element  cannot  be  reduced  by  the  carbonic  oxide, 
the  phosphorus  is  never  left  without  a  partner,  but  forms  part  of 
a  stable  cinder. 

This  oxide  of  calcium  is  sometimes  added  in  the  form  of  com- 
mon limestone,  the  carbonic  acid  being  expelled  in  the  furnace.  It 
will  be  evident  that  this  entails  a  considerable  absorption  of  heat, 
and  the  melting  must  be  delayed  accordingly,  but  it  has  a  com- 
pensating advantage  in  that  the  gas,  in  bubbling  through  the  metal, 
keeps  up  a  motion  which  facilitates  chemical  action,  and  also  that 
the  carbonic  acid  gives  up  part  of  its  oxygen  to  the  silicon,  phos- 
phorus, carbon  and  iron. 

This  oxidizing  action  allows  the  use  of  a  greater  proportion  of 
pig-iron,  and  also  aids  in  the  removal  of  phosphorus,  so  that  there 
seems  to  be  good  ground  for  using  the  cheap  natural  stone.  I  be- 
lieve, however,  that  it  is  more  economical  to  put  it  through  a  pre- 
liminary roasting  and  reduce  by  nearly  50  per  cent,  the  amount  of 
basic  addition,  for  the  rate  of  melting  is  thereby  hastened,  while 
the  oxidizing  -effect  can  be  obtained  by  the  use  of  ore.  It  is  true 
that  ore  costs  more  than  stone,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  its  full 
value  is  returned  in  metallic  iron,  and,  moreover,  it  is  possible  to 
use  a  greater  proportion  of  pig-iron  on  account  of  the  reduced 


284  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

quantity  of  gas  evolved,  for  the  amount  of  oxidation  done  during 
melting,  either  by  stone  or  ore,  is  limited  by 'the  frothing  of  the 
stock,  and  this  is  evidently  determined  by  the  amount  of  gas 
evolved  in  the  reactions.  Therefore,  if  ore  produces  less  gas  than 
stone  in  oxidizing  a  given  quantity  of  carbon,  then  more  pig  can 
be  used  with  ore  than  with  stone.  The  reactions  are  as  follows : 

Limestone,  CaCO3+C=2  CO+CaO. 
Ore,  Fe2O3+3  C=3  CO+2  Fe. 

Thus  two  volumes  of  gas  are  formed  for  each  atom  of  carbon  when 
stone  is  used,  while  only  one  volume  is  produced  with  ore. 

The  available  oxygen  in  the.  ore  is  nearly  twice  as  much  as  in 
the  same  weight  of  stone,  so  that  by  using  a  mixture  of  500  pounds 
of  burned  lime  and  500  pounds  of  ore,  there  will  be  the  same  quan- 
tity of  basic  earth,  and  the  same  oxidizing  effect,  as  with  1000 
pounds  of  raw  stone,  while  there  will  be  only  half  as  much  gas  pro- 
duced with  a  contribution  of  300  pounds  of  metallic  iron. 

SEC.  XIc. — Use  of  ore  mixed  with  the  initial  charge. — The  ore 
and  lime  are  put  into  the  furnace  with  the  pig  and  scrap,  so  that  the 
hearth  will  be  protected  during  the  melting  and  an  active  cinder  be 
at  work  continuously.  When  high-phosphorus  stock  is  used,  the 
amount  of  oxidation  to  be  done  for  a  given,  weight  of  pig-iron  is 
much  greater  than  in  acid  practice.  Thus  in  10,000  pounds  of 
low-phosphorus  iron  for  an  acid  open-hearth,  the  oxygen  absorbing 
power  is  as  follows : 

1.0  per  cent.  silicon=100  pounds  Si,  absorbing  114.3  pounds  oxygen. 
3.5  per  cent.  carbon=350  pounds  C,  absorbing  466.7  pounds  oxygen. 

Total  oxygen  absorption,  581.0  pounds 

If  pig-iron  be  used  in  basic  work  with  the  same  content  of  silicon 
and  carbon,  but  with  the  addition  of  1.00  per  cent,  of  phosphorus, 
there  will  be  an  additional  absorptive  power  of  129  pounds  of 
oxygen  or  a  total  of  710  pounds.  If  the  first  mixture  were  put 
into  a  furnace  there  would  be  about  40  per  cent,  of  the  work 
done  during  the  melting  (under  the  conditions  shown  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter),  so  after  melting  there  would  remain  60  per  cent, 
of  581,  or  349  pounds  of  oxygen  to  be  given  to  the  bath.  In  the 
second  case,  it  is  evident  that  the  presence  of  phosphorus  will  not 
cause  a  greater  action  during  melting,  but  that  if  all  other  con- 
ditions are  similar,  the  total  absorption  will  be  the  same,  so  that, 
after  melting,  the  phosphoric  bath  will  have  an  ^absorptive  power 


THE   BASIC   OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS. 


285 


of  349+129=478  pounds  of  oxygen,  and  there  will  be  one-third 
more  work  to  do  during  the  period  of  oreing  with  the  same  pro- 
portion of  pig. 

These  figures  may  seem  somewhat  abstruse,  but  they  explain  the 
very  important  fact  that  there  is  much  more  oxidation  to  do  with 
phosphoric  iron  than  with  good  stock,  so  that  it  is  advisable  to 
use  ore  mixed  with  the  charge  to  perform  a  part  of  the  work  dur- 
ing fusion.  On  an  acid  hearth,  when  running  exclusively  on  pig- 
iron,  ore  is  sometimes  added  with  the  original  charge,  but  there  is 
always  danger  of  this  oxide  uniting  with  the  sand  of  the  hearth 
before  the  metalloids  can  reduce  it.  In  basic  practice,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  ore  can  do  no  harm,  for  it  has  little  effect  on  the  dolo- 
mite and  soon  reacts  upon  the  silicon,  phosphorus,  and  carbon. 

TABLE  XI-A. 

Average  Composition  of  Slag  and  Metal  from  Seventeen  Basic 

Heats. 


Test. 

Metal. 

Slag. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

C. 

Si. 

Mn. 

P. 

SiO3. 

MnO. 

CaO. 

MgO. 

FeO. 

P,0. 

A 
B 

C 
D 

.71 
.34 
.12 

.10 

.06 
.01 
.01 
.01 

.33 
.25 
.22 

.49 

.046 
.022 
.013 
.018 

19.21 
16.37 
15.08 
15.75 

11.12 
10.36 
9.01 
14.11 

42.16 
42.78 
42.16 
89.05 

6.64 
7.87 
8.45 
10.40 

13.68 
16.29 
20.34 
16.65 

5.149 
4.848 
3.850 
2.961 

SEC.  Xld. — Chemical  history  of  basic  open-hearth  charges  when 
no  ore  is  mixed  with  the  stock. — The  addition  of 'ore  is  not  neces- 
sary when  sufficient  scrap  is  available,  for  the  flame  will  supply 
oxygen  to  the  metalloids,  as  will  be  shown  by  Table  XI-A,  which 
gives  the  average  history  of  17  heats  when  no  ore  was  used  with 
the  original  charge,  and  when  tests  of  metal  and  slag  were  taken  at 
four  different  epochs.  The  heat?  were  all  similar  in  character  and 
-were  operated  under  similar  conditions,  and  therefore  the  mixing 
of  slags  and  metals  to  obtain  average  results  is  justifiable.  Each 
charge  was  made  up  of  about  one-half  pig-iron  and  one-half  steel 
scrap,  and  contained  2.00  per  cent,  carbon,  0.40  per  cent,  silicon, 
0.85  per  cent,  manganese,  and  0.20  per  cent,  phosphorus.  Tests  of 
slag  and  metal  were  taken  as  follows : 

(A)  After  complete  fusion  of  metal  without  ore. 

(B)  At  beginning  of  boil,  after  the  addition  of  1965  pounds 
of  ore  per  heat. 


286 


METALLURGY   OF  IRON   AND  STEEL. 


(C)  When  the  bath  was  ready  for  the  recarburizer,  775  pounds 
of  ore  being  added  per  heat  between  tests  B  and  C. 

(D)  After  casting. 

SEC.  Xle. — Elimination  of  phosphorus  during  melting. — The 
elimination  of  phosphorus  during  melting  is  a  variable,  depending 
upon  the  conditions  of  oxidation  and  the  ability  of  the  slag  to 
absorb  the  phosphoric  acid.  Table  XI-B  will  show  in  a  general  way 
the  proportions  of  carbon  and  phosphorus  that  are  oxidized  during 
melting  under  different  kinds  of  practice. 

TABLE  XI-B. 

Elimination  of  Phosphorus  and  Carbon  During  Melting  Upon  a 

Basic  Hearth. 


Pounds  of  ore 
charged  with 
stock,  per  ton 
of  metal. 

Number  of  heats 
in  group. 

Composition  of  metal,  per  cent. 

Composition  of 
slag  after  melting; 
per  cent. 

Phosphorus. 

Carbon. 

Initial. 

| 

P 

*J 

dJn-d 

sas 
F§ 

m 

Initial. 

After 
melting. 

t^ 

SSS 

£®fl 

SiO,. 

FeO. 

none, 
none, 
none, 
none. 
800 
115 
140 

17 
4 
9 
9 
8 
6 
7 

0.20 
1.36 
0.19 
0.19 
2.50 
0.55 
0.55 

.046 
.594 
.023 
.072 
.744 
.274 
.402 

77 
57 
88 
62 
70 
50 
27 

2.00 
1.50 
1.80 
1.80 
8.50 
2.90 
2.90 

.71 

.60 
.27 
.78 
.59 
1.00 
1.48 

65 
60 
85 
67 
83 
66 
49 

19.21 
14.90 
15.55 
19.98 
11.96 
80.73 
34.22 

13.68 
und. 
19.68 
12.20 
8.61 
10.71 
10.95 

SEC.  Xlf. — Composition  of  the  slag  after  melting. — Neither  the 
percentage  nor  the  total  amount  of  elimination  during  melting  is  a 
matter  of  vital  importance,  for  whatever  work  is  left  undone  during 
that  period  will  be  completed  before  tapping.  In  this  removal  of 
phosphorus  after  fusion,  the  composition  of  the  slag  is  the  impor- 
tant factor,  and  this  will  depend,  primarily,  upon  the  amount  of 
silica,  and,  secondly,  upon  the  lime  added.  The  total  supply  of 
silica  will  determine  the  quantity  of  lime,  and  it  will  also  deter- 
mine the  weight  of  the  resultant  cinder.  Thus,  if  the  final  slag  is 
to  contain  16.67  per  cent,  of  Si02  and  50  per  cent.  CaO,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  basic  additions  must  contain  f££f=three  times  as 
much  available  CaO  as  there  is  Si02  in  the  entire  charge,  and  also 
that  the  final  slag  will  weigh  six  times  as  much. 

The  composition  of  the  cinder  differs  considerably,  for  when 
good  stock  is  used  it  may  contain  over  20  per  cent,  of  silica  and 
still  be  capable  of  eliminating  the  impurities,  but  when  much  phos- 
phorus is  to  be  removed,  the  silica  must  sometimes  be  as  low  as  12 


THE   BASIC   OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS. 


287 


per  cent.,  the  proportion  of  CaO  usually  varying  inversely  with  the 
silica.  The  amount  of  lime  which  can  be  taken  up  is  limited,  for 
at  a  certain  point  the  slag  becomes  viscous,  particularly  when  the 
scorification  of  the  hearth  supplies  magnesia.  Allowing  for  about 
10  per  cent,  of  MnO,  8  per  cent.  MgO,  18  per  cent.  FeO,  and  4 
per  cent.  A1203,  etc.,  it  may  be  roughly  stated  that  with  12  per 
cent,  of  Si02  there  will  be  about  48  per  cent.  CaO,  while  with  20 
per  cent,  of  Si02  there  will  be  40  per  cent.  CaO.  In  the  attainment 
of  this  ratio  between  Si02  and  CaO  the  purity  of  the  lime  is  an 
important  factor,  especially  when  a  slag  low  in  silica  is  needed. 
Ordinary  lime  as  it  comes  from  the  kiln  contains  a  certain  unex- 
pelled  percentage  of  C02,  and,  in  the  handling  and  exposure  prior 
to  use,  it  absorbs  a  certain  amount  of  moisture,  so  that  with  the 
usual  proportions  of  earthy  impurities  it  will  average  about  80  per 
cent,  of  CaO. 

SEC.  Xlg. — Relative  value  of  limes  as  determined  lg  their  chem- 
ical composition. — The  content  of  Si02  in  the  lime  depends  entirely 
upon  the  kind  of  stone  used  and  the  care  with  which  the  ash  of  the 
fuel  is  kept  separate.  When  a  choice  must  be  made  between  a 
cheap  and  impure  lime  and  a  more  costly  article  low  in  silica,  the 
value  of  each  may  be  calculated  by  finding  the  excess  of  CaO"  over 
what  is  necessary  to  satisfy  its  own  acids.  Two  representative 
limes  are  assumed  in  Table  XI-C,  both  containing  80  per  cent.  CaO, 
one  with  3  per  cent,  and  the  other  with  7  per  cent.  Si02,  and  the 
computation  is  made  for  two  different  slags. 

TABLE  XI-C. 
Relative  Values  of  Limes  with  3.0  and  7.0  Per  Cent,  of  Si02. 


SiO3  in  slag;  percent  

Slag  A. 

Slag  B. 

Lime 
with  3  per 
cent.  SiOa. 

Lime 
with  7  per 
cent.  SiO,. 

Lime 
with  3  per 
cent.  SiO,. 

Lime 
with  7  per 
cent.  SfO,. 

12.0 
48.0 
4.0 
80.0 

12.0 

12.0 
48.0 
4.0 
80.0 

20.0 
40.0 
2.0 
80.0 

20.0 
40.0 
2.0 
80.0 

CaO  in  slag;  percent. 

Ratio  CaO  to  SiO2  in  slag  

Total  CaO  in  lime;  per  cent.           .  . 

CaO  in  the  liine  which  is  needed  to 
satisfy  its  own  silica;  per  cent. 
4.0x3.0     .         .                ... 

4.0X7.0 

28.0 

20x30 

6.0 

2.0X7.0  

14.0 

CaO  available  for  foreign  silica;  per 
cent            .  .               ... 

68.0 
1.31 

52.0 
1.00 

74.0 
1.12 

66.0 
1.00 

Relative  value.  .  ,  

288  METALLUKGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  pure  lime  is  worth  31  per  cent,  more  than 
the  impure  kind  when  a  calcareous  slag  is  to  be  formed,  but  if  a 
more  silicious  cinder  is  permissible,  as  in  the  case  when  very  little 
phosphorus  is  to  be  removed,  the  pure  lime  is  worth  only  12  per 
cent,  more. 

SEC.  Xlh. — History  of  basic  open-hearth  slags. — The  proportions 
of  Si02  and  CaO  are  the  main  points  in  the  construction  of  a  basic 
slag,  but  there  are  other  factors  which  exercise  an  important  influ- 
ence upon  the  result.  Magnesia  is  always  present  from  the  wear 
of  the  hearth,  but  is  rather  undesirable,  as  it  makes  the  slag  vis- 
cous and  has  much  less  power  to  hold  phosphorus  than  lime. 
Alumina  comes  from  the  impurities  in  the  dolomite,  lime  and  ore, 
but  being  usually  in  small  amount  may  be  neglected  except  when 
an  analysis  is  expected  to  add  up  to  100  per  cent.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  alkalies  and  small  percentages  of  miscellaneous  impuri- 
ties. Manganese  is  usually  present  in  the  stock  and  serves  a  use- 
ful purpose  in  conferring  fluidity  upon  the  slag,  so  that,  being  a 
base  itself,  the  total  basic  content  can  be  higher  than  with  a  slag 
containing  only  silica  and  lime.  It  is  also  valuable  in  removing 
sulpljur,  for  there  is  a  tendency  toward  the  formation  of  sulphide 
of  manganese,  which  floats  to  the  top  of  the  metal  where  the  sul- 
phur, being  exposed  to  the  flame,  is  oxidized  and  passes  away  with 
the  waste  gases.  This  action  is  rather  uncertain,  and,  in  fact,  the 
explanation  is  somewhat  a  matter  of  supposition,  but  it  seems  quite 
well  proven  that  manganese,  either  metallic  or  in  the  form  of  ore, 
*iids  in  the  elimination  of  sulphur,  and  the  above  theory  is  in 
accord  with  certain  well-known  phenomena  of  liquation  in  the  puri- 
fication of  pig-iron  by  the  addition  of  spiegel,  as  described  by  Mas- 
senez.* 

All  the  components  thus  far  enumerated  are  in  great  measure 
fixed  and  determined  agents  in  the  transactions.  It  is  true  that 
manganese  is  sometimes  reduced  from  the  slag  by  the  carbon  of 
the  bath,  and  also  that  a  certain  percentage  may  remain  unoxidized 
in  the  metal,  but  aside  from  this  it  may  be  said  that  the  oxides  of 
aluminum,  silicon  and  manganese  exist  in  the  slag  in  just  the 
quantities  that  were  added  with  the  stock ;  but  there  are  three  other 
constituents,  iron  oxide,  phosphoric  acid,  and  sulphur,  whose  pres- 

*  On  the  Elimination  of  Sulphur  from  Pig-iron.     Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  II. 
1891,  p.   7G. 


THE   BASIC   OPEN-HEAKTH   PROCESS.  289 

ence  in  the  slag  is  determined  by  the  conditions  of  manipulation 
and  by  the  proportions  of  the  other  constituents. 

Iron  oxide  is  always  present  in  greater  or  less  extent,  the  exact 
amount  depending  upon  the  reducing  power  of  the  carbon  of  the 
bath.  It  matters  not  whether  ore  is  added  before  melting,  after 
melting,  or  not  at  all;  there  is  a  certain  content  of  FeO  which  is 
demanded  by  the  existing  conditions,  and  that  certain  content  will 
be  present.  An  exception  must  be  made  in  the  case  of  ore  added 
after  the  carbon  is  nearly  eliminated,  but  aside  from  this  there  will 
be  just  as  much  iron  oxide  lost  in  the  slag  when  no  ore  is  used  as 
when  it  has  been  added  in  proper  quantity,  and  therefore  it  may  be 
assumed  that  all  the  ore  is  a  clear  gain  and  that  its  iron  is  all  re- 
duced and  added  to  the  metallic  bath. 

The  presence  of  iron  oxide  in  either  acid  or  basic  slag  is  an 
anomaly,  for  in  an  ordinary  acid  charge  it  seems  as  if  the  oxidation 
•of  the  silicon  and  manganese  would  be  sufficient  to  produce  a  slag 
without  other  aid.  Nevertheless  we  have  found  in  the  foregoing 
chapter  that  there  is  a  force  at  work  in  an  acid  furnace  which  is 
constantly  creating  a  slag  with  a  composition  of  about  50  per  cent. 
Si02  and  45  per  cent.  FeO+MnO.  If  more  FeO  is  added,  the  car- 
bon of  the  metal  immediately  seizes  the  oxygen  and  sets  free  metal- 
lic iron,  but  the  same  powerful  action  which  so  quickly  accom- 
plishes the  destruction  of  this  excess  is  not  able  to  pass  much  below 
the  limit  even  by  exposure  for  hours  without  any  addition  of  ore. 
There  is  an  automatic  adjustment  to  a  fixed  status  which  is  one  of 
the  most  wonderful  phenomena  of  chemical  physics.  The  only  ex- 
planation I  can  offer  is  that  it  is  an  instance  of  the  general  law 
that  all  forces  tend  to  work  along  the  lines  of  least  resistance, 
which,  being  interpreted  for  this  case,  means  that  a  slag  will  seek 
to  combine  with  anything  that  promotes  fusibility.  If  given  the 
opportunity  a  silicious  slag  absorbs  either  bases  or  silica,  but  pre- 
ferably bases,  and  particularly  those  which  impart  the  greatest 
fluidity.  This  action  tends  to  continue  indefinitely,  and  in  an  acid 
furnace,  if  the  heat  is  not  tapped  after  the  carbon  is  burned,  the 
formation  of  iron  oxide  will  go  on  with  great  rapidity,  and  the 
fluidity  of  the  slag  will  be  greatly  increased  in  spite  of  the  cutting 
of  the  hearth.  This  latter  action  is  a  correcting  condition,  but  it  is 
not  the  controlling  influence  under  ordinary  circumstances,  as  is 
proven  by  the  small  amount  of  the  scorification  of  the  hearth  dur- 
ing oreing.  The  real  determinant  is  the  carbon  of  the  bath,  and 


290  METALLURGY    OF    IROX    AND   STEEL. 

there  is  an  equilibrium  established  between  the  oxidizing  power  of 
the  flame,  the  reducing  power  of  the  metalloids,  and  the  struggle 
after  fluidity. 

In  the  basic  process  there  is  a  difficulty  in  making  a  slag  com- 
posed entirely  of  silicate  of  lime,  for  this  is  much  more  viscous 
than  a  slag  of  the  same  percentage  of  silica  containing  other  bases ; 
there  is  a  tendency,  therefore,  toward  the  absorption  of  iron  oxide, 
but  this  is  opposed  by  a  contest  on  the  part  of  the  lime  for  the 
possession  of  the  silica,  and  the  result  is  a  decrease  in  the  percent- 
age of  iron  when  there  is  an  increase  in  lime.  Inasmuch 'as  the 
substitution  of  CaO  for  FeO  produces  a  more  viscous  slag,  this 
would  seem  to  invalidate  the  theory  just  advanced,  but,  as  above 
indicated,  the  effect  is  due  not  to  a  change  in  the  law  but  to  the 
action  of  stronger  forces.  Thi?  more  bases  that  are  present,  the  less 
necessity  is  there  for  an  additional  amount,  since  the  weight  of 
silica  necessarily  remains  constant,  and,  as  the  reducing  action  of 
the  metalloids  comes  into  play,  the  slag  begins  to  be  robbed  of  its 
iron,  which  at  the  same  time  is  its  most  reducible  and  its  most 
fusible  base.  The  presence  of  oxide  of  manganese  in  the  slag  modi- 
fies without  completely  changing  the  relations  just  described,  for, 
by  furnishing  an  additional  base  and  imparting  greater  fluidity,  it 
tends  to  render  the  presence  of  iron  oxide  less  necessary. 

SEC.  Xli. — Automatic  regulation  of  fluidity  in  basic  open-hearth 
slag. — This  matter  of  fluidity  is  of  vital  practical  importance,  for 
the  slag  must  run  freely  from  the  furnace,  else  the  hearth  will  soon 
be  filled ;  furthermore,  the  slag  must  be  so  basic  that  the  hearth  is 
not  scorified.  The  two  conditions,  fluidity  and  basicity,  determine 
the  nature  and  amount  of  the  basic  additions,  for  the  sum  of  CaO 
and  MgO  cannot  much  exceed  55  per  cent,  without  producing  a 
viscous  cinder,  neither  can  the  percentage  of  Si02  fall  below  10 
per  cent,  unless  unusual  amounts  are  present  of  the  oxides  of  iron, 
manganese,  or  phosphorus. 

I  have  advanced  this  theory  of  the  automatic  regulation  of  fluid- 
ity with  some  hesitation,  but  it  seems  to  account  for  a  curious  rela- 
tion between  the  content  of  Si02  and  FeO  in  a  large  number  of 
basic  slags,  which  are  grouped  and  averaged  in  Table  XI-D. 

The  phosphoric  acid  was  not  determined,  but  it  may  be  taken  for 
granted  that  an  increased  proportion  of  phosphorus  in  the  charge 
will  give  higher  phosphoric  acid  in  the  cinder,  and  the  table  shows 
that  in  the  case  of  high  phosphorus  the  combined  Si02  and  FeO 


THE    BASIC    OPEN-HEARTH    PROCESS.  291 

runs  about  27.5  per  cent.,  with  medium  phosphorus  about  35  per 
cent.,  and  with  low  phosphorus  about  36  to  37  per  cent.  It  is  quite 
true  that  a  difference  in  manipulation  would  change  the  absolute 

TABLE  XI-D. 
Relation  Between  Si02  and  FeO  in  Basic  Open-Hearth  Slags.* 


m 

•S 
no  o> 

SH 

0> 

Composition  of  slag; 

•3  o 

o  oT 

o  o 

Limits  of  SiO,  in  slag, 

per  cent. 

~ 

0&0 

||| 

&—  *ti 

per  cent. 

2 

o.5 

A  «  o 

.fl-S  o 

o 

^ 

PH 

E 

SiO,. 

FeO. 

SiO,.  +  FeO. 

i 

8 

1.35 

.068 

below  10 

9.20 

18.45 

27.651 

2 

10 

1.35 

.088 

above  10 

12.54 

14.93 

27.47 

8 

15 

0.19 

.016 

8  to  12  incl. 

10.71 

25.31 

36.02 

4 

16 

0.19 

.017 

13  to  14  incl. 

18.84 

21.81 

85.65 

5 

19 

0.19 

.020 

15  to  16  incl. 

15.90 

18.21 

84.11 

6 

13 

0.19 

.022 

17 

17.32 

17.97 

85.29 

7 

13 

0.19 

.025 

18  to  19  incl. 

18.94 

15.50 

84.44 

8 

12 

0.19 

.023 

20  to  22  incl. 

21.57 

13.58 

85.15 

9 

7 

0.19 

.059 

23  to  27  incl. 

25.48 

9.04 

84.52 

10 

16 

0.10 

.014 

10  to  13  incl. 

12.28 

22.18 

84.46 

11 

14 

0.10 

.012 

14 

14.47 

22.78 

87.25 

12 

15 

0.10 

.016 

15 

15.54 

21.10 

86.64 

13 

2.) 

0.10 

.017 

16 

16.46 

21.32 

87.78 

14 

19 

0.10 

.015 

17 

17.47 

19.24 

86.71 

15 

12 

0.10 

.012 

18 

18.32 

20.02 

88.34 

16 

11 

0.10 

.018 

19 

19,41 

17.66 

87.07 

17 

14 

0.10 

.020 

20 

20.53 

14.92 

85.45 

18 

21 

0.10 

.016 

21 

21.51 

14.58 

86.09 

19 

17 

0.10 

.019 

22 

22.46 

13.41 

35.87 

20 

11 

~  0.10 

.022 

23 

23.41 

12.40 

85.81 

21 

9 

0.10 

.028 

24 

24.48 

11.05 

85.53 

22 

12 

0.10 

.042 

25  to  29  incl. 

26.37 

10.58 

36.95 

percentages,  but  the  attainment  of  a  certain  definite  content  of 
FeO-f-Si02  seems  assured.  This  conclusion  is  verified  by  an  ex- 
amination of  the  individuals  of  the  original  records,  for  it  is  found 
that  low  Si02  is  accompanied  by  high  FeO  and  vice  versa.  This  is 

TABLE  XI-E. 

Maxima  and  Minima  in  the  Individual  Heats  Composing  the 
Groups  in  Table  XI-D. 


Initial  phos- 
phorus in 
charge;  per 
cent. 

Slag  showing 
maximum  8iOa; 
per  cent. 

Slag  showing 
maximum  FeO; 
per  cent. 

SiO,. 

FeO. 

SiO,. 

FeO. 

1.35 
0.19 
0.10 

16.50 
27.35 
29.15 

6.99 
6.63 
8.27 

9.46 
9.53 
15.66 

27.72 
84.47 
84.36 

*  The  full  records  of  the  above  charges  will  be  found  in  Sec.  45  of  my  paper 
on  The  Open-Hearth  Process,  in  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  436  et  seq. 


292  METALLURGY    OF    IROX    AND   STEEL. 

shown  by  Table  XI-E,  which  is  composed  of  the  extreme  cases  of 
high  and  low  percentages  of  Si02  and  FeO,  found  in  the  individual 
heats  which  compose  the  groups  in  Table  XI-D. 

It  would  be  entirely  wrong  to  suppose  that  an  increase  in  Si02 
has  reduced  the  FeO  by  simple  dilution,  for  a  reduction  in  FeO 
from  20  per  cent,  to  10  per  cent,  would  imply  a  permanent  addi- 
tion of  Si02  equal  to  the  entire  volume  of  the  slag,  and  this  is 
manifestly  absurd.  The  conclusion  seems  inevitable  that  Si02  and 
FeO  replace  one  another  in  some  way,  and  that  one  fulfils  some 
function  of  the  other.  As  FeO  is  basic  and  Si02  is  acid,  this  func- 
tion cannot  possibly  be  related  to  the  basicity  of  the  slag  or  any 
strictly  chemical  status,  and  the  only  explanation  which  suggests 
itself  is  that  both  confer  fluidity  and  that  there  is  an  automatic 
regulation  of  this  quality  in  accordance  with  the  theory  before 
elaborated. 

SEC.  'X.Ij.—r-Determining  chemical  conditions  in  basic  open- 
hearth  slags.— Just  as  oxide  of  iron  exists  in  slag  in  accprdance 
with  favorable  conditions  rather  than  with  the  initial  character  of 
the  charge,  so  the  content  of  phosphoric  acid  is  governed  by  the 
chemical  environment.  As  a  general  law  it  may  be  said  that  the 
capacity  of  a  cinder  for  phosphoric  acid  increases  with  the  propor- 
tion of  bases  it  contains,  and  that  lime  is  the  most  potent  of  these 
bases.  The  most  important  modification  of  this  law  is  the  neces- 
sity for  a  certain  fluidity,  since  a  slag  which  is  very  viscous  does  not 
seem  to  be  as  effective  as  one  which  is  rendered  fluid  by  oxide  of 
manganese  or  iron.  Thus,  although  lime  is  immeasurably  superior 
to  oxide  of  iron  as  a  dephosphorizing  agent,  nevertheless,  as  T  have 
shown  elsewhere,*  a  slag  containing  a  slightly  higher  percentage  of 
FeO  is  more  efficient. 

One  of  the  more  important  determinants  of  the  capacity  of  slag 
for  phosphorus  is  the  phosphorus  itself.  The  absorption  of  phos- 
phoric acid  is  not  a  case  of  simple  solution  (if  such  a  phenomenon 
exists)  like  that  of  salt  in  water,  but  it  is  a  union  of  acid  and  base, 
and,  therefore,  each  molecule  of  phosphoric  acid  which  enters  the 
slag  decreases  its  capacity  for  more  in  exactly  the  same  way  that 
silica  would.  It  is  impossible  to  prove  this  conclusively  by  ordi- 
nary averages,  for  the  additions  of  lime  are  usually  regulated  by 
the  demands  of  the  silica  rather  than  of  the  phosphorus,  and  it  is 

*  The  Open-Hearth  Process.     Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  446. 


THE    BASIC    OPEN-HEARTH    PROCESS. 


293 


a  coincidence  if  the  maximum  content  of  phosphoric  acid  is  pres- 
ent. 

Moreover,  the  precise  determining  conditions  vary  with  each  par- 
ticular combination  of  the  remaining  elements,  with  the  intensity 
of  the  reducing  conditions,  and  with  the  duration  of  the  exposure. 
Thus  Table  XI-F  gives  examples  of  slags  which  were  produced  un- 
der abnormal  conditions;  the  samples  were  taken  from  an  open- 
hearth  furnace  soon  after  melting,  and  before  an  extreme  tempera- 
ture had  been  reached  to  give  the  carbon  of  the  bath  its  full  reduc- 
ing power  to  break  up  unstable  compounds. 

TABLE  XI-F. 
Unstable  Basic  Open-Hearth  Slags. 


Slag. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

SiO2. 

P205. 

FeO. 

SiO3.+  Pa06. 

1 

2 
3 
4 

5 
6 

7 
8 

37.53 
34.05 
32.45 
30.26 
25.21 
20.60 
17.31 
15.07 

2.01 
3.08 
8.33 
5.99 
8.34 
10.97 
16.60 
23.06 

10.26 
18.45 
9.36 
10.08 
11.88 
10.90 
12.15 
10.53 

39.54 
87.13 
35.78 
86.25 
83.55 
81.57 
83.91 
38.13 

These  slags  are  especially  selected  as  being  extreme  instances  of 
high  phosphorus  for  a  given  silica,  and  they  are  therefore  value- 
less as  an  indication  of  what  may  be  expected  in  regular  practice. 
They  do  show,  however,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  critical 
percentage  of  silica,  since  a  cinder  with  37  per  cent.  Si02  may  hold 
2  per  cent.  P205. 

TABLE  XI-G. 
Normal  Basic  Open-Hearth  Slags. 


Slag. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

SiOa. 

PaOB. 

FeO. 

SiOa.+  PaO6. 

1 
2 
3 

20.72 
19.04 
12.40 

6.36 
8.24 
18.73 

16.20 
20.16 
12.60 

27.08 
27.28 
26.13 

The  slags  in  Table  XI-G,  although  selected  somewhat  arbitrarily, 
are  fairer  examples  of  the  results  of  regular  work.  In  both  Table 
XI-F  and  XI-G-  there  is  a  column  headed  "Si02+P205,"  and 
the  constancy  of  this  total  under  similar  conditions,  even. with 


294  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

slags  of  widely  varying  character,  indicates  that  the  total  acid  con- 
tent of  the  slag  is  the  measure  of  its  power  to  absorb  phosphorus. 

SEC.  Xlk. — Elimination  of  sulphur. — A  certain  proportion  of 
phosphorus  is  likely  to  be  volatilized  by  the  heat  and  carried  away 
in  the  waste  gases.  This  renders  futile  any  attempts  to  make  ac- 
curate quantitative  calculations  on  the  chemical  history,  but  other- 
wise the  action  is  of  little  importance  since  it  cannot  be  relied  on 
for  purification  of  the  metal.  This  volatilization  occurs  in  greater 
measure  in  the  case  of  sulphur,  but  here  also  it  is  entirely  imprac- 
ticable to  eliminate  any  appreciable  proportion  by  this  method 
alone,  since  volatilization  occurs  only  from  the  slag,  and  the  action, 
therefore,  presupposes  the  transfer  of  sulphur  from  the  metal  to 
the  cinder,  and  this  in  turn  presupposes  a  condition  which  will 
purify  the  metal  without  the  ex  post  facto  intervention  of  volatili- 
zation. 

The  removal  of  sulphur  can  be  accomplished  in  at  least  four 
ways,  which  will  be  considered  seriatim. 

\1)  By  the  addition  of  metallic  manganese  and  liquation  of 
sulphide  of  manganese.  The  extent  of  this  reaction  is  very  uncer- 
tain, but  usually  the  addition  of  0.60  to  0.75  per  cent,  of  manga- 
nese in  the  form  of  recarburizer  reduces  the  sulphur  content  about 
0.01  per  cent. 

(2)  By  the  use  of  manganese  ore,  which,  being  reduced  by  the 
metalloids  of  the  bath,  furnishes  metallic  manganese.     The  ore 
should  be  added  with  the  original  charge  in  order  that  it  may  be 
thoroughly  mixed  with  the  metal.     It  is  very  difficult  to  isolate 
the  effect  of  this  agent  from  the  contemporaneous  action  of  the 
basic  slag  with  which  it  must  be  associated,  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  it  aids  in  the  purification. 

(3)  By  the  action  of  a  very  limey  cinder.     In  a  former  paper* 
I  gave  the  results  of  experiments  in  removing  sulphur  by  ordinary 
lime  slags.     The  cinder,  during  melting,  was  kept  high  in  silica  to 
economize  lime,  and  part  of  this  slag  was  removed  after  fusion,  and 
fresh  lime  added.     Notwithstanding  the  high  acid  content,  the  slag 
after  melting  held  quite  an  appreciable  proportion  of  sulphur.    The 
final  slag,  being  richer  in  lime,  removed  a  greater  quantity  and  the 
results  seem  to  show  that,  as  the  silica  decreases,  the  capacity  for 
sulphur  increases,  but  the  relation  is  not  as  regular  as  might  be 

*  The  Open-Hearth  Process.     Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.f  Vol.  XXII,  p.  446. 


THE   BASIC   OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS. 


295 


wished,  and  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  many  points  are  still 
obscure.     The  records  are  given  in  Tables  XI-H  and  XI-I. 

TABLE  XI-H. 

Basic  Open-Hearth  Slags  after  Melting,  Arranged  According  to 
their  Sulphur  Content. 


Sulphur 

Charge 
Number. 

Initial 
sulphur, 
per  cent. 

in  metal 
after 
melting, 

Composition  of  slag  after  melting,  per  cent. 

per  cent. 

S. 

SiO2. 

FeO. 

CaO. 

MnO. 

1546 

.43 

.28 

.28 

37.53 

10.26 

34.53 

4.66 

1611 

.20 

.14 

.26 

32.63 

10.17 

86.25 

und. 

1608 

.28 

.17 

.22 

31.30 

10.98 

41.45 

und. 

1628 

.20 

.16 

.21 

33.20 

9.45 

und. 

und. 

1648 

.20 

.14 

.21 

34.37 

6.57 

und. 

und. 

1567 

.28 

.18 

.20 

30.26 

10.08 

45.26 

5.42 

1646 

.20 

.15 

.18 

83.97 

11.61 

und. 

und. 

1626 

.20 

.11 

.18 

86.43 

5.04 

und. 

und. 

1564 

.28 

.10 

.17 

82.45 

9.36 

45.05 

5.49 

1555 

.28 

.22 

.14 

80.63 

13.41 

89.17 

7.15 

1680 

.20 

.09 

.14 

25.57 

8.01 

und. 

und. 

1606 

.28 

.19 

.12 

85.79 

18.00 

83.18 

und. 

1569 

.28 

.19 

.08 

34.05 

18.45 

85.09 

6.25 

TABLE  XI-I. 

Basic  Open-Hearth  Slags  before  adding  Eecarburizer,  Arranged 
according  to  their  Sulphur  Content. 


J 

•all 

Sulphur,  after 
melting. 

lo~« 

Composition  of  slag  before  adding 
the  recarburizer,  per  cent. 

2;  a 

o 

•25*tH 

,M 

Slag, 
per  ct. 

Metal, 
per  ct. 

•3-sl 

02 

S. 

SiOa. 

FeO. 

CaO. 

MnO. 

1608 

.28 

.22 

.17 

.095 

.61 

12.73 

26.91 

43.99 

und. 

1611 

.20 

.26 

.14 

.054 

.58 

10.45 

26.19 

45.85 

und. 

1555 

.28 

.14 

.22 

.086 

.56 

13.78 

26.91 

42.14 

4.85 

1606 

.28 

.12 

.19 

.100 

.54 

12.90 

31.14 

88.58 

und. 

1569 

.28 

.08 

.19 

.089 

.48 

15.90 

18.63 

und. 

und. 

1630 

.20 

.14 

.09 

.062 

.43 

16.26 

19.98 

49.50 

und. 

1546 

.43 

.28 

.28 

.120 

.36 

18.67 

24.84 

37.28 

4.44 

1567 

.28 

.20 

.18 

.062 

.33 

14.85 

23.49 

45.74 

4.54 

1564 

.28 

.17 

.10 

.089 

.33 

19.18 

16.11 

49.98 

4.58 

1648 

.20 

.21 

.14 

.090 

.26 

17.97 

23.94 

44.41 

und. 

(4)  By  oxy chloride  of  lime.  A  process  has  been  devised  by  E. 
H.  Saniter*  whereby  sulphur  is  eliminated  from  basic  open-hearth 
metal  by  the  use  of  oxychloride  of  lime.  It  is  important  to  note, 
however,  that  "in  order  to  attain  this  result  it  is  necessary,  at  an 
early  period  after  the  charge  is  melted,  to  obtain  an  exceedingly 
basic  slag,  and  to  add  a  suitable  quantity  of  calcium  chloride  to 

*  On  'a  New  Process  for  the  Puri/fccation  of  Iron  and  Steel  from  Sulphur. 
Journal  I.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1892,  p.  216  ;  also,  A  Supplementary  Paper  on  a  New 
Process  on  Desulphurizing  Iron  and  Steel.  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.t  Vol.  I,  1893,  p.  73. 


296 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


it";  and  it  is  further  specified  that  "by  a  very  basic  slag  is  not 
meant  what  has  hitherto  been  considered  as  such,  but  a  step  in 
advance  of  that  with  about  50  to  60  per  cent,  of  lime."  This  point 
is  also  insisted  upon  by  Stead,*  who  reviews  the  experiments  and 
states  that  the  chloride  is  used  "in  conjunction  with  an  excess  of 
lime  over  and  above  what  is  usually  employed."  He  gives  analyses 
of  slag  and  metal  for  two  charges,  and  a  summary  of  these  is  given 
in  Table  XI-J.  The  results  of  a  more  complete  investigation  of 
one  charge  are  shown  in  Table  XIrK,  the  data  being  taken  from  a 
paper  by  Snelus.f 

TABLE  XI-J. 

Elimination  of  Sulphur  by  Calcium  Chloride. 


Beat. 

Composition,  per  cent.        ..^7 

Metal. 

Slag. 

Sulphur. 

After  adding  CaCl2. 

At  time  of  tapping. 

Initial. 

In  steel. 

Si02. 

CaO. 

S. 

Si02. 

CaO. 

S. 

1 
2 

.37 

.17 

.047 
.055 

10.75 
14.45 

54.65 
44.34 

1.25 
.53 

10.20 
11.75 

48.08 
47.86 

.05 
.57 

TABLE  XI-K. 

Detailed  Data  on  the  Elimination  of  Sulphur  by  Calcium 
Chloride. 

Open-hearth   charge :    80   per   cent,   white    iron,    20    per    cent,    scrap,    the   whole 
averaging  about   .30   sulphur. 


Time  of  taking  sample. 

Composition  of 
metal,  per  cent. 

Composition  of  slag  per  cent. 

C. 

S. 

SiO2. 

CaO. 

S. 

After  complete  fusion  
1  hour  after  melting 

.20 
.09 
.06 
.10 

.320 
.181 
.093 
.040 

18.30 
15.00 
11.60 
10.80 

49.24 
49.60 
55.64 
57.00 

.315 
.576 
.659 
.645 

4  hours  after  melting  
Steel,  5%  hours  after  melting  . 

The  sulphur  after  melting  is  higher  than  the  calculated  initial 
content,  but  this  is  probably  due  to  incorrect  sampling  and  to  the 
absorption  of  sulphur  from  ore  and  gas,  since  the  percentage  of 

*  On  the  Elimination  of  Sulphur  from  Iron.  Journal  I.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  II, 
1802,  p.  260. 

t  Report  upon  the  Saniter  Desulphurization  Process.  Journal  I.  and  S.  I.t 
Vol.  I,  1893,  p.  82. 


THE   BASIC   OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS.  297 

sulphur  in  the  slag  shows  that  a  considerable  amount  was  taken 
from  the  metal.  After  melting,  the  carbon  was  reduced  to  .20  per 
cent.,  and  one  hour  later  it  was  .09  per  cent.,  but  it  was  necessary 
to  hold  the  charge  in  the  furnace  for  four  and  one-half  hours  after 
complete  decarburization,  and  to  dose  it  with  calcium  chloride  in 
the  proportion  of  50  pounds  to  the  ton  of  metal,  in  order  to  remove 
the  sulphur,  a  delay  which  is  decidedly  objectionable.  The  oxy- 
chloride,  however,  conferred  fluidity  upon  the  cinder,  and  made  it 
possible  to  carry  as  high  as  57  per  cent,  of  CaO,  and  it  is  probable 
that  this  increased  mobility  and  corresponding  activity  rendered 
the  lime  more  efficacious  in  absorbing  sulphur.  This  point  is  not 
satisfactorily  settled,  for  notwithstanding  the  learned  discussions 
and  investigations  following  Saniter's  experiments,*  the  inner  his- 
tory of  desulphurization  is  still  unwritten. 

A  quantitative  investigation  that  I  made  into  the  elimination  of 
sulphur  by  weighing  and  analyzing  the  slags  from  three  of  the 
charges  given  in  Table  XI-II,  showed  that  about  36  per  cent,  of  the 
sulphur  was  unaccounted  for,  having  probably  been  carried  away 
as  sulphurous  acid  (S02)  in  the  waste  gases.  The  fact  that  both 
sulphur  and  phosphorus  thus  escape  in  an  intangible  form  and  in 
uncertain  quantities,  renders  quantitative  work  on  basic  slags  very 
unsatisfactory.  Moreover,  a  sample  of  slag  is  not  always  repre- 
sentative, for  on  some  heats  portions  of  the  basic  additions  remain 
sticking  to  the  hearth,  while  on  others  old  accumulations  of  such 
deposits  dissolve  in  a  charge  to  which  they  do  not  belong. 

SEC.  XII. — Removal  of  the  slag  after  melting. — When  the  stock 
is  properly  charged,  the  greater  part  of  the  basic  addition  becomes 
an  active  agent  during  the  melting  of  the  charge.  Especially  when 
ore  is  used  the  intense  action  oxidizes  a  considerable  proportion  of 
the  phosphorus  during  the  melting,  and  the  slag  after  fusion  con- 
tains oftentimes  a  high  percentage  of  phosphoric  acid.  The  idea 
has  occurred  to  numberless  metallurgists  that  this  first  slag  should 
be  removed  in  order  to  get  rid  of  its  phosphorus  and  silica  and  thus 
give  the  opportunity  for  a  new  and  purer  slag  having  a  greater 
dephosphorizing  power.  There  are  certain  practical  difficulties  in 
the  way,  for  the  height  of  the  metal  in  the  hearth  is  always  varying 
with  the  filling  of  the  bottom  and  with  the  frothing  of  the  charge, 
so  that  there  is  danger  of  losing  metal  if  a  taphole  is  opened  much 

•Report  upon  the  Saniter  Desulphurization  Process.  Journal  I.  and  8.  I., 
Vol.  I,  1893,  p.  82. 


298  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

below  the  level  of  the  upper  surface  of  the  slag;  on  the  contrary, 
if  the  slag  is  tapped  from  its  upper  surface  there  is  no  force  to  the 
stream  and  it  is  constantly  chilling  as  it  runs.  In  spite  of  these 
troubles  the  partial  removal  of  the  slag*  is  not  uncommon. 

Complete  removal  can  be  accomplished  by  the  use  of  a  tilting 
furnace,  for  the  entire  charge  can  be  poured  out  and  only  the 
metal  returned  to  the  hearth.  Under  ordinary  conditions  this 
manipulation  is  unnecessary,  but  it  may  not  be  unprofitable  to  con- 
sider the  rules  that  apply,  whether  the  whole  or  only  a  part  of  the 
slag  be  removed  during  the  progress  of  the  operation. 

Given  a  pig-iron  containing  a  considerable  proportion  of  silicon 
and  with  low  phosphorus,  it  will  be  an  advantage  to  have  the  first 
slag  as  high  in  silica  as  possible  so  as  to  avoid  the  addition  of  a 
corresponding  quantity  of  lime.  This  practice,  however,  cannot 
be  carried  to  an  extreme,  for  if  the  amount  of  lime  is  re- 
duced to  such  an  extent  that  the  slag  after  melting  contain  much 
over  30  per  cent,  of  silica,  the  hearth  will  be  badly  scorified. 
If  melted  pig-iron  is  used,  this  difficulty  disappears,  for  ore  may 
be  added  to  a  bath  of  pig  at  the  rate  of  over  one  ton  per  hour  and 
the  silicon  be  rapidly  oxidized.  The  slag  so  produced  in  the  ab- 
sence of  a  full  supply  of  lime  may  run  about  30  or  35  per  cent,  of 
silica  and  25  to  35  per  cent,  of  iron  oxide.  This  would  scorify 
the  hearth  if  left  long  enough  in  the  furnace,  but  it  should  be 
removed  after  the  silicon  is  oxidized,  for  during  the  oxidation  of 
carbon  from  a  content  of  3  per  cent,  down  to  about  1  per  cent,  the 
frothing  is  very  violent,  and  if  the  slag  is  not  removed  there  will  be 
considerable  trouble  and  delay. 

If  the  pig  carries  much  phosphorus  or  sulphur,  the  first  slag 
which  it  is  intended  to  remove  should  not  be  too  rich  in  silica,  for 
under  these  conditions  the  full  content  of  the  impurities  will  re- 
main in  the  metal  after  the  tapping  of  the  slag  and  it  will  be 
necessary  to  make  a  large  volume  of  cinder  to  remove  them  during 
the  second  stage  of  the  operation.  The  better  way  in  this  case  is 
to  make  the  first  slag  rich  enough  in  lime  to  carry  a  good  propor- 
tion of  phosphoric  acid  and  sulphur,  and  liquid  enough  to  pour 
well.  The  second  slag  can  then  be  made  from  fresh  lime,  and  it 
will  be  evident  that  it  will  more  readily  absorb  the  impurities  than 
a  cinder  which  is  already  partly  satisfied. 

SEC.  Xlm. — Automatic  formation  of  a  slag  of  ja  given  chemical 
composition. — In  such  practice  there  might  appear  to  be  a  dim- 


THE   BASIC   OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS.  299 

culty  in  properly  regulating  the  composition  of  the  second  slag, 
but  the  records  in  Tables  XI-H  and  XI-I  show  that  such  is  not  the 
case,  for,  in  the  heats  there  given,  a  part  of  the  slag  was  removed 
soon  after  melting.  Quite  a  difference  will  be  found  between  the 
first  and  second  slags,  but  this  is  because  the  first  slag  was  pur- 
posely made  high  in  silica  in  order  to  save  lime.  When  it  is  re- 
quired to  maintain  a  similar  composition  throughout  the  heat,  it 
can  be  done  in  basic  as  well  as  in  acid  practice,  as  shown  by  the 
average  slag  analyses  of  27  heats  in  Table  XI-L. 

TABLE  XI-L. 
Average  Slag  Analyses  of  Twenty-seven  Basic  Open-Hearth  Heats. 


Slag. 

Composition,  per  cent. 

SiO2. 

Pa06. 

CaO. 

FeO. 

A.fter  melting  

14.35 
12.40 

15.53 
13.73 

45.07 
45.40 

9.00 
12.60 

Before  tapping  

Four-fifths  of  the  lime  was  added  with  the  charge,  and  the  re- 
mainder, together  with  400  pounds  of  ore,  was  used  after  melting, 
but  in  spite  of  the  incorporation  of  this  basic  material  into  the  slag 
during  the  interval  between  the  two  stages  at  which  the  samples 
were  taken,  it  will  be  seen  that  by  careful  supervision  and  through 
the  action  of  the  internal  chemical  forces,  a  remarkably  uniform 
composition  was  maintained,  which  proves  conclusively  that  the 
manipulations  of  the  basic  process  may  be  as  completely  under 
control  as  the  operations  upon  the  acid  hearth. 

SEC.  XIn. — Recarburization  and  rephosphorization. — Kecarburi- 
zation  is  carried  on  in  the  same  way  as  in  acid  work,  and  is  subject 
to  the  same  general  laws.  A  complicating  condition  is  often  added 
when  either  the  stock  or  the  ore  contains  any  considerable  propor- 
tion of  manganese,  for  the  decarburized  metal  may  then  hold  as 
much  as  .20  or  .30  per  cent,  of  Mn.  Not  only  must  this  be  allowed 
for  in  making  the  final  addition,  but  it  will  also  be  found  that  the 
bath  contains  less  oxygen  under  these  circumstances,  and  therefore 
there  will  be  less  loss  of  metallic  manganese  during  the  reaction. 

In  basic  practice  there  is  a  factor  not  present  in  acid  work,  in 
the  danger  of  rephosphorization,  or  the  return  of  phosphorus  from 
slag  to  metal.  In  the  basic  Bessemer  this  is  a  source  of  consider- 
able trouble,  but  in  the  open-hearth  the  recarburizer  is  almost 


300  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

always  added  in  a  solid  state  and  the  metal  probably  contains  less- 
oxygen,  so  that  the  reaction  is  less  violent.  Moreover,  during  the 
solution  of  the  ferro,  the  slag  is  constantly  at  work  with  its  de- 
phosphorizing influence,  so  that  the  sum  total  of  the  reactions  may 
even  show  a  decrease  in  phosphorus.  Other  things  being  equal,  it 
would  seem  probable  that  a  slag  containing  a  high  percentage  of 
phosphoric  acid  will  hold  this  component  less  firmly  than  a  purer 
cinder,  and  I  have  tried  to  illustrate  this  point*  by  experiments, 
the  results  of  which  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 

(1)  With  slags  containing  under  5  per  cent.  P205  and  not  over 
20  per  cent.  Si02,  the  rephosphorization  need  not  exceed  .01  nor 
average  over  zero  per  cent. 

(2)  With  slags  containing  from  5  to  10  per  cent.  P205  and  not 
over  19  per  cent.  Si02,  the  rephosphorization  need  not  exceed  .015 
nor  average  over  .005  per  cent. 

(3)  With  slags  containing  from  10  to  15  per  cent.  P205  and  not 
over  17  per  cent.  Si02,  the  rephosphorization  need  not  exceed  .02 
nor  average  over  .005  per  cent. 

(4)  With  slags  containing  from  15  to  20  per  cent.  P205  and  not 
over  12  per  cent.  Si02,  the  rephosphorization  need  not  exceed  .02 
nor  average  over  .01  per  cent. 

In  using  phosphoric  stock  it  is  not  safe  to  presuppose  the  elimi- 
nation of  phosphorus  below  .04  per  cent,  until  the  carbon  has  been 
lowered  to  about  .08  per  cent.  Hence,  to  make  rail  steel  it  is  neces- 
sary to  eliminate  the  carbon  to  that  point  and  then  add  the  required 
amount  of  recarburizer,  as  in  the  Bessemer  process.  It  is  imprac- 
ticable to  use  melted  spiegel-iron  in  open-hearth  practice,  unless 
there  are  a  great  number  of  furnaces,  because  the  charges  come  so 
irregularly  and  at  such  long  intervals  that  a  cupola  becomes  chilled, 
but  it  has  been  found  possible  to  add  finely  divided  carbon  in  the 
ladle,  its  absorption  by  the  metal  being  so  rapid  that  the  results  are 
quite  regular. 

Several  ways  of  doing  this  have  been  devised,  the  most  successful 
of  which  has  been  very  fully  described  by  Dr.  Wedding,  f  Pow- 
dered "anthracite"  coal  is  mixed  with  about  7  per  cent,  of  burned 
lime  and  with  sufficient  water  to  make  a  plastic  mass,  and  is  then 
formed  into  bricks.  These  are  dried  thoroughly  to  expel  all  the 

*  The  Open-Hearth  Process.     Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  VoJ.  XXII,  p.  484. 
t  Stahl  und  Eisen.     1894,  pp.  473  and  533  ;  also  1895,  p.  570. 


THE   BASIC   OPEN-HEARTH   PROCESS.  301 

uncombined  water,  and  are  then  ready  to  be  fed  into  the  ladle  as 
the  heat  is  poured. 

The  escape  of  the  combined  water  in  the  lime  causes  the  bricks 
to  crumble  to  pieces  when  in  contact  with  the  melted  steel,  but  this 
crumbling  is  gradual,  so  that  the  carbon  is  fed  to  the  metal  con- 
tinuously and  the  bath  is  able  to  absorb  it  as  fast  as  it  is  set  free. 
This  moisture  also  creates  a  constant  motion  of  the  bricks  and  acts 
-as  a  mechanical  stirrer. 

It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  the  kind  of  coal  which  is  re- 
ferred to  by  Dr.  Wedding  is  a  rather  hard  bituminous  coal  and 
not  at  all  what  is  known  as  "anthracite"  in  America,  and  that  the 
practice  at  different  works  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  coke  dust 
or  other  similar  forms  of  carbon  answer  equally  well. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

SPECIAL  METHODS  OF  MANUFACTURE  AND  SOME  ITEMS  AFFECTING 

THE  COST. 

SEC.  Xlla. — The  manufacture  of  low  phosphorus  acid  open- 
hearth  steel  at  Steelton. — The  early  history  of  the  open-hearth  in 
the  United  States  is  confined  entirely  to  the  making  of  acid  steel, 
very  little  basic  metal  being  made  until  after  1890.  A  large  pro- 
portion of  the  output  went  into  boiler  plate  and  quite  a  quantity 
into  forgings,  while  there  was  a  considerable  tonnage  of  high  carbon 
steel,  which  was  ultimately  sold  under  the  name  of  "cast  steel," 
this  term  being  perfectly  truthful  in  one  sense  and  entirely  un- 
truthful in  another,  as  it  was  intended  to  convey  the  idea  that  the 
metal  was  made  in  a  crucible. 

The  ordinary  grades  of  boiler  steel  and  forgings  were  made  of 
stock  running  from  .08  to  .10  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  while  metal 
for  fire  boxes  and  special  forgings,  as  well  as  some  of  the  high 
carbon  steel,  was  made  of  low-phosphorus  stock,  usually  a  mixture 
of  Swedish  pig-iron  and  charcoal  blooms.  A  certain  quantity  of 
low-phosphorus  pig-iron  was  made  in  America,  and  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  acid  epoch  a  considerable  quantity  was  manufac- 
tured of  what  is  known  as  "washed  metal."  This  is  made  by  treat- 
ing melted  pig-iron  in  a  furnace  lined  with  iron  ore  and  lime  and 
eliminating  most  of  the  silicon,  sulphur  and  phosphorus  and  about 
half  the  carbon.  The  pig-iron  is  the  same  grade  as  is  used  in  the 
basic  open-hearth  furnace,  and  the  "washed  metal"  process  is  essen- 
tially the  same  as  the  basic  open-hearth  process  of  to-day.  It 
differs  from  it  in  the  following  particulars: 

(1)  In  the  basic  open-hearth  furnace,  the  bottom  is  made  as 
durable  as  possible  and  it  is  desired  that  it  shall  not  be  cut  away 
by  the  action  of  the  metal  and  slag.  The  iron  ore  needed  to 
oxidize  the  metalloids  and  the  lime  needed  to  make  a  basic  slag  are 
both  added  with  the  charge,  and  the  reactions  take  place  in  a 

302 


METHODS    OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST.  303 

definite  way  very  similar  to  the  fusions  made  by  a  chemist  in  a 
platinum  crucible,  the  crucible  playing  no  part  in  the  reaction.  In 
the  washed  metal  process  the  bottom  is  not  durable,  but  is  intended 
to  be  the  source  of  supply  of  the  ore  and  lime  needed  to  oxidize  the 
metalloids  and  to  supply  a  basic  slag. 

(2)  The  washed  metal  furnace  is  not  allowed  to  reach  a  very 
high  temperature,  because  the  slag  is  not  stable  and  at  a  higher 
temperature  the  hearth  would  be  cut  away,  the  reactions  would  be 
more  violent  and  the  phosphorus  would  leave  the  slag  and  go  back 
into  the  metal.     In  the  open-hearth  furnace  the  phosphorus  does 
not  go  back,  because  the  slag  is  stable,  by  which  is  meant  that  it 
contains  a  sufficient  proportion  of  lime  to  make  a  permanent  com- 
pound with  the  phosphorus  so  that  it  is  not  readily  reduced  by 
carbon.     Such  a  slag  needs  a  high  temperature  for  complete  fusion 
and  this  temperature  cannot  well  be  carried  in  the  washed  metal 
furnace. 

(3)  The  washed  metal  furnace  is  tapped  when  the  metal  con- 
tains about  2  per  cent,  of  carbon,  because  if  the  carbon  be  run 
down  any  lower  a  much  higher  temperature  would  be  needed,  and 
because  this  kind  of  product  suits  the  demands  of  the  trade. 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  standard  low-phosphorus  open-hearth 
steel  of  former  days  was  made  from  either  low-phosphorus  pig- 
iron  and  charcoal  blooms  or  washed  metal  and  charcoal  blooms, 
and  it  has  been  shown  that  this  washed  metal  was  the  product  of  a 
basic  process.  The  charcoal  blooms  were  also  of  basic  origin, 
because  they  were  made  in  a  primitive  Tubal  Cain  sort  of  way  by 
the  action  of  a  basic  oxidizing  slag  on  melted  metal. 

After  the  general  introduction  of  the  basic  open-hearth  process 
it  became  possible  to  buy  in  the  open  market  a  supply  of  low- 
phosphorus  steel  scrap  at  a  very  moderate  price,  and  this  steel 
scrap  rapidly  took  the  place  of  the  high-priced  charcoal  blooms 
and  practically  stopped  their  manufacture.  Thus  while  the  ad- 
vent of  the  basic  open-hearth  furnace  rendered  it  possible  to  pro- 
duce a  low-phosphorus  steel  very  much  cheaper  than  it  had  ever 
been  produced  before,  it  also  cheapened  the  cost  of  low-phosphorus 
acid  open-hearth  steel  by  giving  it  cheap  scrap. 

This  is  true,  however,  only  to  a  certain  extent,  for  the  basic 
furnaces  themselves  need  scrap  and  use  most  of  the  available 
supply.  Moreover,  the  different  plants  for  making  steel  castings 


304  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

are  always  in  the  market,  and  some  of  the  plate  mills  use  steel  plate 
scrap  to  pile  with  puddled  iron  to  make  wrought-iron  plate,  so 
that  it  is  difficult  to  find  sufficient  low-phosphorus  scrap  to  keep  a 
large  acid  open-hearth  plant  in  continual  operation,  and  even  if 
this  could  be  done,  the  low-phosphorus  pig-iron,  which  must  be 
used,  costs  from  three  to  five  dollars  per  ton  more  than  the  ordi- 
nary Bessemer  grade. 

In  order  to  overcome  these  commercial  difficulties  we  have  intro- 
duced at  the  works  of  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  an  adapta- 
tion of  the  old  washed  metal  process.  The  pig-iron  is  charged, 
either  liquid  or  solid,  in  a  basic  lined  furnace  and  almost  all  of 
the  silicon  and  phosphorus  and  part  of  the  sulphur  and  carbon  are 
eliminated.  At  this  stage  of  the  proceeding  it  is  washed  metal, 
and  in  olden  times  would  have  been  run  out  in  chills,  cooled  off 
and  afterward  charged  into  the  acid  furnace,  but  in  this  new 
practice  it  is  poured  into  a  ladle,  and,  while  still  fluid,  is  poured 
directly  into  the  acid  furnace.  A  certain  amount  of  scrap  may  be 
used  in  the  basic  furnace,  or  in  the  acid  furnace,  or  in  both;  but 
the  main  point  is  to  have  no  basic  slag  enter  the  acid  furnace  and 
to  be  sure  that  the  dephosphorized  metal,  when  it  goes  into  that 
furnace,  shall  contain  as  much  carbon  as  is  usually  present  in  an 
acid  bath  after  the  stock  is  melted.  We  thus  have  the  transferred 
•charge  starting  off  on  its  acid  journey  in  just  the  same  condition 
it  would  have  been  in  if  it  had  been  melted  in  the  acid  furnace,  bo 
that  the  reaction,  the  slag,  and  the  whole  history  from  that  moment, 
-are  the  reactions,  the  slag  and  the  history  of  the  acid  open-hearth 
furnace. 

This  practice  is  not  feasible  in  most  open-hearth  plants,  since 
no  arrangements  are  usually  provided  for  transferring  metal  in 
this  way,  but  the  demands  of  engineers  for  pure  acid  open-hearth 
steel  made  it  necessary  to  equip  a  plant  to  supply  this  special 
product  at  a  moderate  cost.  In  order  to  show  that  the  compo- 
sition of  the  metal  and  slag  in  the  transfer  process  is  the  same 
as  in  the  usual  acid  furnace,  I  had  samples  taken  from  the  bath 
during  different  stages  of  the  operation.  The  metal  was  tapped 
from  the  basic  furnace  when  it  contained  from  2.50  per  cent,  to 
3.50  per  cent,  of  carbon,  and  transferred  in  a  molten  state  to  the 
acid  furnace.  When  the  carbon  was  about  1.00  per  cent,  the 
taking  of  samples  was  begun.  It  is  seldom  that  a  charge  in  an 


METHODS    OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST. 


305 


acid  furnace  is  higher  than  this  when  it  is  melted,  so  that  the 
records  may  fairly  be  compared  with  the  ordinary  acid  heat  after 
complete  fusion. 

TABLE  XII-A. 

Composition  of  Metal  and  Slag  in  the  Acid  Furnace  when  Washed 
Metal  is  Transferred  in  a  Molten  State  from  a  Basic  to  ail 
Apid  Furnace. 

Note  :     Samples  over  1.10  per  cent,  in  carbon  omitted. 


Heat 
No. 

Composition  of  Metal,  per  cent. 

Composition  of  Slag,  per  cent. 

C 

Si 

S 

P 

SiO2 

MnO. 

FeO 

MnO+FeO 

SiOa+MnO-f- 
FeO 

A  . 

1  00 

02 

.033 

.025 

50  .  57 

12.  16 

00    f\A 

A  A    OA 

f\4     17-7 

.71 

.01 

!037 

!025 

49^91 

11.'  08 

O^.UT: 

32  58 

44.  zO 
43.66 

y4.  // 
93.57 

.30 

.03 

.037 

.029 

55.76 

9.75 

28.05 

37.80 

93.56 

.19 

.02 

.033 

.025 

55.44 

9.22 

30.15 

39.37 

94.81 

B  

.80 

.03 

.025 

009 

47.71 

3.46 

44.64 

JQ   in 

OK    01 

.31 

.03 

.020 

.008 

53^90 

4^30 

3?!  62 

rro.  ±U 

41.92 

yo.oJ. 
95.82 

.21 

.02 

.021 

.008 

51.50 

7.67 

35.55 

43.22 

94.72 

o 

95 

02 

.020 

.019 

51.08 

12  94 

OQ    7Q 

Afy    f?o 

QQ    C1 

.70 

.02 

!020 

.019 

45^38 

9!04 

zy  /y 
40.05 

t—  .  /'» 

49.09 

yo.o.L 
94.47 

.54 

.03 

.021 

.022 

50  01 

9.10 

35.55 

44.65 

94.66 

.23 

.03 

.020 

.021 

52.61 

10.92 

30.87 

41.79 

94.40 

D  

.77 

.03 

.026 

.010 

53.52 

10.92 

28.98 

39.90 

93.42 

.45 

.03 

.029 

.011 

52.22 

8.34 

32.58 

40.92 

93.14 

.31 

.03 

.029 

.012 

52.50 

7.36 

36.54 

43.90 

96.40 

E  

.90 

.02 

.040 

.034 

51.82 

6.52 

37.44 

43.96 

95.78 

.60 

.01 

.034 

.031 

50.27 

7.44 

38.79 

46.23 

96.50 

.17 

.02 

.034 

.030 

51.66 

5.51 

39.51 

45.02 

96.68 

F   .... 

1.09 

02 

.027 

.008 

42  .  50 

9.89 

41  76' 

51  65 

94  15 

.72 

.02 

!027 

!oos 

51/20 

io!i7 

33!  75 

43^92 

95!  12 

.24 

.02 

.027 

.008 

56.61 

9.60 

29.61 

39.21 

95.82 

G  

.75 

.01 

.028 

.010 

46.95 

11.46 

39.24 

50.70 

97.65 

.46 

.01 

.028 

.010 

51.02 

10.44 

33.93 

44.37     • 

95.39 

.26 

.01 

.029 

.010 

54.80 

11.58 

28.17 

39.75 

94.55 

H  

.95 

.01 

.022 

.026 

42.21 

14.34 

37.98 

52.32 

94.53 

.62 

.02 

.024 

.030 

49.66 

12.65 

32.65 

45.30 

94.96 

•   .25 

.02 

.023 

.028 

50.28 

11.72 

31.41 

43.13 

93.41 

I 

70 

02 

.030 

.011 

45.16 

15.14 

35.46 

50.60 

95  76 

.43 

.02 

!028 

!oio 

47.65 

9.'  89 

36^99 

46.88 

94.53 

.22 

.03 

.029 

.011 

57.23 

9.36 

26.91 

36.27 

93.50 

The  results  on  nine  heats  are  given  in  Table  XII-A,  and  they 
may  be  compared  with  figures  given  in  Table  X-B.  This  latter 
table  shows,  under  Group  I,  the  composition  of  slag  and  metal  as 
found  some  years  ago  in  an  acid  furnace  running  on  the  usual 
pig,  scrap  and  ore  process.  A  comparison  of  the  results  is  shown  in 
Table  XII-B. 


306  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

TABLE  XII-B. 
Comparison  of  Data  in  Tables  X-B  and  XII-A. 


Group  I. 
Table  X-B 

Transferred  Steel. 

After  Melting        ..... 

.54 
50.24 
45.58 
95.82 
.13 
49.40 
46.29 
95.69 

Min.       Max. 
.70  to    1.09 
42.21  to  53.52 
42.73  to  52.32 
93.42  to  97.65 
.17  to      .31 
49.40  to  50.28 
36.27  to  45.02 
93.41  to  96.68 

Av. 

.88 
47.95 
47.13 
95.08 
.23 
53.62 
41.3u 
94.92 

8iO2  in  slag  

End  of  Operation  

FeO+MnO  
SiOa+FeO+MnO  

Carbon  in  meta  

SiO2  in  slag    . 

FeO+MnO 

SiOa+FeO+MnO  '  

It  should  be  stated  that  the  last  sample  was  not  always  taken 
just  before  tapping.  Thus  in  heat  D,  Table  XII-A,  the  final 
carbon  was  not  .31  per  cent.,  but  the  last  sample  was  taken  at 
that  point  and  for  the  purposes  of  the  investigation,  this,  was 
deemed  sufficient.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  composition  of  tho 
slag,  both  at  the  earlier  periods  and  at  the  later  epoch,  corresponds 
closely  to  that  taken  in  former  experiments,  and  if  samples  had 
been  taken  with  lower  carbons  so  as  to  correspond  with  the  .13  per 
cent,  in  Group  I,  Table  X-B,  it  is  likely  that  there  would  have 
been  even  a  still  closer  resemblance,  as  the  percentages  of  metallic 
oxides  would  probably  have  increased. 

SEC.  Xllb. — -The  pig  and  ore  "basic  process. — In  the  year  1901 
the  "United  States  produced  3,618,993  tons  of  basic,  open-hearth 
steel,  while  in  the  year  1895,  when  this  book  first  appeared,  the 
total  production  of  acid  and  basic  open-hearth  steel  put  together 
was  only  1,137,182  tons,  and  in  1894  the  total  was  784,936  tons. 
The  great  increase  was  caused  by  an  enormous  expansion  in  the 
field  of  structural  work.  This  field  rapidly  extended,  owing  to  the 
cheapness  of  the  material  and  to  various  other  causes,  among 
which  might  be  mentioned  the  invention  of  steel  skeleton  office 
buildings,  and  the  demand  for  heavier  railroad  bridges  caused  by 
heavier  rolling  stock.  The  introduction  of  steel  cars  also  accounts 
for  a  very  great  demand,  as  well  as  the  phenomenal  growth  of  the 
tin  plate  business,  while  many  smaller  industries  like  the  making 
of  car  springs  constitute  in  the  aggregate  a  tonnage  which  can 
hardly  be  credited. 

In  early  days  the  open-hearth  furnace  looked  for  its  supply  of 
scrap  to  the  mills  that  rolled  Bessemer  ingots,  but  since  1879,  when 


METHODS    OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST.  307 

the  open-hearth  first  began  to  be  an  important  producer,  the  output 
of  Bessemer  steel  has  increased  only  tenfold,  while  the  product  of 
the  melting  furnace  has  increased  ninety  fold. 

With  this  enormous  increase  in  product  there  is  naturally  a 
demand  for  melting  scrap,  which  in  some  localities  cannot  always 
be  supplied.  It  is  a  common  belief  that  a  basic  furnace  can  handle 
anything  that  may  be  picked  up  in  a  junk  yard,  but  experience 
teaches  that  while  it  is  undeniably  true  that  it  can  do  so,  it  teaches 
just  as  undeniably  that  there  is  no  economy  in  using  bad  material 
unless  it  can  be  bought  for  a  much  lower  price  per  ton.  In  some  for- 
eign countries  the  only  pig-iron  available  is  one  containing  a  high 
percentage  of  phosphorus.  When  there  is  plenty  of  steel  scrap  to 
mix  with  such  an  iron,  it  can  be  used  without  much  trouble,  but 
when  it  must  be  used  alone  the  product  of  the  furnace  is  lessened 
materially  and  the  cost  greatly  increased.  In  America  there  is 
no  incentive  to  use  a  high  phosphorus  mixture,  except  in  the  Ala- 
bama district  and  in  Cape  Breton.  The  ores  of  the  Lake  Superior 
region  furnish  an  iron  which  is  so  low  in  phosphorus  that  this 
element  is  always  eliminated  in  the  basic  furnace  to  below  .04  per 
cent.,  which  is  the  established  standard,  but  in  using  the  irons  of 
Alabama,  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  much  care  is  necessary  or  the 
steel  may  hold  more  than  the  allowable  amount.  The  phosphorus 
problem  is  one  which  can  be  met  by  careful  attention  to  the  slag, 
by  seeing  that  it  receives  sufficient  lime,  that  it  is  rendered  fluid 
by  iron  oxide,  and  that  it  is  in  sufficient  quantity  to  hold  the 
phosphorus  in  a  state  of  stable  combination.  » 

The  removal  of  phosphorus  is  a  local  issue,  in  which  some  dis- 
tricts have  no  interest,  but  the  question  of  working  a  large  pro- 
portion of  pig-iron  is  one  which  nearly  all  large  works  are  some- 
times driven  to  face.  In  an  ordinary  stationary  furnace  the  use 
of  an  entire  charge  of  pig-iron  is  very  objectionable  on  account 
of  the  excessive  frothing  of  the  metal  and  slag.  From  the  time 
that  the  metal  is  thoroughly  melted,  when  it  may  contain  about 
3  per  cent,  of  carbon,  until  the  proportion  is  reduced  to  about 
li/2  per  cent.,  the  bath  resembles  soda  water  more  than  pig-iron, 
and  it  tries  to  flow  out  of  the  doors  and  to  occupy  about  twice  the 
room  it  should. 

In  Steelton  we  have  solved  the  difficulty  caused  by  this  frothing 
by  using  the  tilting  furnace  rotating  about  a  central  axis.  (See 
Section  Vllld.)  The  pig-iron  is  brought  in  a  melted  state  from  the 


308  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

blast  furnace  and  poured  into  the  open-hearth  furnace,  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  iron  ore  and  lime  being  added.  During  the  combustion 
of  silicon  no  violent  reaction  occurs,  but  immediately  afterward  a 
general  movement  takes  place,  whereupon  the  furnace  is  tipped  over 
until  the  metal  is  thrown  away  from  the  doors  and  up  on  the  back 
side.  In  this  way  the  capacity  of  the  furnace  is  practically  doubled, 
while  the  flame  enters  and  goes  out  as  usual.  The  furnace  is  kept 
in  this  position  for  two  or  three  hours,  or  longer,  until  the  bath 
has  quieted  down.  Meanwhile  the  slag  is  trying  to  froth  out  of 
the  ends  of  the  furnace  and  down  the  ports,  but  to  do  so  it  must 
flow  over  the  open  joint  between  the  port  and  the  furnace.  This 
joint  is  not  wide,  but  special  provision  is  made  to  allow  the  slag  to 
run  out  through  a  small  hole  and  fall  down  beneath  the  end  of 
the  furnace  in  a  slag  pit.  In  this  way  a  very  considerable  quantity 
is  removed  and  the  time  of  operation  considerably  lessened. 

At  some  works  the  slag  is  removed  by  means  of  a  small  tap-hole 
or  through  the  regular  door,  but  under  these  circumstances  the 
stream  continually  chills  and  must  be  carefully  tended.  In  the 
arrangement  above  described  there  is  little  tendency  to  chill,  for 
the  flame  is  constantly  playing  back  and  forth  through  the  ports 
and  the  slag  opening  is  in  the  immediate  course  of  the  hottest 
flame.  This  practice  of  using  direct  metal  has  been  in  more  or 
less  continuous  use  for  several  years  on  furnaces  of  fifty  tons 
capacity.  Working  in  this  way  the  iron  of  the  ore  is  reduced  in 
such  quantity  that  the  product  of  steel,  counting  both  ingots  and 
scrap,  exceeds  the  weight  of  pig-iron  charged  by  from  4  to  6  per 
cent,  when  the  charge  is  entirely  pig-iron. 

There  is  nothing  new  in  this  practice,  the  only  feature  which 
distinguishes  it  from  work  done  at  many  other  places  at  many 
times  in  the  past  being  the  use  of  a  tipping  furnace  rotating 
round  a  central  axis.  With  the  Wellman  furnace  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  tip  the  furnace  in  the  manner  described,  and  while  this 
would  not  prevent  the  use  of  melted  pig-iron  for  the  entire  charge. 
it  would  materially  increase  the  difficulties  unless  the  furnace 
were  charged  to  only  half  its  capacity.  It  is  not  necessary  that 
the  iron  should  be  brought  in  a  melted  state  from  the  blast  furnace, 
as  the  same  general  line  of  procedure  can  be  followed  when  it  is 
charged  cold.  Table  XII-C  shows  the  results  obtained  from  two 
series  of  heats,  in  one  of  which  most  of  the  metal  was  charged 
cold,  while  in  the  other  the  metal  was  all  fluid.  In  these  series 


METHODS    OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST. 


309 


especial  care  was  taken  to  have  the  weights  accurate  and  to  know  the 
composition  and  the  weight  of  the  slag  produced.  I  do  not  con- 
sider that  any  results  on  loss  are  worthy  serious  study  unless  the 
exact  amount  of  pure  metallic  iron  put  into  the  furnace  is  known 
and  unless  this  equals  the  weight  of  metallic  iron  in  the  ingots,  the 
scrap  and  the  slag.  In  addition  to  this  it  is  well  to  know  the  total 
amount  of  CaOput  into  the  furnace  in  the  form  of  limestone,  burned 
lime  or  dolomite,  and  see  whether  this  agrees  with  the  amount  of 
CaO  which  is  indicated  by  the  weight  and  composition  of  the  slag. 
In  the  following  two  series  these  conditions  were  attained  and  the 
amount  of  CaO  used  was  found  to  check  the  records  of  the  slag, 
while  the  balance  sheet  of  metallic  iron  agrees  within  one-fifth  of 
one  per  cent.  In  individual  heats  no  such  accuracy  can  be  ob- 
tained, and  it  is  often  impossible  on  a  series  of  heats,  as  the  wear- 
ing of  the  hearth  or  the  accumulation  of  slag  will  give  a  gain  or  a 
loss.  In  Table  XII-C  the  term  "first  slag"  signifies  that  which 
flows  through  the  port  opening,  and  is  thus  removed  entirely  from 
the  furnace  during  the  progress  of  the  operation,  while  "second 
slag"  means  the  final  cinder  as  it  comes  from  the  furnace  at  the 
time  of  tapping : 

;:  * ;  TABLE  XII-C. 

Eecord  of  "All-Pig"  Basic  Open-Hearth  Heats  at  Steelton. x 


First  Series. 
Pounds. 

Second  Series. 
Pounds. 

Li 
Ir 
Ir 
R< 

! 

Oi 

In 

Sc 

*     ' 

Fi 

Se 

- 

quid  metal  (1.4  per  cent.  Si).  .  . 

156.200 
352,210 
36.020 
3,600 

405,287 

^carburizer  .            

4,725 

Total  metal  charged  

548,030 
144,100 

551,200 
13,800 

410,012 
116,300 

429.000 
1,355 

e  (66  3  per  cent  Fe) 

orotS 

rap  

565,000 

27,130 
17,140 

430,355 

73,600 
41,500 

rst  slag                              

cond  slag  

Total  slag  ,  

44,270 

115,100 

• 

Composition  of  first  slag  •!  CaO.  .  .  . 
FeO.... 
810,.... 
Composition  of  second  slag.  .  4  CaO.  .  .  - 
/FeO.... 

24.04       23.67 
11.84       18.14 
41.63       45.00 
11.78       16.14 
41.90       37.26 
26.93       25.94 

310  METALLURGY   OF    IRON   AND   STEEL. 

Taking  as  a  basis  the  weight  of  pig-iron  and  recarburizer,  the 
weight  of  ingots  and  scrap  together  was  103.1  per  cent,  in  the 
case  of  the  cold  metal,  and  104.95  per  cent,  with  liquid  metal. 
These  figures,  of  course,  neglect  entirely  the  weight  of  ore  charged, 
but  it  is  customary  to  speak  of  such  practice  by  saying  that  the 
gains  were  3.1  per  cent,  and  4.95  per  cent,  respectively.  This  sub- 
ject will  be  again  referred  to  in  other  sections  of  this  chapter. 

In  the  case  of  the  cold  pig,  the  first  and  second  slags  together 
carried  away  7.3  per  cent,  of  all  the  metallic  iron  put  into  the 
furnace,  including  the  iron  in  the  ore.  In  the  case  of  the  melted 
iron,  this  loss  was  7.4  per  cent.  The  silicon  in  the  pig-iron  was 
1.4  per  cent.,  which  is  rather  high  for  basic  practice.  Had  it 
been  lower  there  would  have  been  less  silica  produced,  less  lime 
would  have  been  necessary,  less  slag  would  have  been  produced,  and 
less  iron  would  have  been  lost  in  the  cinder.  The  slag  is  not 
exactly  proportionate  to  the  silicon  in  the  iron,  as  there  are  other 
sources  from  which  silica  is  supplied,  but  it  seems  from  calculation 
that  had  the  silicon  in  the  pig-iron  been  reduced  one-half,  to  a 
content  of  0.70  per  cent.,  the  volume  of  slag  would  have  been 
only  two-thirds  as  much,  and  this  would  mean  that  it  would  carry 
away  less  than  5  per  cent,  of  the  total  iron  in  the  charge,  which 
would  mean  a  gain  of  2.5  per  cent,  in  the  weight  of  ingots  over 
the  actual  practice  and  give  a  total  gain  in  weight  of  7.5  per  cent. 
It  is  true  that  less  ore  would  be  required  with  lower  silicon,  but  on 
the  other  hand,  a  lower  percentage  of  silicon  means  a  higher  con- 
tent of  metallic  iron  in  the  pig-iron,  which  is  bound  to  show  itself 
in  a  greater  product.  The  practice  of  using  direct  metal  in  an 
open-hearth  furnace  is  one  in  which  the  open-hearth  is  only  hall 
the  operation.  The  blast  furnace  is  the  other  half,  and  the  cost 
sheet  of  both  must  be  considered  in  making  up  the  cost  of  ingots. 

SEC.  XIIc. — The  T allot  Process. — The  last  section  described  the 
difficulties  encountered  in  the  use  of  the  pig  and  ore  process  in  a 
furnace  that  cannot  be  tilted  while  in  operation,  like  the  ordinary 
stationary  hearth  or  the  Wellman  type.  A  way  of  overcoming 
this  trouble  has  been  carried  out  by  Mr.  Talbot  at  the  Pencoyd 
Iron  Works,  at  Philadelphia.*  The  pig-iron  is  melted  in  a  cupola 
and  is  poured  into  a  Wellman  furnace.  When  the  charge  is  ready 
to  tap,  a  portion  of  the  steel,  and  a  portion  only,  is  poured  into 

•Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1906. 


METHODS    OF    MANUFACTURE,   AND    COST.  311 

the  ladle  and  cast  into  ingots.  The  remainder,  which  may  be  one- 
half  or  two-thirds  of  the  whole,  is  kept  in  the  furnace  and  a  new 
supply  of  cupola  iron  is  added  to  it.  .  Taking  the  case  of  a  50-ton 
furnace  and  assuming  that  thirty  tons  of  low  carbon  metal  is 
retained  and  twenty  tons  of  pig-iron  added,  it  is  clear  that  the 
average  of  the  new  bath  will  contain  about  1.5  per  cent,  of  carbon, 
which  will  be  quite  a  manageable  mixture. 

A  point  in  this  practice  which  might  trouble  the  average  open- 
hearth  man  is  the  impossibility  of  repairing  the  lower  portion  of 
the  hearth,  or  even  of  knowing  what  condition  it  is  in.  The  slag 
line  can  be  repaired  after  part  of  the  charge  has  been  removed,  but 
the  lower  part  of  the  bottom  is  always  covered  by  liquid  metal. 
It  is  claimed,  however,  that  this  covering  of  steel  acts  as  a  protec- 
tion by  keeping  away  the  slag  and  oxide  of  iron,  and  that  no 
repairs  are  necessary  to  the  "flat." 

Considerable  stress  is  laid  on  the  addition  of  iron  oxide  before 
the  addition  of  pig-iron  in  order  to  create  a  violent  reaction  and 
quickly  oxidize  the  metalloids,  and  it  is  even  claimed  by  Mr.  Tal- 
bot  that  this  oxidation  produces  heat  and  is  thus  an  important  fac- 
tor in  the  operation.  It  will  be  shown  in  Section  Xlle  that  this 
is  a.  great  mistake  and  that  the  reaction  absorbs  much  energy. 
Were  it  not  so,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  eliminating  silicon 
and  carbon  in  the  open-hearth  furnace  by  ordinary  methods,  for  a 
charge  can  be  decarburized  with  great  rapidity  by  shoveling  ore 
into  the  furnace  continually;  the  reactions  take  place  and  the 
silicon  and  carbon  are  oxidized  as  fast  as  can  be  desired,  but  this 
cannot  be  continued  because  there  is  such  an  absorption  of  heat 
that  the  bath  becomes  cold  and  time  must  be  given  for  it  to  get  hot. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  time  necessary  for  decarburization 
can  be  shortened  by  preheating  and  melting  the  ore,  and  having  a 
sudden  and  violent  reaction  with  a  consequent  chilling.  The  de- 
carburization itself  will  take  place  in  much  less  time,  but  the 
total  time  necessary  to  melt  the  ore,  to  complete  the  reaction,  and 
to  heat  up  the  charge  after  the  reaction  will  probably  be  longer 
than  if  the  ore  were  added  after  the  pig-iron  is  charged. 

Table  XII-D  is  condensed  from  Mr.  Talbot's  paper  showing  the 
history  of  the  metal  and  slag  in  the  furnace.  There  are  five  heats 
given  in  full  in  his  paper  and  one  other  heat  in  part,  but  I  have 
moted  only  two,  as  they  are  fairly  representative  of  all  those  de- 
pr-ribed.  The  heats  given  by  Mr.  Talbot  are  not  consecutive,  and 


312 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


it  is  only  natural  to  suppose  that  he  selected  those  which  ran  along 
without  any  mishaps.  It  is  also  natural  to  suppose  that  the  gen- 
eral average  would  show  a  somewhat  less  output  per  hour  of  actual 
operation.  This  supposition  is  corroborated  by  the  information 
given  in  the  paper  on  the  results  from  two  weeks'  work,  for  while 
the  average  of  the  five  heats  indicates  an  output  of  92  tons  per 
day,  the  record  for  a  fortnight  gives  an  average  of  only  493  tons 
per  week,  which  if  continued  would  give  2136  tons  in  a  month. 

TABLE  XII-D. 
Eeactions  in  the  Talbot  Process. 

Note :     For  convenience  I  have  started  both  heats  at  12  :00  o'clock. 


Time. 

Sample. 

Weight 
Ibs. 

Composition  of  Metal. 

Composition  of  Slag. 

C 

S 

P 

Mn 

Si 

Fe 

Si09 

PaO. 

MnO 

12:00 
12:30 
1:05 
1:10 
1:18 
1:20 
1:20 
1:35 
1:40 
1:47 
1:50 
1:50 
3:30 
3:30 
3:40 
4:30 
4:35 
4:40 
4:40 

12:00 
12:40 
1:10 
1:15 
1:25 
1:40 
1:45 
2:00 
2:05 
2:05 
3:50 
4:35 
4:40 
4:50 
4:55 

Heat  No.  254— 
Slag  from  previous  heat 
Scale 

10.49 

11.68 

13.26 

7.00 

3,600 
90,000 
23,700 
113.700 
2,200 
1,440 
113,700 
12000 
125,700 
2,500 
2,250 
1  100 

Bath  and  slag    

0.06 
3.80 
0.49 

.051 
.082 
.053 

.026 
1.012 
0.132 

0.08 
0.26 
0.15 

6!  18 

25.57 

8.68 

9.44 



Bath  and  slag  
Ore 

11.87 

12.10 

16.45 

Limestone    

0.38 
3.80 
0.71 

.056 
.065 
.057 

0.111 
0.980 
0.144 

0.14 
0.43 
0.14 

6.  '25 

10.39 

12.62 

17.05 



Cupola  iron  

Bath  and  slag           .     ' 

10.71 

12.32 

15.56 



Cinder 

Limestone           

Ore  

Limestone  

1,000 

Manganese  Ore  

800 
125,700 
3,000 
128,700 

0.07 
3.80 
0.11 
0.16 

.025 
.065 
.033 
.050 

0.035 
0.980 
0.041 
0.036 

0.17 
0.43 
0.18 
0.50 

6^25 

13.95 







Cupola  iron           

11.59 
11.81 

14.29 

Steel  and  slag  tapped  .... 

11.55 
11.70 

12.03 
12.03 

.7.83 
5.12 

Heat  No.  306— 
Slag  from  previous  heat. 
Sc-ile 

3,800 
95,000 
14,000 
109,000 
109,000 
17.200 
126,200 
2  300 

Bath  and  slag  

.06 
3.80 
0.11 
0.07 
3.80 
0.34 

.053 
.052 
.052 
.057 
.057 
.052 

0.045 
0.976 
0.062 
0.049 
1.004 
0.111 

0.06 
0.24 
0.06 
0.05 
0.26 
0.08 

oise 
o.'ss 

43  37 

5.18 

4.17 



Cupola  iron  
Bath  and  slag 

21.17 
23.16 

"l8".  05 

11.22 
9.95 

'12'.  08 

10.82 
9.83 

12'.  45 

.'.'.'.'!! 

Bath  and  slag  

Cupola  iron  
Bath  and  slag  

Cinder  

2,700 
400 
126  200 
6,100 
132,300 

Manganese  ore  

Bath  and  slag 

0.07 
3.80 
0.07 
0.14 

.049 
.057 
.047 
.050 

0.022 
1.004 
0.030 
0.038 

0.08 
0.26 
0.10 
0.45 

o!35 

21.54 







Cupola  iron  
Bath  and  sing   

16  28 

Steel  and  slag  tapped 

... 

18.39 

10.94 

12.26 

5.44 

It  is  stated  by  Mr.  Talbot  that  the  output  was  decreased  by  the 
necessity  of  repairing  the  cupola  at  the  week  end,  so  that  liquid 
iron  was  not  available  until  Monday  night,  the  furnace  being  run 
on  cold  stock  meanwhile.  I  can  hardly  look  upon  this  fact  as  of 


METHODS    OF    MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST.  313 

much  importance,  for  the  rate  of  output  with  liquid  metal  is  no 
greater  than  should  be  obtained  from  such  a  furnace  on  cold  stock. 
The  furnace  in  which  the  work  was  done  would  actually  hold  70 
tons,  as  shown  by  the  record  that  156,000  pounds  were  in  the 
furnace  at  one  period  of  the  operations,  and  also  by  the  direct 
statement  of  Mr.  Talbot  that  it  was  rated  at  75  tons  capacity. 
The  results  therefore  show  that  a  75-ton  furnace  can  make  steel 
at  the  rate  of  2100  gross  tons  per  month.  This  would  hardly 
seem  to  be  anything  extraordinary  and  more  than  one  works  is  now 
operating  furnaces  of  less  capacity  and  making  fully  as  much  or 
more  on  all  pig  heats.  Moreover,  it  is  not  always  that  open-hearth 
furnaces  are  supplied  with  iron  containing  only  0.58  per  cent,  of 
silicon,  this  being  the  average  of  all  the  iron  used  in  the  heats  cited 
by  Mr.  Talbot. 

The  statement  that  there  is  nothing  extraordinary  in  the  output 
of  the  Talbot  furnace  will  be  questioned  by  some,  for  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  paper  before  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  it  seemed 
to  be  assumed  that  there  was  something  unusual  in  the  records 
given  and  the  same  impression  is  conveyed  by  Mr.  Talbot.  Thus, 
in  some  remarks  on  the  paper,  I  stated  what  had  been  done  with 
direct  metal  at  Steelton,  and  Mr.  Talbot  asked  why  the  practice 
had.  not  been  continued  when  "such  a  splendid  opportunity  had 
been  presented  for  increasing  the  output."  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
I  had  not  stated  or  intimated  that  the  output  had  been  increased 
to  any  wonderful  extent,  for  we  had  done  nearly  as  well  on  cold 
metal.  Thus  I  find  a  time  in  1896  when  we  were  running  97.5 
per  cent,  of  cold  pig-iron  in  a  50-ton  furnace  and  the  output  was 
437  tons  in  one  week,  which  is  at  the  rate  of  1894  tons  per  month. 
It  is  not  possible  to  give  the  records  for  long  periods,  because  at 
other  times  a  larger  proportion  of  scrap  was  used.  This  fact  may 
explain  why  no  great  effort  was  made  to  separate  furnaces  so  that 
some  would  be  on  direct  metal  exclusively,  as  Mr.  Talbot  seemed  to 
think  so  advisable.  The  use  of  direct  metal  is  not  revolutionary, 
and  is  not  even  new;  it  is  advantageous  to  a  certain  extent,  but  it 
does  not  save  as  much  time  as  might  be  expected. 

In  the  same  way  it  will  not  do  to  lay  much  stress  on  the  gain  in 
weight  from  the  iron  ore,  which  is  brought  forward  so  prominently 
by  Mr.  Talbot.  It  is  a  mistake  to  regard  this  as  in  any  way  char- 
acteristic of  the  method.  Section  Xllg  will  take  up  at  length  the 


314 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


discussion  of  this  subject,  while  Sections  Xlle  and  Xllf  also  bear 
upon  the  matter. 

TABLE  XII-E. 

Data  on  Eate  of  Production  and  Elimination  of  Sulphur  in  Talbot 

Furnace. 


Heat. 

Rate  of  Production. 

Elimination  of  Sulphur. 

Weight  of  in- 
gots; Ibs. 

Time  from  tap 
to  tap. 
Hours-Min. 

Calculated  aver- 
age sulphur  in 
metal  charged. 

Sulphur  in  fin- 
ished steel. 

254       

S7.405 
39,100 
39,085 
37,410 
38,650 
191,650 
92  tons. 

3—50 
4-25 
4—40 
4—55 
4-30 
22—20 

.041 
.048 
.058 
.054 
.049 

.038 
.038 
.050 
.050 
.054 

264 

285  

306 

408  

Total 

Rate  per  24  hours.  . 

It  will  be  seen  from  Table  XII-E  that  there  was  very  little 
elimination  of  sulphur  in  any  of  the  heats.  This  shows  that  the 
slag  was  kept  fluid  and  not  very  basic,  and  under  these  conditions 
the  furnace  will  run  much  faster  and  make  more  product  than  if  a 
better  steel  is  made.  It  is  not  extra  good  practice  to  start  with 
iron  containing  only  0.58  per  cent,  of  silicon  and  .05  per  cent.*  of 
sulphur,  and  not  eliminate  any  of  the  latter  impurity.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact  three  out  of  the  five  heats  given  by  Mr.  Talbot  would 
not  fill  the  standard  American  specifications  for  boiler  plate. 

It  may  be  urged  that  there  was  no  necessity  of  elimination  when 
the  content  was  low  at  the  beginning.  This  reasoning,  however, 
will  hardly  apply  to  the  results  given  on  pages  59  and  61,*  where 
Mr.  Talbot  gives  the  results  of  two  weeks'  working  and  the  com- 
position of  fifty-five  heats  of  steel.  Of  these  the  sulphur  content 
was  as  follows : 

7  heats  between  .040  and  .049  per  cent. 

20  "  "       .050  "     .059 

21  "  "       .060  "     .069 
3       "  "       .070  "     .079 
3       "  "       .080  "     .089 
1  heat                                      .090 

If  the  slag  had  been  made  more  basic,  and  sufficient  time  allowed 
for  the  elimination  of  sulphur,  and  if  during  all  this  time  the 


LOG.  cit. 


METHODS   OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST.  315 

reactions  had  been  consummated  in  the  presence  of  this  more 
basic  and  more  viscous  and  more  voluminous  slag,  the  time  of  the 
charges  would  have  been  considerably  increased  and  the  amount 
of  fuel  and  all  other  costs  correspondingly  greater.  In  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Talbot  furnace  as  described,  the  iron  was  melted  in  a 
cupola  and  this  tended  to  increase  the  sulphur  by  absorption  from 
the  coke,  but  on  the  other  hand,  it  gave  an  opportunity  to  select 
the  iron  that  was  treated,  and  it  is  quite  certain  that  a  blast  furnace 
could  not  be  relied  upon  to  furnish  regularly  a  better  iron  than  was 
used  in  the  operations  recited  by  Mr.  Talbot. 

It  is  not  a  pleasant  task  to  criticize  a  new  method  on  the  basis 
of  results  obtained  in  the  earlier  stages  of  practice,  for  improve- 
ments will  naturally  come  from  experience,  but  on  the  other  hand 
it  is  to  be  remembered  that  a  new  process,  when  carefully  tended 
by  the  eager  and  intelligent  care  of  an  inventor,  often  shows  results 
far  in  excess  of  the  average  obtained  in  after  years  by  alien  hands. 
It  should  be  said  in  justice  to  Mr.  Talbot  that,  while  my  views 
herein  expressed  as  to  the  limited  value  of  the  Talbot  process  are 
shared  by  a  great  many  American  metallurgists,  in  England  it  has 
met  with  great  approval  from  eminent  men.  It  remains  for  the 
future  to  decide  whether  there  is  much  gained.  A  process  or 
practice  may  be  successful  and  yet  be  of  no  very  great  advantage 
over  other  similar  methods.  I  have  described  a  method  used  at 
Steelton  for  handling  heats  of  all  pig-iron.  The  process  is  suc- 
cessful, but  the  gain  from  it  does  not  revolutionize  anything,  "and 
it  has  been  worked  side  by  side  with  the  scrap  practice  as  tempor- 
ary circumstances  determine.  Such  conditions  are  understood  by 
business  men,  but  they  are  apt  to  be  overlooked  by  those  who  devise 
new  processes. 

SEC.  Xlld.— The  Bertrand  Thiel  process*— There  has  been  de- 
veloped at  Kladno,  in  Bohemia,  a  system  of  handling  phosphoric 
pig-iron  which  has  had  the  same  misfortune  that  falls  to  the  lot  of 
most  new  methods.  It  has  been  over-heralded.  It  embodies  some 
principles  which  are  not  new,  but  which  have  been  worked  out  as 
well  as  the  existing  conditions  will  allow.  There  were  two  open- 
hearth  furnaces  at  Kladno,  and  they  were  on  two  different  levels, 
making  it  possible  to  tap  from  one  furnace  into  the  other  by 
means  of  a  runner.  The  higher  furnace  is  used  to  remove  the 

*This  section,  in  an  incomplete  state,  has  been  read  by  Mr.  Bertrand. 


16 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


silicon,  part  of  the  carbon  and  most  of  the  phosphorus,  while  the 
second  furnace  completes  the  process.  Four  years  ago,  when  the 
practice  at  Kladno  had  not  been  reduced  to  the  precision  it  has 
reached  since,  Mr.  Bertrand  published*  the  results  of  twelve  heats, 
which  show  that  the  metal  was  in  the  first  or  primary  furnace  an 
average  of  4  hours  and  50  minutes,  and  in  the  second  furnace  an 
average  of  2  hours  and  20  minutes. 

The  proportions  of  pig-iron  and  scrap  are  quite  unimportant, 
ns  scrap  may  be  used  in  either,  or  in  both,  or  in  neither  of  the 
furnaces.  It  is  considered  the  best  practice,  however,  to  charge 
mostly  pig-iron  in  the  first  furnace,  using  sufficient  ore  to  give  a 
good  reaction  and  to  oxidize  the  metalloids,  and  to  charge  some 
scrap  in  the  second  furnace.  The  stock  in  the  second  furnace  is 
partly  melted  when  the  steel  runs  down  to  it  from  the  primary 
furnace,  and  there  is  a  quick  and  violent  reaction.  Gare  is  taken 
to  allow  no  slag  to  run  from  the  first  to  the  second  furnace,  and 
in  this  way  the  phosphorus,  which  has  been  eliminated  in  the  first 
furnace,  is  kept  out  of  the  operation  from  that  time  forward. 
The  second  furnace  starts  with  a  semi-purified  metal  and  with  a 
new  and  clean  slag.  Following  is  a  summary  of  the  data  given  by 
Mr.  Bertrand: 


Metal. 

Slag. 

C 

P 

Si 

Mn 

Si02 

P206 

FeO 

Pig  iron 

3.8 
2.2 

1.6 
0.4 

1.0 
.05 

1.0 
0.5 

From  first  furnace    .         .... 

26.30 
13.23 

12.23 
11.78 

9.49 
14.26 

From  second  furnace 

The  average  sulphur  in  the  finished  steel  is  .042  per  cent.,  but 
it  is  stated  by  Mr.  Bertrand  that  all  the  pig-iron  contained  less 
than  .05  per  cent.,  so  there  would  seem  to  be  very  little  elimination 
of  this  element.  The  average  phosphorus  in  the  steel  is  .067  per 
cent.  The  twelve  heats  may  be  divided  as  follows,  in  their  content 
of  this  element: 

1  heat  .021  per  cent. 

2  heats  between  .03  and  .04 

2   "     "    .04  "  .05   "   " 
2   "     «    .05  "  .06 
1  heat               .075 
1   "                .086 
1   "                .098 
1   " .170 

*  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I.  l,co". 


METHODS    OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST. 


317 


This  shows  that  out  of  these  twelve  heats  one  heat  was  so  high 
in  phosphorus  that  it  could  not  be  sold  in  America,  while  seven 
more  were  above  the  established  standard  for  American  basic  steel. 
Attention  is  called  to  this  fact,  not  so  much  to  criticize  the  process, 
for  it  has  been  stated  that  the  work  had  hardly  passed  beyond  the 
experimental  stage,  as  to  illustrate  that  on  the  continent  of  Europe 
the  specifications  on  structural  steel  are  in  no  manner  as  severe  as 
in  America.  In  this  country  a  charge  known  to  contain  .17  per 
<?ent.  of  phosphorus  would  immediately  be  remelted  and  would  never 
be  spoken  of  as  steel.  On  the  other  side  of  the  water  it  needs  only 
to  pass  certain  physical  tests  and  it  will  unhesitatingly  be  accepted 
by  Lloyds,  in  England,  or  by  a  hundred  engineers  on  the  Continent. 

The  Kladno  practice  has  been  much  improved  since  this  paper 
of  Mr.  Bertrand  and  the  later  results  have  been  given  in  a  paper 
by  Mr.  Hartshorne,*  who  has  kindly  given  me  the  original  reports 
from  which  his  paper  was  written.  The  pig-iron  used  was  nearly 
all  molten  and  carried  about  1.5  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  while 
the  average  metal  from  the  primary  furnace  ran  as  follows  in 
phosphorus : 

17  heats  below  .10  per  cent. 

45       "  between  .10  and  .20     "       " 
10       "  "         .20     "     .30     " 

5       "  "         .30     "     .40     " 

2       "  "         .40     "     .50     " 

1  heat  not  given. 

80 

The  slags  from  the  primary  furnace  contained  from  20  to  23  per 
cent,  of  phosphoric  acid  and  the  following  proportions  of  iron  (Fe),: 

4  heats  between     6  and     7  per  cent. 


22 

11     7 

8 

16 

8 

9 

12 

"     9 

10 

7 

10 

11 

2 

11 

12 

1  heat 

12 

13 

4  heats 

13 

14 

3   " 

14 

15 

1  heat 

17 

18 

i   it 

8  heats         not  given. 


80 


During  about  two  weeks  the  furnaces  made  an  average  per 
twenty-four  hours  of  7.6  heats  of  12.3  tons  each.  This  is  about 
94  tons  per  day  for  the  two  furnaces,  or  47  tons  for  each,  the  maxi- 


*  Trans.  A.  I.  H.  E.,  Feb.,  1000. 


318 


METALLURGY    OF   IRO.N"    AND   STEEL. 


mum  capacity  of  the  larger  being  given  as  13  tons.     The  content 
of  phosphorus  in  the  steel  was  as  follows : 


18  heats  below  .01  per  cent. 


24 
21 

8 

2 

4 

1  heat 

1 

1 


between  .01  and  .02  per  cent. 


.02 
.03 
.04 
.05 
.07 
.08 
.11 


.03 
.04 
.05 
.06 
.08 
.09 
.12 


In  a  private  communication  from  Mr.  Bertrand  I  received  cor- 
roboration  of  the  foregoing  practice  and  he  gives  in  detail  the  re- 
sults on  two  representative  heats,  one  being  made  from  an  iron 
with  about  1.30  per  cent,  of  silicon,  and  the  other  with  the  more 
usual  amount  of  0.50  per  cent.  The  higher  silicon  necessitates  a 
larger  addition  of  lime  and  reduces  the  content  of  phosphoric  acid 
in  the  slag  from  the  primary  furnace,  this  being  an  objection  when 
the  slag  is  to  be  sold  as  a  fertilizer.  A  condensation  of  the  results 
is  given  in  Table  XII-F. 

TABLE  XII-F. 
Representative  Heats  under  Present  Practice  at  Kladno. 

Private  Communication,  February,  1901. 


Composition  of  Metal. 
Per  cent. 

Composition  of 
Slag.    Per  cent. 

C 

Si 

Mn 

P 

S 

SiOa 

Pa08 

Fe 

Heat  A—  Primary  furnace  : 
At  charging  
1  hr  after  charging  

3.50 
3.45 

2.50 

.35 
.15 

3.50 
8.50 

2.70 

.31 
.16 

.50 
.15 

.04 

.02 
.02 

1.30 
.31 

.01 

tr 
tr 

.47 
.42 

.10 

.05 
.32 

.39 
.20 

.06 
.10 

1.35 
.93 

.09 

.02 
.01 

1.25 
.99 

.17 

.02 
.02 

.025 
tr 

tr 

tr 
tr 

'20'.66 
19.16 

14.66 
13.00 

'28*.  66 
24.33 

13.33 
11.43 

'is!67 

18.88 

9.70 
4.99 

'i6'.37 
15.83 

14.40 
5.67 

'ii'.20 

6.00 

18.00 
13.50 

'13*66 

6.00 

11.00 
15.75 

2  hrs.  20  min.  after  charging,  trans- 
ferred to  second  furnace  

Secondary  furnace  : 
1  hr.  after  transfer  
2  hrs.  after  transfer,  tapped..  .  

Heat  B—  Primary  furnace  : 
A  t  charging  —  
1  hr.  after  charging  

2  hrs.  10  min.  after  charging,  trans- 
ferred to  second  furnace 

Secondary  furnace: 
1  hr  after  transfer  ...                 ... 

In  a  later  communication  from  Mr.  Bertrand,  in  February,  1902, 
he  states  that  the  presence  of  manganese  in  the  pig-iron  has  an 
important  bearing  on  the  elimination  of  phosphorus,  and  it  also 


METHODS    OF    MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST.  319 

eaves  time,  as  the  slag  is  rendered  more  liquid  so  that  the  hearth 
remains  cleaner  after  tapping.  When  there  is  no  manganese  in 
the  pig-iron  the  phosphorus  may  be  reduced  to  about  .02  per  cent., 
but  by  having  2  per  cent,  of  manganese  the  proportion  of  phos- 
phorus may  be  worked  down  to  0.005  per  cent,  in  the  finished  steel. 
Such  a  low  content  is  not  unusual  in  America,  but  it  is  necessary 
to  consider  that  the  pig-iron  at  Kladno  carries  1.5  per  cent,  of 
phosphorus. 

The  arrangements  at  Kladno  are  defective  because  it  is  necessary 
to  bring  molten  iron  from  the  blast  furnace  to  the  primary  furnace 
in  two  ladles  instead  of  one,  and  this  primary  furnace  is  of  only 
13  tons  capacity,  while  the  secondary  furnace  can  hold  20  tons. 
This,  however,  is  not  the  whole  story.  There  must  always  be  diffi- 
culties and  expense  where  one  furnace  is  dependent  on  one  other 
furnace.  One  is  making  bottom  and  the  other  must  be  tapped,  or 
the  other  is  making  bottom  and  the  one  waiting  to  be  charged. 
Only  by  having  several  furnaces  supplying  several  furnaces  will 
such  an  arrangement  reach  its  state  of  highest  economy,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  this  can  be  done  by  a  system  of  runners.  It 
would  seem  as  if  the  transfer  must  be  made  by  means  of  ladles. 

The  Bertrand  Thiel  process  would  seem  to  be  most  applicable  to 
pig-irons  containing  a  considerable  quantity  of  phosphorus,  for  the 
slag  from  the  primary  furnace  is  then  of  considerable  value  as  a 
fertilizer  on  account  of  its  phosphoric  acid,  and  the  return  from 
this  source  is  of  no  small  consequence.  In  the  northern  part  of  the 
United  States,  where  there  are  no  pig-irons  containing  high  per- 
centages of  phosphorus,  this  primary  slag  would  be  of  no  value,  but 
in  the  South  or  in  Cape  Breton  it  might  be  an  important  by-product. 

SEC.  Xlle.— The  heat  absorbed  by  the  reduction  of  iron  ore. — 
It  "has  been  stated  in  Section  XIIc  that  the  reduction  of  iron  ore 
by  a  bath  of  melted  pig-iron  does  not  create  heat,  but  absorbs  it,  and 
this  can  be  proven  by  finding  the  heat  produced  by  the  oxidation  of 
the  silicon  and  carbon,  and  the  heat  absorbed  in  the  dissociation  of 
the  iron  oxide.  Inasmuch  as  it  has  before  been  stated  that  Mr. 
Talbot  is  in  error*  in  supposing  that  this  reaction  produces  heat  in 

*  For  Mr.  Talbot's  views  see  Journal  I.  and  8.  I..  Vol.  I,  1900,  p.  38.  I  quote 
two  representative  passages :  "And  thus  facilitates  rapid  chemical  action,  by 
which  more  heat  is  produced."  "It  will  be  seen  that  both  the  reducing  and  heat 
giving  power  of  these  constituents  is  not  a  mere  piece  of  theory,  but  a  practical 
fact."  It  may  be  noted  that  Mr.  Bertrand  at  Kladno  recognizes  the  great  cooling 
effect  of  ore  reactions. 


320  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

his  method  of  practice,,  it  may  be  well  to  take  as  a  basis  of  calcula- 
tion the  data  given  by  Mr.  Talbot  showing  the  composition  of  the 
pig-iron  and  of  the  slags  produced,  as  they  represent  usual  and 
representative  conditions  of  general  open-hearth  practice  in 
America.  It  will  therefore  be  assumed  that  the  pig-iron  contains 
1.00  per  cent,  of  silicon  and  3.75  per  cent,  of  carbon,  it  being 
stated  that  this  is  the  pig  usually  melted  at  Pencoyd,  and  one  ton, 
or  one  thousand  kilogrammes,  will  be  taken  as  a  basis. 

It  will  also  be  assumed  that  the  ore  is  pure  ferric  oxide  (Fe203) 
and  the  problem  is  to  find  how  much  ore  is  to  be  added.  It  is 
easy  to  calculate  just  how  much  oxygen  is  necessary  to  burn  the 
silicon,  but  in  addition  to  this  a  certain  amount  of  FeO  will  com- 
bine with  the  Si02  to  form  a  slag,  and  the  relative  proportions  of 
these  two  substances  depend  upon  many  conditions.  In  the  acid 
furnace  it  would  not  be  far  wrong  to  assume  that  equal  weights 
would  be  called  for,  a  condition  which  would  roughly  be  expressed 
by  the  formula  5  Si02  4  FeO.  In  the  basic  furnace  the  conditions 
are  more  complicated,  as  many  bases  are  present,  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact  the  relation  of  Si02  and  FeO  is  in  a  general  way  about  the 
same  as  in  the  acid  slag.  In  the  present  case  there  is  no  need  to 
theorize,  since  the  necessary  data  are  at  hand ;  we  are  discussing  the 
use  of  oxide  of  iron  in  the  Talbot  process  and  in  the  description 
of  this  process*  the  composition  is  given  of  thirteen  different  slags 
after  the  reaction  with  iron  oxide  is  completed.  Taking  the  aver- 
age of  these  thirteen  slags,  we  have  the  following : 

Si02=12.75  per  cent.=5.95  per  cent.  Si. 
Fe=15.13  per  cent. 

Thus  we  find  that  when  iron  oxide  reacts  upon  a  bath  of  pig-iron, 
under  the  conditions  related  by  Mr.  Talbot,  the  silica  coming  from 
the  oxidation  of  silicon  and  from  other  sources  enters  the  slag  and 
carries  ferrous  oxide  with  it  in  such  proportions  that  5.95  kilos  of 
silicon  accompany  15.13  kilos  of  metallic  iron,  which  is  in  the  pro- 
portion of  10  kilos  Si  to  25.43  kilos  Fe.  The  relative  weights  of 
the  oxides  concerned  will  be  as  follows : 

10  kilos  Si=25.43  kilos  Fe=32.69  kilos  FeO=36.33  kilos  Fe203 

*  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.   I,   1900. 


METHODS    OF    MANUFACTURE,    AND    COST.  321 

This  is  to  say,  that  for  every  ton  of  pig-iron  containing  one  per 
cent,  or  10  kilos  of  silicon,  the  slag  will  require  32.69  kilos  of  fer- 
rous oxide  (FeO),  while  36.33  kilos  of  ferric  oxide  (Fe208)  must 
be  added  to  supply  it. 

It  will  be  found  by  simple  subtraction  that  the  reduction  of 
36.33  kilos  Fe203  to  32.69  kilos  FeO  sets  free  3.64  kilos  of  oxygen 
which  unites  with  the  silicon.  But  10  kilos  of  silicon  demand 
11.43  kilos  of  oxygen,  and  therefore  11.43—3.64=7.79  kilos  of 
oxygen  must  be  supplied  by  further  additions  of  ore,  and  since  we 
have  already  satisfied  all  the  demands  of  the  slag,  these  further 
.additions  must  be  reduced  to  the  state  of  metallic  iron.  These 
7.79  kilos  of  oxygen  therefore  call  for  the  addition  of  25.97  kilos 
of  Fe203,producing  18.18  kilos  of  metallic  iron. 

The  statement,  therefore,  is  as  follows: 

1000  kilos  pig-iron  contain  10  kilos  of  silicon. 

This  silicon  requires  11.43  kilos  of  oxygen. 

The  11.43  kilos  of  oxygen  are  supplied  by  ferric  oxide,  part  of 
which  is  reduced  to  metallic  iron,  while  the  other  part  is  reduced 
from  Fe203  to  FeO,  this  latter  oxide  combining  with  the  silica  and 
entering  the  slag. 

The  amount  of  iron  reduced  to  the  metallic  state  has  been  shown 
to  be  18.18  kilos  and  the  amount  of  heat  absorbed  in  dissociating 
this  from  oxygen  will  be  equal  to  the  amount  of  heat  formed  by  its 
union  with  oxygen,  which  will  be  18.18X1746=31,742  calories. 

The  amount  of  iron  present  in  the  slag  as  FeO  has  been  shown 
to  be  25.43  kilos,  and  the  amount  of  heat  absorbed  in  converting 
this  iron  from  the  state  of  Fe203  to  the  state  of  FeO  will  be  the 
difference  between  the  amount  of  heat  produced  by  burning  this 
same  amount  of  Fe  to  the  state  of  FeO  and  by  burning  it  to  FeaOa. 
This  is  as  follows: 

25.43X  (1746— 1173)=14,571. 

The  total  absorption  of  heat  is  as  follows : 

Calories. 

From  Fe  reduced  to  metallic  state 81,742 

From  the  reduction  of  Fe2O3  to  FeO 14,571 

Total    absorption 46,313 

The  total  production  of  heat  will  be  the  amount  formed  by  the 
oxidation  of  10  kilos  of  silicon  plus  that  created  by  the  union  of  the 


322  METALLURGY    OE    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

resulting  silica  with  oxide  of  iron,  so  that  the  whole  account  stands 
thus: 

Calories. 

Heat  produced  by  oxidation  of  10  kg.  of  silicon 64,140 

Heat  produced  by  union  of  21.4  kg.   SiOa  with  FeO..        3,317 

67,457 
Absorption  by  reduction  of  iron  oxides 46,313 

Net   heat   produced 21,144 

Oxidation  of  Carbon: 

Making  the  same  assumptions  as  were  made  in  the  calculation  of 
silicon,  we  have  the  following:  3.75  per  cent,  of  1000  kilos=;37.5 
kilos  carbon,  requiring  50.0  kilos  oxygen.  To  supply  50.0  kilos 
oxygen  will  require  166.7  kilos  Fe203.  These  166.7  kilos  Fe203 
contain  116.7  kilos  Fe,  and  the  amount  of  heat  absorbed  in  dis- 
sociating 166.7  kilos  Fe203  will  be  the  same  as  the  heat  created  in 
burning  116.7  kilos  Fe  to  Fe,03,  which  is 

116.7X1746=203,758  calories. 

The  amount  of  heat  produced  will  be  the  amount  created  by  the 
burning  of  37.5  kilos  carbon  to  carbonic  oxide  (CO),  which  is 
37.5X2450—91,875. 

The  net  result,  therefore,  of  the  oxidation  of  the  carbon  by  ferric 
oxide  is  as  follows : 

Calories. 

Heat  absorbed    203,758 

Heat  created 91,875 

Net  heat  absorbed 111,883 

Silicon  and  Carbon  Together: 

The  combined  effect  of  the  oxidation  of  the  silicon  and  carbon 
has  been  shown  to  be  as  follows : 

Calories. 

Heat  absorbed  In  burning  carbon 111,883 

Heat  created  in  burning  silicon 21,144 

Net  heat  absorption 90,739 

There  are  two  other  factors  that  must  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion. When  one  kilogramme  of  carbon  unites  with  metallic  iron 
the  combination  produces  705  calories.  Similarly  the  union  of 
1  kg.  of  silicon  with  iron  produces  931  calories.*  Conversely 
when  by  the  reaction  of  ore  upon  the  bath  the  carbon  is  taken  away 

*  B.  D.  Campbell ;  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  May,  1901. 


METHODS    OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST.  323 

from  the  iron,  there  must  be  a  similar  absorption  of  energy.     In 
the  present  case  it  will  be  as  follows: 

Absorbed  by  silicon 10x931=     9,310 

Absorbed  by    carbon 37.5X705=  26,438 

Total 35,748 

Brought  down  from  above 90,739 

Total    absorption    126,487 

To  translate  these  figures  into  a  form  that  may  be  intelligible 
to  a  greater  number,  it  has  been  shown  that  if  the  metalloids  in 
molten  pig-iron  are  to  be  oxidized  by  iron  ore  alone  without  any 
assistance  from  the  flame  of  the  furnace,  then  for  every  ton  (2210 
pounds)  of  pig-iron  there  must  be  added  about  500  porfnds  of  iron 
ore  and  the  reaction  will  absorb  so  much  more  heat  than  will  be 
produced  that  the  metal  will  be  770°  C.  (say  1380°  F.)  colder  at 
the  end  of  the  work.  Of  this  total  of  500  pounds  of  ore,  about 
367  pounds  will  be  taken  care  of  by  the  carbon,  while  about  80 
pounds  will  furnish  the  oxide  of  iron  to  form  a  slag  with  the 
silica  produced. 

This  assumes  that  the  iron  ore  is  added  in  a  liquid  state  so  that 
no  heat  is  necessary  to  heat  or  melt  the  addition.  It  does  not  as- 
sume that  the  carbon  is  oxidized  to  carbonic  acid  (C02),  for  this  is" 
entirely  out  of  the  question.  The  reactions  discussed  are  internal 
and  must  take  place  in  the  metal  itself  or  within  the  covering  of 
slag,  and  under  these  conditions  carbonic  oxide  only  can  be  formed. 
This  may  be  subsequently  burned  in  the  furnace  or  regenerators, 
but  while  such  combustion  may  decrease  temporarily  the  amount 
of  fuel  consumed,  it  can  have  no  influence  on  the  immediate  heat 
history  of  the  metal. 

If,  however,  we  do  assume  the  untenable  proposition  that  the 
carbon  is  burned  to  carbonic  acid  (C02)  then  calculation  shows 
that  things  are  worse  than  before,  for  333.4  kilos  of  ore  must  be 
added  to  supply  the  increased  amount  of  oxygen  needed  by  the 
carbon,  instead  of  166.7  kilos,  as  shown  before,  and  this  more  than 
makes  up  for  the  extra  heat  produced.  Under  this  assumption  the 
figures  for  carbon  are  as  follows: 

Calories. 

Heat  absorbed  by  reducing  ore 407,516 

Heat   created   in   burning   to   COa 304,988 

Net    heat   absorbed 102,528 


324  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

Thus  it  is  clear  that  the  reaction  between  oxide  of  iron  and  pig- 
iron  in  an  open-hearth  furnace,  even  when  the  oxide  is  in  a  fluid 
state,  does  not  heat  the. bath,  but  cools  it,  and  it  follows  that  as  the 
flame  is  the  only  heating  agent,  the  more  rapid  the  reaction  the 
lower  will  be  the  resultant  temperature  of  the  bath. 

The  absorption  of  heat  by  the  reduction  of  iron  ore  may  be 
illustrated  in  a  Bessemer  converter.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the 
addition  of  three  hundred  or  four  hundred  pounds  of  ore  at  the 
beginning  of  the  blow  will  have  as  much  cooling  effect  as  the 
addition  of  one  thousand  pounds  of  steel  scrap.  It  is  hardly  likely 
that  the  fusion  of  the  ore  takes  so  much  more  heat  than  the  fusion 
of  steel,  and  the  oxygen  should  be  a  source  of  heat,  as  it  assists 
in  burning  the  silicon  more  quickly  and  renders  unnecessary  the 
admission  of  a  great  volume  of  nitrogen  that  would  enter  if  air 
had  to  be  supplied.  We  are  driven  to  the  conclusion,  therefore, 
that  the  cooling  effect  is  due  to  the  absorption  of  energy  in  the 
separation  of  iron  from  its  oxygen.  It  may  seem  as  if  the  union 
of  this  oxygen  with  silicon  should  be  a  source  of  heat,  but  if  the 
silicon  is  present,  it  would  be  burned  anyway  by  the  blast  whether 
the  ore  is  added  or  not,  and  therefore  the  heat  produced  by  it 
will  be  the  same  in  either  case,  save  a  certain  gain  from  the  absence 
of  nitrogen. 

SEC.  Xllf. — Tfie  amount  of  ore  needed  to  reduce  a  lath  of 
molten  pig-iron. — In  the  last  section  it  was  found  by  calculation 
that  for  every  ton  of  pig-iron  there  is  needed  500  pounds  of  ore 
to  oxidize  the  silicon  and  carbon,  and  of  this  amount  80  pounds 
will  be  used  in  supplying  the  oxide  of  iron  for  the  slag.  This  cal- 
culation assumed  that  the  ore  was  pure  Fe203,  which,  of  course,  is 
never  true,  and  it  did  not  allow  for  the  presence  of  silica  from 
other  sources.  Every  pound  of  silica  present  in  the  charge  will 
claim  for  its  own  a  certain  amount  of  FeO  in  order  to  form  a  slag, 
and  this  calls  for  an  increased  amount  of  ore.  It  was  also  assumed 
that  the  pig-iron  contained  one  per  cent,  silicon,  and  it  is  necessary 
to  change  the  figures  if  there  is  a  different  content  of  this  element. 
No  allowance  was  made,  moreover,  for  the  action  of  the  flame,  as 
the  last  section  was  devoted  exclusively  to  the  heat  generated  or 
absorbed  by  an  internal  reaction.  It  may  be  well,  therefore,  to 
see  how  theoretical  calculations  agree  with  practical  results. 

In  Section  Xllb  were  given  some  data  on  the  use  of  pig-iron 
in  basic  furnaces  at  Steelton.  It  was  shown  that  in  charging 


METHODS    OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST. 


325 


544,430  pounds  of  pig-iron,  most  of  it  being  cold,  the  ore  used 
amounted  to  144,100  pounds,  which  is  593  pounds  per  ton,  while 
with  liquid  metal  the  ore  was  G43  pounds  per  ton.  This  is  some- 
what more  than  was  found  by  the  previous  calculation,  but  there 
are  two  things  to  be  taken  into  consideration:  (1)  the  action  of  the 
flame,  (2)  the  fact  that  the  metal  described  in  Section  Xllb  con- 
tained 1.4  per  cent,  silicon  and  0.6  per  cent,  manganese.  Table 
XII-G  shows  the  amount  of  oxygen  needed  for  the  charges  shown 
in  Section  Xllb. 

TABLE  XII-G. 
Oxygen  Needed  for  Pig-Iron  Charges. 


Cold  Pig 
Pounds. 

Direct 
Metal. 
Pounds. 

Pig  iron    

544  430 

405  287 

Silicon  1  4  per  cent 

7  622 

5  674 

Carbon  3  .  75  per  cent  
Manganese  0.6  per  cent  
Fe  in  slag  

20.415 
3.267 
44  2JO 

15,198 
2.432 
34  130 

Oxygen  for  silicon  

8  710 

6485 

Oxvgen  for  carbon  

27,220 

20  264 

Oxygen  for  manganese  
Oxygen  for  Fe  in  slag  .... 

950 

]•>  G50 

707 
9  751 

Total  oxygen  needed  
Fe2O3  needed  

49,530 
165  100 

'  37.207 
124020 

Ore  needed  (94  per  cent.)  — 
Ore  used 

175.640 
144  100 

131940 
116  300 

Thus  it  is  shown  that  in  the  case  of  the  cold  pig-iron,  the  ore 
used  was  82.0  per  cent,  of  what  was  theoretically  necessary,  while 
in  the  case  of  the  liquid  metal,  it  was  88.1  per  cent.  It  is  quite 
natural  that  a  charge  of  cold  pig-iron  should  show  a  lessened  use 
of  ore,  as  part  of  the  ^oxidation  is  done  by  the  flame  during  the 
melting.  The  difference  will  be  even  greater  than  is  shown  here, 
for  the  series  which  has  been  called  "cold  pig"  was  really  com- 
posed of  nearly  30  per  cent,  of  molten  metal,  as  shown  in  Section 
Xllb.  Thus  in  the  case  of  the  liquid  metal,  the  amount  of  ore 
called  for  by  theory  agrees  within  12  per  cent,  of  the  amount 
actually  used. 

I  have  found  a  similar  agreement  in  calculating  the  results  of 
the  eighty  heats  mentioned  in  Section  Xlld  in  the  discussion  of 
the  Bertrand  Thiel  process.  The  average  heat  contained  27.140 


326 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


pounds  of  pig-iron,  nearly  all  of  which  was  charged  in  a  molten 
state.  The  average  amount  of  ore  used  was  7466  pounds,  corre- 
sponding to  an  addition  of  616  pounds  to  the  ton.  But  it  is  neces- 
sary to  note  that  the  pig-iron  used  in  the  Bertrand  Thiel  process 
at  Kladno  was  of  the  following  composition  in  per  cent. : 


C  3.5 


P  1.5 


Si  1.0         Mn  0.4 


Such  an  iron  will  demand  24  per  cent,  more  oxygen  than  an  iron 
containing  1.0  per  cent.  Si,  3.75  per  cent.  C,  and  0.6  per  cent.  Mn, 
and  it  should  also  be  noted  that  in  the  Bertrand  Thiel  process 
much  oxygen  is  supplied  by  the  flame  as  it  fuses  and  oxidizes 
the  scrap  in  the  secondary  furnace,  while  some  oxygen  is  furnished 
by  the  limestone. 

I  find  also  a  close  agreement  in  the  records  published  by  Mr. 
Talbot  for  his  process.  The  six  heats  given  by  him  are  not  con- 
secutive, but  it  will  be  found  that  the  composition  of  the  metal 
before  the  first  addition  of  pig-iron  and  the  composition  after  the 
last  addition  were  very  similar,  as  shown  by  the  following  averages : 

c.  P.          Mn. 

First   metal 06  .030  .10 

Last   metal    13  .035  .15 

It  would  seem  fair,  therefore,  to  add  together  the  amounts  of  pig- 
iron  and  ore  for  the  six  heats,  and  since  these  additions  were  of 
nearly  uniform  weight,  to  average  the  figures  showing  the  chemical 
composition.  The  results  thus  obtained  are  given  in  Table  XII-H, 
all  estimated  figures  being  enclosed  in  parentheses: 

TABLE  XII-H. 
Oxygen  used  in  the  Talbot  Furnace. 

Total  pig  iron  in  six  heats 212,100  pounds. 

Average  composition \  ^*;g       g  J-g 


Additions. 

Pounds. 

Per  cent, 
metallic 
iron. 

Pounds 
free 
oxygen. 

Scale 

22  400 

74  5 

4  768 

Ore  

15  100 

58  0 

3  754 

Cinder  
Manganese  ore... 
Limestone  

13,800 
2.500 
23,240 

66.8 
(20.0) 

2,634 
620 
2,700 

Total  

14  476 

METHODS  OF  MANUFACTURE,  AND  COST. 


327 


The  above  figures  show  that  the  additions  of  ore  and  limestone 
account  for  14,476  pounds  of  oxygen.  This  assumes  that  the  car- 
bonic acid  set  free  by  the  decomposition  of  the  limestone  is  broken 
up  when  in  contact  with  melted  pig-iron  and  that  one  atom  of 
oxygen  is  set  free. 

The  amount  of  silica  present  can  be  found  approximately  as 
shown  in  Table  XII-I. 

TABLE  XII-I. 
Silica  in  the  Talbot  Furnace; 


Si02 
Per  cent. 

SiO. 
Pounds. 

Scale  

22  400 

0  50 

112 

Ore 

15  100 

3  00 

453 

Cinder 

13  800 

8  00 

1  104 

Manganese  ore  
Limestone  

2.500 
23,240 

(8.00) 
(1  00) 

(200. 
(232) 

From  roof  and  walls  <est  )  .  . 

(50) 

Dolomite  additions  (est.).  .  .  . 

(40) 

From  oxidation  of  silicon 

2  636 

Total  

4  827 

It  has  already  been  remarked  that  the  average"of  the  slags  showed 
12.75  per  cent.  Si02  and  15.13  per  cent.  Fe=19.45  per  cent.  FeO. 
According  to  this  proportion,  the  presence  of  4827  pounds  of  SiOa 
in  the  slag  would  call  for  7364  pounds  FeO=5728  pounds  Fe  to 
combine  with  it,  and  1636  pounds  of  oxygen  would  be  held  by  this 
iron  and  not  be  available  for  oxidizing  the  metalloids.  The  calcu- 
lation, therefore,  shows  that  14,476—1636=12,840  pounds  of 
oxygen  are  available.  The  amount  of  oxygen  required  by  the  dif- 
ferent elements  in  the  212,100  pounds  of  pig-iron  will  be  as  shown 
in  Table  XII- J: 

TABLE  XII-J. 
Oxygen  in  the  Talbot  Furnace. 


Element. 

Per  cent. 

Pounds 
present. 

Oxygen  needed,  pounds. 

Si 
.     C 
P 
Mn 

0.58 
3.75 
0  85 
0.60 

1,230 
7.954 
1,803 
1,273 

1,406  =   2,636  Ibs.  SiO, 
10,605  =  18,559  Ibs.  CO 
2,327  =   4,130  Ibs.  P,O5 
370  =   1,643  Ibs.  MnO 

5  78 

14708 

328  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

Thus  it  is  found  that  14,708  pounds  of  oxygen  are  necessary  to* 
burn  the  metalloids  in  the  iron,  while  12,840  pounds  of  available 
oxygen  have  been  added  in  the  ore  and  limestone.  This  leaves 
1868  pounds  to  be  supplied  by  the  flame. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  amount  'of  oxygen  theoretically  neces- 
sary according  to  the  figures  of  Mr.  Talbot  agrees  very  closely  with 
the  amount  actually  added  and  available,  the  discrepancy  being  less 
than  13  per  cent.;  and  we  have  found  that  the  figure  given  for 
Steelton  agreed  within  12  per  cent.  In  the  case  of  the  Bertrand 
Thiel  process,  the  difference  was  about  16  per  cent.,  but  in  that  case 
full  allowance  was  not  made  for  the  oxidizing  effect  of  the  limestone 
on  account  of  its  being  partially  burned  in  a  partly  charged  furnace. 

Thus  it  seems  certain  that  these  calculations  are  not  all  guess- 
work and  often  there  can  be  found  corroborative  testimony.  For 
instance,  Mr.  Talbot  gives  the  composition  of  the  final  slags  in  the 
furnace  at  the  end  of  five  different  weeks.  The  average  of  these 
shows  39.07  per  cent.  CaO,  the  minimum  being  37.65  per  cent, 
and  the  maximum  40.69  per  cent.  In  the  heats  we 
have  been  considering  the  total  additions  of  limestone  were 
found  to  be  23,240  pounds,  giving  about  13,000  pounds  of  CaO, 
and  if  the  slag  Contained  39.07  per  cent,  of  CaO  the  weight 
of  the  slag  would  necessarily  be  33,300  pounds.  In  our  calcula- 
tions we  found  that  there  were  4827  pounds  of  silica  added  and 
the  slag  was  supposed  to  contain  12.75  per  cent,  of  Si02.  This 
calls  for  37,860  pounds  of  slag,  so  that  the  weight  of  the  slag  as 
found  by  these  two  entirely  different  methods  agrees  within  about 
12  per  cent.  Again,  on  an  entirely  different  series  of  twenty-seven 
heats  Mr.  Talbot  gives  the  weight  of  the  slag,  and  if  we  calculate 
this  so  as  to  be  in  proportion  to  the  weight  of  metal  discussed  in 
the  foregoing  investigation,  the  slag  would  weigh  42,000  pounds, 
when,  by  our  two  theoretical  calculations  founded  on  other  heats 
at  other  times,  it  would  be  33,300  and  37,860  pounds.  Variations 
in  the  composition  of  the  pig-iron  might  easily  account  for  greater 
discrepancies  than  these. 

We  may  therefore  say  with  some  degree  of  certainty  that  in  the 
pig  and  ore  process,  with  molten  pig-iron  in  a  basic  furnace,  the 
oxidation  of  the  metalloids  is  mainly  due  to  the  ore  and  very  little 
to  the  flame.  When  pig-iron  is  charged  cold,  there  is  more  oxida- 
tion during  melting  and  the  amount  of  ore  necessary  will  be  re- 
duced. When  a  mixture  of  pig  and  steel  scrap  is  charged,  the 


METHODS   OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST.  329. 

time  of  melting  is  lengthened  and  the  stock  is  exposed  longer  to  the 
flame  and  the  proportionate  amount  of  oxidation  done  by  the  gases 
is  greater. 

SEC.  Xllg. — Gain  in  weight  by  reduction  of  iron  from  the  ore. — 
When  iron  ore  is  added  to  an  open-hearth  bath,  the  metalloids  are 
oxidized  and  the  iron  is  reduced.  This  fact  was  explained  and  illus- 
trated several  years  ago  in  the  first  edition  of  this  book,  and  it  was 
explained  and  illustrated  elsewhere  a  score  of  years  ago.  It  is  only 
mentioned  here  because  judging  from  the  current  issues  of  the 
metallurgical  journals  it  seems  to  be  the  proper  thing  to  rediscover 
it  every  few  years.  A  certain  amount  of  the  iron  oxide  is  lost  by 
being  carried  off  in  the  slag  and  this  amount  varies  both  with  the 
amount  and  with  the  nature  of  the  slag.  An  open-hearth  slag  will 
usually  carry  about  a  certain  percentage  of  iron,  and  it  goes  without 
saying  that  under  these  circumstances  the  greater  the  quantity  of 
slag  the  greater  the  loss  of  iron  from  that  cause.  Every  pound  of 
silicon  in  the  pig-iron  produces  silica  and  thereby  increases  the 
amount  of  lime  necessary  and  also  increases  the  amount  of  iron 
that  must  accompany  the  resultant  cinder.  Every  pound  of  silica, 
in  the  ore  and  in  the  lime,  and  every  pound  that  comes  from  the 
erosion  of  the  bottom  or  the  melting  of  the  roof  increases  the  vol- 
ume of  the  slag  and  the  loss  of  iron.  Given  the  weight  of  silica 
present,  together  with  the  percentage  of  silica  in  the  slag,  and  the 
weight  of  the  slag  may  be  found  by  simple  division.  A  simpler 
way  of  making  a  rough  estimate  of  the  weight  of  a  basic  slag  is  to 
double  the  amount  of  burned  lime  used,  or  if  limestone  is  added, 
the  weight  of  the  slag  will  be  about  25  per  cent,  more  than  the 
weight  of  the  stone.  This  relation  arises  from  the  facts  that  lime- 
stone is  a  little  over  half  CaO  and  burned  lime  is  somewhat  less 
than  half  CaO,  owing  to  incomplete  burning  and  to  absorbed  moist- 
ure. The  open-hearth  slag  contains  from  35  to  45  per  cent,  of  CaO 
and  hence  the  proportions  above  given  will  hold  good  for  a  rough 
calculation.  .The  slag  will  also  carry  as  a  rule  about  16  per  cent, 
of  iron,  so  that  in  a  general  way  it  is  easy  to  form  an  idea  of  what 
is  carried  away  irrevocably  in  the  cinder.  For  special  investiga- 
tion it  is,  of  course,  necessary  to  have  actual  weights  and  chemical 
analyses. 

In  Section  Xllb  there  were  given  data  on  pig  and  ore  practice 
at  Steelton,  where  the  gain  in  working  cold  pig  was  3.1  per  cent, 
and  the  gain  with  liquid  metal  4.95  per  cent.  It  was  also  pointed 


330 


METALLURGY   OF   IROX   AND   STEEL. 


out  that  the  high  content  of  silicon  in  the  pig-iron  caused  a  large 
loss  of  iron  in  the  slag  and  that  with  low  silicon  the  loss  would 
without  doubt  have  been  about  7  per  cent. 

In  a  paper  by  Mr.  Talbot*  there  are  given  data  on  the  use  of  pig- 
iron  with  0.58  per  cent,  of  silicon.  Two  series  of  charges  are 
given  in  detail,  on  one  of  which  the  weight  of  the  slag  is  given. 
Table  XII-K  gives  calculations  on  the  actual  amounts  of  metallic 
iron,  most  of  the  percentages  being  taken  from  the  paper  just  men- 
tioned; all  estimates  are  marked  by  enclosing  the  figure  in  paren- 
theses. The  weight  of  the  slag  in  the  second  series  is  calculated 
so  as  to  give  the  same  weight  of  slag  per  ton  of  pig-iron  as  was 
given  for  the  first  series. 

TABLE  XII-K. 
Distribution  of  the  Metallic  Iron  in  the  Talbot  Furnace. 


First 

Series. 

Second  Series 

Additions,  material. 

Per  cent. 
Iron. 

Total 
added. 

Pounds 
Metallic 
Iron. 

Total  added.     • 

Pounds 
Metallic 
Iron. 

Liquid  pig  ..                 .... 

1  053  100 

1  045900 

Cold  pig  

31  150 

'  19^400 

Total  pig 

93  94 

1  084  250 

1  084  544 

1  065  300 

1  000  743 

Scrap                              .  . 

99  25 

22  750 

22  579 

49  300 

48  930 

Ferro  

(12.00) 

4,140 

497 

4  440 

533 

gilico        

(75  00) 

2260 

1  695 

2  200 

1  650 

Ore  

58.00 

89,810 

52,090 

112400 

65  192 

Cinder  

66  80 

70150 

46860 

40000 

26  720 

Seal" 

74  50 

91  100 

67795 

77  600 

57  812 

(2000) 

23,250 

4,650 

"    7,600 

1  520 

Total 

1  214  710 

1  203  100 

Ingots  
Scrap 



1,146,294 
37  805 

1,130,950 
50  500 

Total 

99  25 

1  184099 

1  175  218 

1  181  450 

1  172  589 

Metallic  iron  not  appear- 
ing as  product  

39492 

30,511 

Slag  —  (15.13)  per  cent.  Fe 

219000 

33135 

(215  200) 

32,560 

T  -on  iinaccounted  for  

6357 

Excess  by  calculation  . 

2,049 

Per  cent,  unaccounted  for 

00.52 

Per  cent,  excesss  

0.17 

In  the  discussion  of  Mr.  Talbot's  paper,  Mr.  Monell  gave  some 
figures  of  the  work  done  at  Homestead,  but  the  data  were  not  com- 
plete and  a  calculation  along  the  same  lines  as  the  foregoing  leaves 
5.4  per  cent,  of  the  metallic  iron  unaccounted  for.  Mr.  Harts- 


Journal  I.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  I,   1900. 


METHODS    OF    MANUFACTURE,    AND    COST.  331 

home  in  his  paper  on  the  Bertrand  Thiel  process*  gives  a  summary 
for  the  work  at  Kladno  for  the  week  ending  December  9,  1899, 
but  this  also  is  incomplete  and  the  figures  indicate  that  8.2  per 
cent,  has  disappeared.  It  is  only  by  the  most  careful  weighing  that 
the  records  can  be  of  any  value  on  this  question  of  loss.  Every  one 
acquainted  with  the  practical  operation  of  a  steel  works  knows 
how  shortages  appear  at  the  semi-annual  stock  account.  It  is  easy 
to  make  a  mistake  of  one  per  cent,  in  weighing  the  stock  for  the 
furnace  or  in  weighing  the  ingots.  It  will  sometimes  happen  that 
scales  will  balance  properly  under  a  light  test  load  and  be  in  error 
with  heavy  loads.  Sometimes  the  stockers  will  guess  at  the  weight 
of  ore  when  no  one  is  looking  and  there  are  many  other  possible 
causes  of  trouble.  The  difference  between  a  gain  of  3  per  cent, 
and  4  per  cent,  in  an  open-hearth  furnace  is  a  very  important  mat- 
ter, but  it  is  necessary  sometimes  to  find  out  whether  it  is  in  the 
operation  of  the  furnace  or  in  the  keeping  of  the  accounts. 

One  important  point  in  such  investigations  is  to  get  the  weight 
of  scrap  made.  Theoretically  it  is  easy  to  put  it  on  scales  and 
weigh  it,  but  practically  it  is  impossible  to  weigh  a  scull  while  it 
is  in  the  ladle  and  difficult  to  keep  record  of  it  for  future  weighing. 
At  Steelton  many  heats  are  made  bottom  cast  where  a  considerable 
percentage  of  scrap  is  made  in  the  sprues,  and  this  scrap,  as  well  as 
all  sculls  and  pit  scrap,  go  to  certain  special  furnaces  for  remelt- 
ing.  It  thus  happens  that  an  accurate  account  of  all  this  scrap 
is  necessary  to  get  an  accurate  account  of  the  product  and  of  the 
loss  and  gain.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  such  an  accurate  account  has 
never  been  rendered,  for  we  have  found  that  in  the  past  the  amount 
of  such  scrap  used  far  exceeded  the  amount  reported  as  made.  I 
have  published  figures  stating  the  gain  of  metal  under  Steelton 
practice  which  were  entirely  wrong  on  this  account,  for  after  cor- 
recting for  a  subsequently  discovered  surplus,  the  gain  was  1.5 
per  cent,  higher.  I  give  this  as  an  illustration  of  the  errors  that 
may  arise  when  the  loss  is  found  by  subtracting  the  product  from 
the  stock  used.  It  is  exactly  as  if  we  should  determine  the  per- 
centage of  silicon  in  pig-iron  by  determining  the  phosphorus,  man- 
ganese, sulphur,  copper  and  metallic  iron,  and  then  subtracting 
their  sum  from  one  hundred  and  calling  the  remainder  silicon. 
Every  one  recognizes  the  error  involved  in  making  what  is  called  a 

*  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  February,  1900. 


332  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

"determination  by  difference."  This  method  has  its  uses  and  the- 
determination  of  the  loss  and  gain  has  considerable  value  and  is 
correct  within  certain  limits,  but  it  must  not  be  accepted  too 
implicitly.  In  all  scientific  or  important  investigations  the  slag 
should  be  weighed  and  analyzed,  and  then  if  the  loss  of  metallic 
iron  in  the  slag  agrees  with  the  iron  not  otherwise  accounted  for, 
there  is  a  check  on  the  whole  calculation  showing  that  the  weights 
are  right  for  both  metal  and  slag,  and  the  results  may  then  be  ac- 
cepted as  correct.  The  results  given  by  Mr.  Talbot  answer  these 
conditions  and  are  therefore  quoted  here  as  corroborative  of  the- 
experiments  made  at  Steelton. 

The  whole  matter  of  gain  and  loss  in  open-hearth  practice  is  at 
the  best  a  question  of  terms.  Usually  the  weight  of  the  ore  is  not 
reckoned  in  the  calculation.  Thus  in  a  heat  of  all  pig-iron  there 
will  be  50  tons  of  iron  and  12  tons  of  ore,  and  if  the  ingots  pro- 
duced weigh  50  tons  we  say  the  loss  is  nil,  disregarding  entirely  the 
12  tons  of  ore  containing  over  7  tons  of  metallic  iron.  If  on  the 
other  hand  we  add  the  weight  of  the  ore,  we  are  again  wrong,  for 
this  ore  contains  5  tons  of  oxygen,  silica  and  water,  which  should 
by  no  means  be  charged  as  metal.  If  the  actual  content  of  metallic 
iron  be  calculated  in  the  ore  addition,  then  the  percentage  of  water 
must  be  found  and  allowed  for,  and  if  this  refinement  be  carried 
out,  then  certainly  we  must  subtract  the  carbon  and  silicon  in  the 
pig-iron,  which  will  amount  to  5  per  cent,  of  the  total.  In  the 
practical  conduct  of  a  steel  plant  these  data  are  not  absolutely 
necessary,  but  they  become  of  value  in  the  discussion  of  different 
methods.  Thus  Mr.  Talbot  refers  with  much  insistence  to  the 
gain  in  his  process,  and  the  fact  may  escape  notice  that  a  large  part 
of  the  oxide  additions  is  made  up  of  scale  containing  by  his  own 
records  74.5  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron.  In  the  case  of  a  50-ton 
charge  using  12  tons  of  ordinary  ore,  carrying  62  per  cent,  of 
iron,  in  the  wet  state,  the  amount  of  metallic  iron  in  this  addition 
will  be  7.44  tons.  If  the  same  quantity  of  rich  scale  be  used,  the 
amount  of  iron  so  added  will  be  8.94  tons,  a  difference  of  1.50  tons 
of  metallic  iron  in  a  charge  of  50  tons,  or  3  per  cent,  of  the  weight 
of  ingots. 

Thus  the  use  of  rich  scale  instead  of  ordinarily  rich  ore  means 
an  extra  gain  of  3  per  cent,  in  the  weight  of  ingots,  and  there  is  no 
glory  to  be  given  to  the  process  on  account  of  it  because  it  is  in- 
evitable. Scale  was  used  to  bring  down  a  bath  of  pig-iron  long 


METHODS    OF    MANUFACTURE,    AND    COST.  333 

before  an  open-hearth  furnace  was  built.  It  has  less  oxidizing 
power  per  unit  of  iron  than  hematite  ore  so  that  it  is  possible  to 
use  more  than  would  be  used  of  rich  ore  and  the  extra  iron  is  clear 
gain. 

SEC.  Xllh. — Increment  in  cost  due  to  waste  in  the  Bessemer 
process. — In  the  operation  of  the  Bessemer  converter  there  is  a  loss 
of  about  8  per  cent,  in  the  weight  of  the  metal  when  the  iron  is 
carried  in  a  molten  state  from  the  blast  furnace  to  the  vessel. 
When  the  iron  is  remelted  in  cupolas  this  loss  is  two  per  cent.  more. 
It  is  evident  that  it  will  always  be  necessary  to  remelt  the  iron 
over  Sunday  and  on  holidays,  so  that  for  illustration  and  for  the 
sake  of  simplicity  it  will  be  assumed  that  the  loss  will  average  10 
per  cent.  Many  steel  works  exceed  this  figure.  On  this  assump- 
tion, and  taking  no  other  factors  into  consideration,  it  is  plain  that 
the  cost  of  the  metal  needed  per  ton  of  steel  exceeds  by  10  per 
cent,  the  cost  per  ton  of  the  pig-iron.  In  other  words,  if  the  cost 
•of  pig-iron  is  $10.00  per  ton,  the  cost  of  pig-iron  needed  to 
make  a  ton  of  steel  is  $11.00,  which  is  an  increase  of  10  per  cent. 
As  long  as  the  loss  is  10  per  cent.,  and  the  value  of  the  pig-iron 
is  $10.00,  just  so  long  will  this  item  of  cost  exist,  and  no  labor- 
saving  or  fuel-saving  devices  can  affect  it  in  the  least.  Similar 
items  of  cost  appear  in  the  rolling  mills  due  to  waste  and  scrap, 
and  here  again  the  amount  cannot  be  affected  by  economies  in  fuel 
or  labor.  In  order  to  distinguish  this  class  of  items  from  all 
others,  I  call  them  "increments,"  as  they  are  augmentations  of  cost 
due  to  purely  metallurgical  conditions,  and  must  be  attacked  on 
entirely  different  lines  from  all  other  items  of  expense. 

Taking  the  increment  in  the  Bessemer  process,  it  seems  clear  at 
first  glance  that  it  will  increase  with  the  cost  'of  pig-iron.  If  the' 
waste  is  10  per  cent.,  and  the  pig-iron  costs -$10.00  per  ton,  then 
the  increment  should  be  $1.00  per  ton,  represented  by  the  one-tenth 
of  a  ton  of  pig-iron  which  has  been  lost  in  the  converter.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  pig-iron  costs  $12.00  per  ton,  then  the  incre- 
ment should  be  $1.20  per  ton. 

Needless  to  say,  this  apparently  simple  calculation  is  nullified 
by  the  necessity  of  accounting  for  the  recarburizer,  and  when  this 
is  figured  out,  we  arrive  at  the  singular  paradox  that  in  rail  steel 
the  increment  bears  no  relation  whatever  to  the  cost  of  pig-iron, 
but  is  determined  entirely  by  the  value  of  the  spiegel,  this  rela- 
tion being  caused  by  the  coincidence  that  the  amount  of  spiegel 


334  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

added  at  the  close  of  the  operation  exactly  equals  the  waste  during 
the  blow.  In  the  calculation  of  low  steels,  the  cost  of  the  pig- 
iron  has  a  bearing  on  the  result.  In  order  to  demonstrate  the 
proposition,  two  examples  will  be  taken  with  different  values  for 
pig-iron,  but  the  same  value  for  spiegel,  and  two  examples  with  the 
same  value  for  pig-iron,  but  different  values  for  spiegel. 

A  B 

10   tons   pig-iron   @  $10.00=$100.00         @  $12.00— $120.00 
1  ton  spiegel         @    20.00=     20.00  20.00 


10  tons  of  steel  $120.00 

1   ton   of  steel  12.00 

Increment  2.00 

Showing  exactly  the  same  increment  whether  the  pig-iron  cost 
$10.00  or  $12.00. 

C  D 

10   tons  pig-iron    @  $10.00=$100.00          @  $10.00=$100.00 
1    ton    spiegel  15.00=     15.00          @    20.00        20.00 

10   tons   of  steel 
1  ton   of  steel 
Increment 

Showing  that  the  increment  is  exactly  10  per  cent,  of  the  price  of 
spiegel,  and  this  will  hold  good  no  matter  what  prices  are  taken. 

In  the  case  of  soft  steel  the  conditions  are  quite  different,  for 
the  ferro-manganese  contributes  very  little  to  the  weight  and  does 
not  make  up  for  the  loss.  Assuming  in  each  case  an  addition  of 
one-tenth  of  a  ton  of  ferro  to  a  10-ton  heat,  a  calculation  may  be 
made  on  the  increment,  in  the  same  way  as  was  just  done  for 
.rail  steel. 

A  B 

10   tons   @  $10.00=$100.00  @  $12.00=$!  20.00 

.1  ton     @    60.00=       6.00  6.00 


9.1  tons  steel  =$106.00 

1  ton  steel  =     11.65 

Increment  1.65 

Showing  that  the  increment  was  20  cents  higher  when  the  price  of 
pig-iron  was  raised  $2.00,  being  just  10  per  cent,  of  the  increase  in 
price.  This  will  hold  good  for  other  values.  If  the  pig-iron  is 
$14.00  per  ton,  the  steel  will  cost  $16.04,  an  increment  of  $2.04, 
which  is  39  cents  more  than  with  $10.00  pig-iron,  or  almost  ex- 
actly 10  per  cent,  of  the  increase. 


METHODS    OF    MANUFACTURE,    AND    COST.  335 

Thus  in  the  case  of  soft  steel,  the  increment  will  increase  or  de- 
crease directly  with  the  rise  or  fall  in  the  price  of  pig-iron,  while 
in  rail  steel  made  by  the  addition  of  spiegel,  the  increment  will 
bear  no  relation  to  the  price  of  pig-iron,  but  will  be  10  per  cent,  of 
the  price  of  the  spiegel. 

The  relative  cost  of  rail  steel  and  soft  steel  will  depend  upon  the 
relative  prices  of  spiegel  and  ferro-manganese  as  compared  with 
the  cost  of  pig-iron,  and  therefore  no  rule  can  be  laid  down  here; 
but  under  ordinary  conditions,  it  will  be  found  that  there  is  little 
difference  in  the  increment  in  the  two  kinds  of  steel.  Neither  is 
there  much  difference  in  the  other  costs.  In  making  rail  steel,  it 
is  necessary  to  run  cupolas,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  product  of 
the  mill  is  increased  10  per  cent,  at  a  small  cost. 

SEC.  Xlli. — The  increment  in  the  open-hearth  process. — The  in- 
crement in  the  Bessemer  process  is  determined  by  two  factors,  the 
percentage  of  loss  and  the  cost  of  recarburization.  In  the  open- 
hearth  process  two  other  elements  enter :  the  cost  of  the  ore  and  the 
iron  reduced  from  it.  To  illustrate  the  method  of  finding  the  value 
of  the  increment,  it  will  suffice  to  take  two  different  kinds  of  prac- 
tice, one  where  the  mixture  is  mostly  scrap,  as  is  usually  the  case  in 
acid  furnaces  and  often  in  basic  work,  and  another  where  the  charge 
is  entirely  pig-iron  on  a  basic  hearth.  The  figures  are  assumed 
arbitrarily,  but  will  represent  conditions  which  are  quite  common. 

(1)  Acid  furnace: 

10  tons  pig-iron  @$11.00  $110.00 

30  tons   scrap  @  11.00  330.00 

1/3   ton   ferro  @  60.00  20.00 

%   ton  ore  ©     4.00 

.   39.12  tons  steel   (3  per  cent,  loss)  462.00 

Cost  per  ton  of  steel  11.61 

Cost  of  pig  and  scrap  11.00 

Increment  *81 

(2)  Basic  furnace: 

40  tons  pig-iron  ©  $11-00  $440.00 

1/3  ton  ferro  ©    60.00  20.00 

12   tons   ore  @      4.00  48.00 

41.54  tons  steel  (3  per  cent,  gain)  $508.00 

Cost  per  ton  of  steel 

Cost  of  pig-iron  11.00 

Increment  51-23 


336  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

If  a  gain  of  4  per  cent,  be  assumed,  the  increment  will  be  $1.11. 
It  will  easily  be  seen  that  a  change  in  the  price  of  ore  will  make  a 
considerable  difference,  but  it  will  be  necessary  to  put  the  ore  down 
to  $2.50  per  ton  in  order  to  make  the  increment  in  the  basic  furnace 
-as  low  as  it  is  in  the  acid,  if  the  loss  in  the  latter  is  only  3  per 
•cent.  Whether  the  assumptions  agree  or  not  with  any  particular 
practice,  the  calculations  will  illustrate  what  is  meant  by  the  in- 
crement in  open-hearth  work.  It  is  the  increase  in  cost  which 
comes  from  the  waste  pf  the  stock  itself  and  the  additions  that  are 
necessary  for  the  operation. 

SEC.  XIIj. — Increments  in  the  rolling  mills. — The  increments  in 
the  rolling  mills  are  made  up  of  two  factors :  the  waste  by  oxidation 
and  the  loss  in  scrap.  In  many  cases  these  two  items  are  of  about 
equal  value.  The  iron  oxidized  in  the  heating  furnaces  is  partly 
recovered  as  cinder,  which  is  sometimes  of  little  value,  being  mixed 
with  the  material  forming  the  furnace  bottom.  The  rest  falls 
from  the  ingot  while  it  is  in  the  rolls,  and  this  is  an  extremely 
rich  oxide.  All  these  products,  however^  are  of  comparatively 
small  value  per  ton  compared  with  the  steel  itself,  and  hence  the 
increment  due  to  this  waste  is  considerable. 

Assuming  that  the  value  of  an  ingot  going  into  the  heating 
furnace  is  $16.00  per  ton  and  that  the  waste  is  2  per  cent.,  and 
assuming  that  one-half  of  this  waste  is  in  heating  furnace  cinder 
•containing  50  per  cent,  of  iron  and  worth  $2.00  per  ton,  and  that 
the  other  half  of  the  waste  is  in  scale  containing  65  per  cent,  of 
iron  and  worth  $4.00  per  ton,  we  have  the  following  calculation : 

100  tons  of  ingots  @  $16.00  $1600.00 

2  tons  cinder  @      2.00=$4.00 

1.54  tons  scale  @      4.00=  6.16 

Total  value  of  by-products. $10.16 

Cost  of  98  tons  steel  $1589.84 

Cost  per  ton  of  steel  $16.22 

Cost   of  ingots  16.00 

Increment  from  oxidation  $0.22 

In  addition  to  the  oxidation  there  will  be  an  increment  due  to 
the  scrap  made  at  the  shears.  Assuming  in  the  present  case  that 
this  amounts  to  8  per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  the  ingot,  we  may  com- 
bine the  two  increments  of  scrap  and  waste  together  as  follows : 


METHODS    OF    MANUFACTURE,    AND    COST.  337 

100  tons  of  ingots  @  $16.00  $1600.0C 

8  tons  scrap  '     @    11.00     $88.00 

Cinder  and  scale  (see  ante)  10.16 

Total  value  of  by-products  98.16 


Cost  of  90  tons  of  blooms 
Cost  per  ton  of  blooms 
Cost   of  ingots 

Total  increment 

Thus  under  these  conditions  the  total  increment,  is  69  cents  per 
ton,  of  which  22  cents  are  due  to  the  oxidation  and  47  cents  to  the 
scrap. 

It  will  be  evident  that  an  increase  in  the  cost  of  the  raw  material 
rolled  will  invariably  mean  an  increase  in  the  increment,  since  the 
value  of  scale  and  scrap  will  not  keep  pace  with  the  price  of  blooms 
or  billets.  A  rough  calculation  can  always  be  made  by  ignoring 
altogether  the  value  of  the  cinder  and  scale.  The  increment  due 
to  2.0  per  cent,  of  waste  would  then  be  2.0  per  cent,  of  $16.00  or 
32  cents.  Likewise  the  cost  of  8.0  per  cent,  of  scrap  would  be  8.0 
per  cent,  of  the  difference  between  ingots  and  scrap,  which  in  the 
present  case  has  been  taken  at  $5.00  per  ton,  or  40  cents.  Adding 
the  two  together,  we  get  72  cents,  which  is  sufficiently  close  to  the 
figure  of  69  cents  obtained  by  the  longer  method. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  amount  of  the  increment  depends  in  great 
measure  upon  the  value  assigned  to  scrap,  and  that,  therefore,  the 
cost  in  the  rolling  mill  may  easily  be  manipulated  by  the  system  of 
bookkeeping. 

SEC.  Xllk. — The  duplex  process. — It  has  been  explained  that 
neither  an  acid  nor  a  basic  Bessemer  converter  can  make  steel  from 
a  pig-iron  containing  from  .10  to  1.50  per  cent,  of  phosphorus, 
while  the  use  of  all  pig-iron  in  a  stationary  basic  open-hearth  fur- 
nace is  not  altogether  advantageous.  It  is  an  easy  and  attractive 
solution  of  the  problem  to  first  desiliconize  and  partially  decar- 
burize  in  a  Bessemer  converter,  either  acid  or  basic  and  then  finish 
in  an  open-hearth  furnace,  either  acid  or  basic.  At  one  works  in 
Europe  this  practice  has  been  carried  on  for  some  years,  and  it  goes 
without  saying  that  the  operation  is  practicable  and  a  very  easy 
way  of  making  steel  from  phosphoric  pig-iron.  I  believe,  however, 
that  usually  it  is  an  expensive  way  for  more  than  one  reason.  Con- 
sidering the  first  step  in  the  process,  the  treatment  in  an  acid  con- 
verter, the  loss  will  be  very  nearly  as  much  as  in  the  making  of  steel. 


338  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND    STEEL. 

The  silicon  will,  of  course,  be  entirely  oxidized  and  this  mean:,  that 
the  full  quantity  of  slag  will  be  formed.  It  may  be  that  the  slag 
will  be  somewhat  more  viscous  if  the  charge  is  not  entirely  decar- 
burized,  but  under  these  conditions  the  amount  of  shot  in  the  slag 
will  be  more  than  when  the  slag  is  liquid.  It  is  probable  that  the 
total  loss  of  iron,  counting  that  which  is  chemically  combined  and 
that  which  is  mechanically  held  will  be  a  constant,  whether  the  slag 
be  viscous  or  liquid.  The  carbon  must  be  reduced  to  about  one  per 
cent,  if  the  open^-hearth  furnace  is  to  do  its  share  of  the  work  in 
quick  time,  and  we  therefore  have  the  following  result : 
Loss  in  weight  in  the  converter : 

Per  cent. 

Silicon    1.50 

Carbon    3.00 

Iron  in  slag. 

Combined    1.8 

Shot    .  ; 0.7  2.50 

Total    7.00 

Calculation  of  increment  in  converter : 

100  tons  pig-iron  @  $11.00                           $1100.00 

93  tons  metal  cost  1100.00 

1  ton  metal  11.83 

Increment  .83 

Calculation  of  increment  in  open-hearth  furnace : 

40  tons  metal  @  $11.83  $473.20 

%    ton  ore  @      4.00  2.00 

1/3  ton  ferro  @    60.00  .                          20.00 

39.12  tons  steel  (3%  loss)  495.20 

1  ton  steel  12.66 

Increment  .83 

Synopsis : 

Increment  in  converter 0.83 

Increment   in   open-hearth 0.83 

Total  increment   1.66 

I  have  assumed  a  very  small  use  of  ore  in  the  open-hearth  fur- 
nace, but  it  has  been  shown  elsewhere  that  the  increment  is  about 
the  same  whether  much  or  little  is  used,  as  the  gain  in  weight  from 
reduction  of  iron  balances  the  cost  of  the  ore.  Whatever  changes 
are  made  in  the  figures,  it  seems  certain  that  the  increment  in  the 
converter  must  be  very  nearly  the  same  as  in  the  ordinary  manu- 
facture of  steel,  with  the  exception  of  the  recarburizer,  and  this, 


METHODS   OF   MANUFACTURE,   AND   COST.  339 

of  course,  is  found  in  the  cost  sheets  of  the  open-hearth  furnace. 
With  this  item  omitted,  we  find  that  the  increment  in  the  duplex 
process  will  be  the  sum  of  the  increments  in  the  Bessemer  and 
open-hearth  processes. 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  that  the  duplex  process  should  offer 
positive  economies  to  offset  the  higher  increment  charge,  and  this  it 
fails  to  do.  The  cost  of  running  a  Bessemer  plant  for  this  purpose 
will  be  almost  exactly  the  same  as  for  making  soft  steel.  There  is 
scarcely  an  item  save  that  of  molds  which  will  not  be  the  same  as  if 
the  molten  metal  poured  from  the  converter  were  to  go  to  a  rolling 
mill.  But  it  does  not  go  to  a  rolling  mill;  it  goes  to  an  open- 
hearth  furnace,  must  be  heated,  ored,  treated  like  any  other  charge 
and  will  take  half  the  time  that  would  be  given  to  an  ordinary  heat 
if  allowance  is  made  for  the  interval  of  making  bottom  and  other 
delays,  which  will  be  a  constant  for  any  charge.  We  have  then 
practically  all  the  increment  of  the  Bessemer  except  the  recar- 
burizer,  and  all  the  increment  of  the  open-hearth,  including  the 
recarburizer ;  we  have  the  total  working  costs  of  the  Bessemer  ex- 
cept the  molds,  and  at  least  half  the  working  costs  of  the  open- 
hearth.  The  sum  of  these  items  will  exceed  the  cost  of  making 
steel  by  either  the  Bessemer  converter  alone  or  the  open-hearth 
alone.  It  does  not  follow  from  these  arguments  that  this  process 
is  everywhere  inapplicable,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  local  conditions 
should  be  thoroughly  studied  before  it  is  adopted. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SEGREGATION  AND  HOMOGENEITY. 

SECTION  Xllla. — Cause  of  segregation. — Every  liquid  has  a  criti- 
cal point  in  temperature  below  which  it  may  not  cool  without 
freezing  into  a  solid  state.  This  transformation  takes  place  by 
the  rearrangement  of  the  molecules  into  crystals,  and  in  this  re- 
arrangement there  is  a  very  strong  tendency  for  each  crystal-form- 
ing substance,  whether  it  be  an  element  or  a  compound,  to  separate 
from  any  other  substance  with  which  it  may  be  mixed.  This  ten- 
dency will  result  in  a  very  perfect  isolation  when  the  substances 
.have  little  affinity  for  each  other  and  freeze  at  widely  different 
temperatures.  Under  these  circumstances,  if  the  temperature  be 
very  slowly  lowered,  the  more  easily  frozen  substances  will  almost 
completely  crystallize  out,  leaving  the  more  fusible  in  a  liquid  state. 

It  will  be  evident,  however,  that  the  completeness  of  the  separa- 
tion will  be  lessened  by  a  hastening  of  the  rate  of  cooling,  or  a 
greater  similarity  between  the  freezing  points  of  the  mixed  sub- 
stances. It  will  also  depend  upon  the  proportion  of  the  ingredi- 
ents, for  it  will  be  more  difficult  for  a  crystal  to  form  when  its  con- 
stituent molecules  must  find  their  way  out  of  a  large  mass  of  a 
foreign  medium,  and  such  a  crystal  after  so  forming  will  be  more 
likely  to  contain  a  certain  proportion  of  the  associated  substances. 
Under  unfavorable  circumstances,  as  when  the  rate  of  cooling  is 
rapid,  or  when  the  substances  have  nearly  the  same  freezing  tem- 
perature, or  when  they  have  an  affinity  for  each  other,  the  differ- 
entiation may  be  so  much  interfered  with  that  there  is  no  appreci- 
able separation  of  the  components. 

All  these  unfavorable  conditions  are  present  in  the  solidification 
of  steel. 

First,  the  temperature  of  a  charge,  when  it  is  poured  from  a 
converter  or  from  a  furnace,  is  seldom  more  than  50°  C.  above  the 
point  of  incipient  congelation. 

Second,  the  absolute  temperature  is  so  high,  when  compared 

340 


SEGREGATION    AND    HOMOGENEITY.  341 

with  everything  with  which  it  conies  in  contact,  that  both  conduc- 
tion and  radiation  proceed  with  excessive  rapidity. 

Third,  in\he  manufacture  of  ingots  for  plates,  beams,  angles, 
and  other  rolled  or  hammered  structural  material,  it  is  the  universal 
practice  to  cast  the  steel  in  direct  contact  with  a  thick  iron  mold, 
and  the  absorption  of  heat  from  the  outside  of  the  liquid  is  so  rapid 
that  a  solid  envelope  is  "almost  instantly  formed,  while  the  con- 
ducting power  of  this  envelope  is  so  great  that  the  heat  is  continu- 
ally carried  from  the  interior  to  the  surface. 

Fourth,  the  different  substances  that  compose  the  steel  have  so 
many  strong  affinities  for  each  other,  and  combine  in  so  many  ways, 
that  it  is  a  gratuitous  hypothesis  to  assume  the  existence  of  a 
definite  carbide,  or  sulphide,  or  phosphide  of  iron,  or  a  carbide, 
sulphide,  or  phosphide  of  manganese. 

No  matter  how  high  or  how  low  the  content  of  metalloids  in 
the  steel,  there  is  always  a  tendency  toward  the  separation  of  crys- 
tals which  are  lower  in  carbon,  sulphur,  and  phosphorus  than  the 
average,  so  that  it  is  logical  to  conclude  that  there  is  a  tendency 
for  pure  iron  to  crystallize,  but  that  this  is  prevented  by  the  strong 
affinity  it  has  for  carbon,  sulphur,  phosphorus,  silicon,  manganese 
and  copper.  This  affinity,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  rapid 
cooling,  almost  prevents  the  differentiation  until  a  very  thick  enve- 
lope has  formed  on  the  outside  of  the  ingot  to  check  the  loss  of 
heat.  Moreover,  the  process  of  segregation  is  self-corrective  to 
some  extent,  since  with  every  step  in  the  contamination  of  the  in- 
terior liquid  there  is  an  increasing  tendency  to  the  formation  of 
impure  crystals. 

The  liquid  center  is  not  entirely  homogeneous,  for,  as  the  im- 
purities are  eliminated  from  the  solidifying  envelope,  they  form 
alloys  or  compounds,  which  are  more  fusible  and  of  lower  specific 
gravity  than  the  steel  itself,  so  that  they  float  on  the  surface  of  the 
interior  lake.  As  the  level  of  the  metal  sinks  during  solidification, 
this  scum  will  be  deposited  as  a  film  on  the  walls  of  the  pipe  cavity, 
while  the  history  will  end  by  the  solidification  of  a  highly  impure 
mass  in  the  apex  of  the  inverted  cone. 

When  there  is  only  a  small  proportion  of  sulphur,  or  phosphorus, 
or  carbon,  their  hold  is  so  firm  that  the  iron  cannot  tear  itself  away, 
but  when  present  in  larger  proportion  the  affinity  of  the  surplus  is 
weaker.  This  will  explain  why  the  tendency  to  segregation  in- 
creases with  an  increase  in  the  content  of  metalloids.  Manganese, 


342  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEFL. 

copper  and  nickel  do  not  come  into  this  class,  for  their  chemical 
similarity  to  iron  prevents  their  separation. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  extent  of  the  purification  is 
so  slight  that  it  reduces  the  content  of  impurities  in  any  part  of 
the  ingot  but  very  little  below  the  average,  even  though  it  may 
result  in  the  serious  contamination  of  the  small  region  which  is  the 
last  to  solidify.  This  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  surplus  is  con- 
centrated in  a  very  small  quantity  of  steel.  Thus,  if  the  ingot 
weighs  4000  pounds  and  contains  0.50  per  cent,  of  carbon,  the  first 
3900  pounds  of  steel  which  solidifies  should  contain  19.5  pounds  of 
carbon,  while  the  last  100  pounds  should  contain  only  0.5  pound ; 
but  if  there  is  a  separation  of  two  per  cent,  of  the  impurities  dur- 
ing the  chilling  of  the  3900  pounds,  .then  this  first  portion  will 
hold  only  19.5 — 0.39=19.11  pounds  of  carbon,  being  a  content  of 
0.49  per  cent.  The  last  100  pounds  will  hold  not  only  its  fair 
proportion  of  0.5  pound  of  carbon,  but  also  the  0.39  pound  re- 
jected by  the  earlier  solidifying  part,  and  it  will  therefore  contain 
0.89  per  cent,  of  carbon.  Thus  a  considerable  degree  of  irregu- 
larity can  be  accounted  for  without  assuming  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  metalloids  to  isolate  themselves  from  the  iron,  but  by 
supposing  a  regular  separation  of  iron  in  obedience  to  the  funda- 
mental laws  of  crystallization. 

,  It  has  been  stated  that  in  addition  to  this  simple  history  of  the 
elimination  of  iron  there  is  probably  a  definite  process  of  separa- 
tion and  liquation  on  the  part  of  the  metalloids,  which  some- 
times makes  itself  known  in  the  formation  of  a  very  impure  spot 
in  the  center  of  the  mass.  The  exact  circumstances  under  which 
this  occurs  to  an  excessive  degree  are  not  known.  It  is  true  that 
slow  cooling  aids  in  the  work,  and  that  the  most  marked  cases  are 
found  in  large  masses  of  metal,  but  it  is  also  true  that  both  these 
conditions  may  exist  without  any  marked  irregularity. 

The  separation  of  the  metalloids  probably  does  not  take  place  to 
any  great  extent  until  the  external  envelope  of  the  ingot  is  of  a 
considerable  thickness,  so  that  cooling  is  retarded.  When  it  does 
occur,  the  compounds  which  are  formed,  being  lighter  than  the 
mother  metal,  rise  to  the  top,  thereby  making  the  upper  part  of 
the  ingot  somewhat  richer  in  metalloids  than  the  normal.  It  will 
also  follow  that  the  lower  part  of  the  ingot  will  contain  less  than 
the  average  content  of  alloyed  elements,  since  whatever  excess  is  in 
the  top  must  have  been  taken  from  the  bottom.  - 


SEGREGATION    AND    HOMOGENEITY.  343 

For  this  reason  the  center  of  an  ingot  ]s  not  always  homo- 
geneous, but  this  irregularity  is  considerably  lessened  in  the  sub- 
sequent working  of  the  steel,  particularly  if  it  is  heated  for  a  long 
time,  as  in  the  case  of  large  ingots,  and  also  if  it  undergoes  two 
different  heatings  and  coolings,  as  in  the  case  of  ingots  which  are 
first  rolled  into  slabs  or  blooms,  and  then  reheated  to  be  rolled  into 
plates  or  angles.  During  each  heating  and  rolling  and  cooling 
there  must  be  a  redistribution  and  equalization  of  carbon  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws  of  cementation,  and  since  the  largest  ingots  are 
kept  longest  in  the  heating  furnaces,  it  follows  that  this  one  con- 
dition of  larger  mass,  which  is  favorable  to  segregation,  is  partially 
self-corrective. 

The  best-known  paper  on  the  irregularity  of  steel  is  by  Pourcel,* 
but,  unfortunately,  it  reads  like  an  ex  parte  argument  to  prove  that 
because  some  steels  exhibit  serious  irregularities,  therefore  all  steels 
have  the  same  fault.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  err  in  the  opposite 
direction  and  attempt  to  disprove  segregation  because  some  steels 
are  homogeneous,  but  I  shall  try  to  show  that  the  facts  are  not  all 
on  the  wrong  side  when  viewed  from  a  practical  standpoint. 

For  instance,  millions  of  tons  of  rails  have  been  made,  contain- 
ing three  or  four  times  the  amount  of  carbon  that  is  usually  present 
in  structural  steel,  and-  consequently  presenting  tenfold  the  oppor- 
tunity for  segregation,  and  these  rails  have  also  contained  more 
phosphorus  than  should  be  found  in  the  best  quality  of  angles, 
plates  or  shapes. 

Notwithstanding  that  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  remove  any 
segregated  portion  of  the  ingot,  there  have  been  very  few,  if  any, 
failures  of  rails  which  can  be  ascribed  to  th.e  liquation  of  the  metal- 
loids. Some  rails  have  been  laminated,  some  have  shown  hard 
spots  due  to  insufficient  mixing  of  the  recarburizer,  some  have  been 
too  high  in  phosphorus,  carbon  or  manganese,  some  have  been  over- 
heated, and  many  more  have  been  broken  from  lack  of  a  proper 
roadbed,  but  segregation  has  never  taken  definite  shape  in  the  rail 
manufacture. 

I  shall  try  to  show  that  all  steels  do  not  exhibit  excessive  con- 
centration of  impurities,  that  the  highly  segregated  portions  of  an 
ingot  are  often  very  small  isolated  areas  in  the  interior  of  the  mass, 

*  Segregation  and  its  Consequences  in  Ingots  of  Steel  and  Iron.  Trans.  A. 
I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXI 1,  p.  105. 


344 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


and  that  by  using  a  steel  of  low  phosphorus  it  may  safely  be  as- 
sumed that  the  finished  material  is  practically  uniform. 

SEC.  Xlllb. — Examples  of  segregation  in  steel  castings. — The 
most  extreme  instances  of  irregularity  would  naturally  be  ex- 
pected in  large  masses  of  steel  which  have  been  cast  in  sand,  and 
which  have  thus  cooled  very  slowly  and  quietly.  In  the  paper 
above  mentioned,  Pourcel  states  that  in  the  pipe  cavity  of  such  a 
casting  a  cake  of  metal  was  discovered  which  seemed  to  be  separate 
from  the  surrounding  walls.  The  composition  of  this  formation, 
together  with  that  of  the  walls  of  the  pipe  cavity  and  of  the  mother 
metal,  is  given  in  Table  XIII-A.  It  should  be  noted  in  this  con- 
nection that  the  original  metal  contained  a  much  higher  propor- 
tion of  phosphorus  than  should  be  present  in  steel  castings,  so  that 
the  conditions  were  favorable  to  segregation. 

TABLE  XIII-A. 

Example  of  Extreme  Segregation  in  Pipe  Cavity;  from 
Pourcel,  loc.  cit. 


Origin  of  test. 

Composition;  per  cent. 

C. 

Si. 

S. 

P. 

Mn. 

Ladle  test                       

.240 
.680 
1.274 

.336 
.326 
.410 

.074 
.325 
.418 

.089 
.318 
.753 

.970 
1.490 
1.080 

"Wall  of  pipe  cavity 

Cake,  two  inches  thick  in  pipe  cavity  .... 

As  testimony  in  an  opposite  direction,  I  found  no  evidence  of 
segregation  in  a  steel  roll  made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Com- 
pany. This  was  a  plain  cylinder  20  inches  in  diameter,  with  a  total 

'  TABLE  XIII-B. 

Composition  of  a  20-inch  Steel  Koll,  Cast  in  Sand,  made  by  The 
Pennsylvania  Steel  Company,  1893. 


Place  from  which  sample  was  taken. 

Composition  ;  per  cent. 

C. 

P. 

Mn. 

S. 

Cu. 

Two  inches  from  outer  surface  . 

.42 
.51 

.48 
.47 

.050 
.053 
.064 
.053 

.46 
.46 
.46 
.46 

.026 
.029 
.026 
.026 

.12 
.11 
.10 
.14 

Five  inches  from  outer  surface 

Seven  inches  from  outer  surface  .  . 

Nine  inches  from  outer  surface  .  . 

length  of  31  feet.  A  piece  four  feet  long  was  cut  from  the  top, 
this  amount  having  been  added  for  a  sink-head,  and  samples  of  the 
metal  were  taken  at  different  depths  as  the  cutting  progressed  from 


SEGREGATION    AND    HOMOGENEITY. 


345 


the  outside  to  the  central  axis.  There  were  no  signs  of  piping  at 
this  point,  so  that  the  conditions  are  not  exactly  similar  to  those 
just  cited  from  Pourcel,  but  inasmuch  as  the  general  practice  is  to 
remove  all  the  honeycombed  portion  of  such  a  casting,  the  investi- 
gation seems  to  be  in  the  line  of  practical  work.  The  results  of 
analysis  are  given  in  Table  XIII-B. 

SEC.  XIIIc. — Examples  of  segregation  in  ingots  cast  in  iron 
molds. — Under  the  old  system  of  plate  manufacture,  still  car- 
ried out  in  some  American  works,  an  ingot  is  rolled  directly  into  a 
plate  at  one  heat,  and  when  the  sheets  are  of  ordinarily  large  size, 
the  weight  of  each  ingot  is  arranged  to  give  just  one  plate.  It  is 
of  great  importance  to  find  whether  such  ingots  are  uniform 
throughout,  and  Table  XIII-C  gives  the  results  of  investigations 
which  have  been  made  under  my  supervision. 

TABLE  XIII-C. 
Examples  of  Segregation  in  Plate  Ingots. 


Thickness 
of  ingot 
in  inches. 

Part  of  ingot  from  which  sample 
was  taken. 

Composition;  per  cent. 

Carbon, 
by  com- 
bustion. 

Phos- 
phorus. 

Sulphur. 

10 

Preliminary  test       

und. 
.187 
.150 
.179 
.183 
.145 

.058 
.075 
.067 
.067 
.062 
.058 

.030 
.065 
.054 
.054 
.049 
.044 

Center,  6  inches  from  top         .... 

Center  12  inches  from  top 

Center,  18  inches  from  top  
Center  24  inches  from  top 

Center,  8  inches  from  bottom  .... 

10 

Preliminary  test  .  . 

und. 
.247 
.864 
.340 
.295 
.272 
.275 

.064 
.061 
.088 
.078 
.078 
.081 
.070 

.051 
.044 
.097 
.069 
.069 
.064 
.057 

Center,  3  inches  from  top  
Center,  6  inches  from  top      

Center    9  inches  from  top 

Center,  12  inches  from  top  

Center  18  inches  from  top            .  .  . 

Center,  3  inches  from  bottom  .... 

10 

Outside,  8  inches  from  top  ..... 
Center,     8  inches  from  top  
Center,     6  inches  from  top  
Center,   12  inches  from  top  

.135 

.278 
.212 
.205 
.199 
.159 
.164 

.007 
.007 
.008 
.008 
.008 
.007 
.007 

.018 
.029 
.034 
.034 
.029 
.017 
.020 

Center    18  inches  from  top         .  .  . 

Center,     3  inches  from  bottom  .  .  . 
Outside,  3  inches  from  bottom  .  .  . 

10 

Outside    8  inches  from  top  

.160 
.230 
.199 
.213 
-.206 
.184 
.185 

.054 
.096 
.084 
.090 
.090 
.066 
.065 

.035 
.067 
.060 
.068 
.071 
.042 
.031 

Center      3  inches  from  top         .  .  . 

Center    12  inches  from  top            .  . 

Center'     8  inches  from  bottom  .  .  . 
Outside,  3  inches  from  bottom  .  .  . 

Under  another  system  of  plate  rolling,  as  practiced  at  the,  larger 
American  mills,  and  quite  extensively  abroad,  it  is  the  practice  to 


346 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


make  larger  ingots  which  are  rolled  into  slabs,  these  latter  being 
reheated  for  the  plate  train.  It  would  naturally  be  supposed  that 
these  slabs  would  show  greater  segregation  phenomena  than  are 


Company. 

below  the  top 
ot. 


ania  St 

s  taken  j 
om  of  the 


syl 

st  A  i 
botto 
cent. 


Cfl'  +i  — 
rj    w  ®  w 

lit 

*;?§ 


he  P 


s^il 

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a  -sip 

H     ^   d'S« 

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H         OD    'g^S 

Hi   -^  ^rt^ 

3  111 


O    £fe, 

ffii 
3» 


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tion 


a  s, 
aken  on 
The  carb 


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ots  were  rolled  in 
crop  end,  B  is 


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nt. 


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33 


C  S3 
3  3 


s  a 

3  3 


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}o3ui  jo  o/tg 


•joquinu 


found  in  ordinary  plate  ingots,  but  this  assumption  is  hardly  sus- 
tained by  Table  XIII-D,  which  gives  the  results  obtained  by  drill- 
ing into  the  axial  line  of  slabs  rolled  from  larg£  ingots,  made  by 


SEGREGATION   AND   HOMOGENEITY.  347 

The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Works.  The  points  just  below  the  top 
crop  end,  and  one-third  way  down  the  ingot,  are  assumed  to  include 
the  most  contaminated  region.  The  concentration  shown  in  these 
cases  probably  marks  the  extent  of  the  action  of  simple  crystalliza- 
tion, while  more  extreme  cases  would  represent  the  liquation  of 
small  quantities  of  fusible  impure  compounds.  The  content  of 
carbon  is  not  given,  for  a  color  determination  is  worthless  when  an 
accurate  comparison  is  to  be  made,  while  in  the  present  case  the 
probability  of  error  is  unusually  great,  since  the  condition  of  the 
carbon  will  not  be  alike  in  the  center  and  on  the  outside  of  a  slab, 
owing  to  the  difference  in  the  rate  of  cooling.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  estimation  by  combustion  is  so  tedious  that  it  is  not  always 
practicable  to  make  such  a  large  number  of  analyses. 

SEC.  XII Id. — Attainment  of  homogeneity  in  plates. — The  fact 
that  plates  are  not  homogeneous  when  rolled  from  ordinary  ingots 
does  not  become  evident  under  the  ordinary  systems  of  inspection, 
since,  as  a  general  thing,  only  one  piece  is  taken  from  the  sheet,  and 
this  comes  from  the  edge,  but  it  will  be  shown  by  Table  XIII-E 
that  the  variations  are  by  no  means  unimportant.  The  first  in- 
stance is  taken  from  Pourcel,*  the  next  three  are  from  Cunning- 
h?m,t  while  the  last  two  are  from  my  own  investigations. 

The  data  on  heat  11,393  were  obtained  by  rolling  an  ingot  on  a 
universal  mill  into  a  long  plate.  The  upper  third  of  this  plate 
was  sheared  into  16-inch  lengths,  and  tests  taken  along  the  center 
line  and  the  edge.  A  strip  was  also  cut  from  the  bottom  end  of 
the  plate  in  the  center  and  on  the  edge. 

The  tests  of  heat  10,768  were  cut  from  a  "pitted"  plate.  The 
flaws  in  the  bars  render  worthless  any  records  of  elongation,  but 
the  chemical  results  are  valuable,  while  the  determinations  of  ten- 
sile strength  are  probably  approximately  correct.  The  ingot  was 
rolled  on  a  shear  mill  to  a  thickness  of  three-quarter  inch.  The 
plate  was  only  112  inches  long  after  trimming,  so  that  the  seven 
tests  represent  the  entire  length  of  the  sheet. 

A  great  deal  of  this  irregularity  between  different  parts  of  the 
same  plate  may  be  avoided  by  rolling  from  a  slab  as  described  in 
the  previous  section.  It  would,  of  course,  be  untrue  to  say  that 
segregation  can  be  avoided  by  making  a  larger  ingot,  or  that  it  can 
be  counteracted  by  a  greater  amount  of  work  upon  the  steel,  but  it 

*  Loc.  Cit.  t  Trans'.  A.  1.  M.  E.,  XXIII,  p.  626,  et  seq. 


348 


METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 


is  nevertheless  true  that  a  slab  will  usually  give  a  much  more  uni- 
form plate. 

TABLE  XIII-E. 

Physical  and  Chemical  Properties  of  Different  Portions  of  Plates 
Boiled  from  Ordinary  Plate  Ingots. 


Heat 
No. 

Part  of  ingot  correspond- 
ing to  the  place  from  which 
test  was  taken. 

Ultimate 
strength  ; 
Ibs.  per 
sq.  inch. 

£sa 

£gs 

1-9  S 

MOO  P< 

c 

6 

***. 

I!!! 

$3  °3  « 

Composition; 
per  cent. 

Author- 
ity. 

C. 

P. 

S. 

Not 
given. 

TOP             S 
Bottom     JJ 

^e 

65426 
66848 
59636 
59310 

82.0 
27.0 
33.0 
32.5 

55.9 
58.6 
58.7 
55.0 
57.9 
48.1 

.94 
.32 
.25 
.25 

.050 
.100 
.060 
.060 

.025 
.061 
.028 
.022 

Pourcel. 

iter  •••••' 

rf)  

iter  

Not 
given. 

TOP            ceedj 
Middle       JJ 
Bottom  j^d| 

rQ 

53600 
53000 
52600 
55900 
55300 
60200 

30.7 
32.0 
28.2 
28.5 
31.5 
24.5 

.15 
.17 
.15 
.16 
.16 
.16 

.021 
.023 
.018 
.022 
.019 
.024 

.   .   . 

C'nning* 
ham. 

iter 

'6 

iter 

ye  

iter  

Not 
given. 

Top,  edge 

75900 
69700 
64200 
65700 
65000 
63700 
66600 
61400 
66600 
64600 

9.5 
20.0 
25.0 
25.0 
27.0 
25.5 
23.8 
26.0 
24.0 
23.8 

•       - 

.22 
.20 
.18 
.19 
.21 
.19 
.20 
.17 
.19 
.19 

.064 
.058 
.034 
.043 
.036 
.038 
.089 
.030 
.040 
.040 

.   .   . 

C'nning* 
ham. 

Second  piece 
Third  piece, 
Fourth  piece 
Fifth  piece,  e 
Sixth  piece, 
Seventh  piec 
Eighth  piece 
Ninth  piece, 
Bottom   .  . 

,edge         .  .  . 
3dge  .         ... 
,  edge        .  .  . 
dge  .         ... 
3dge  .         ... 
e,  edge      .  .  . 
edge 

^dge 

Not 
given. 

Edge 

59200 
66600 
67100 
66500 

22.5 
24.5 
23.0 
20.0 

60.8 
59.1 
54.7 
52.0 

.08 
.08 
.09 
.09 

J077 
.151 
.141 
.153 

.040 
.063 

.085 
.085 

C'nning- 
ham. 

4  inches  froir 
8  inches  froir 
Center 

L  edge 

Ledge  

11893 

Preliminary 
Top 

Second  test 
Third  test 
Fourth  test 

Fifth  test 

Sixth  test; 
from  top  of 

Bottom 

test  .  .  . 

56000 
61600 
65420 
63360 
61490 
62020 
60330 
59860 
59460 
58940 
59160 
59320 
58920 
54660 
63850 

'  28.75 
25.00 
27.00 
27.00 
25.25 
28.£0 
26.50 
29.50 
28.50 
27.50 
27.00 
28.75 
84.75 
29.00 

'  45.9  ' 
44.6 
45.8 
44.3 
38.6 
53.7 
45.8 
52.5 
49.9 
52.0 
47.5 
51.2 
66.4 
61.0 

•   • 

.077 
.128 
.087 
.110 
.107 
.110 
.109 
.098 
.098 
.098 
.096 
.097 
.097 
.073 
.070 

.045 
.078 
.082 
.068 
.063 
.068 
.064 
.056 
.045 
.056 
.057 
.055 
.042 
.033 
.031 

Author* 

edge  .      ... 
center      .  .  . 
edge  .      ... 
center     .  .  . 
edge  .      ... 
center      .  .  . 
edge  .      ... 
center      .  .  . 
edge  .      ... 
center  .... 
%  way  (  edge 
ingot  \  center 
edge         .  .  . 

center  .... 

10768 

Preliminary 
Top 

Second  test 
Third  test 
Fourth  test 
Fifth  test 
Sixth  test 
Bottom 

test  
edge  .... 
center  .... 
edge  
center  .... 
edge  

65600 
62180 
63840 
61140 
62900 
56090 
61280 
63480 
60620 
53400 
61420 
56920 
61000 
56220 
60220 

.059 
.088 
.095 
.075 
.083 
.051 
.081 
.051 
.084 
.051 
.090 
.062 
.080 
.065 
.075 

.049 
.057 
.058 
.048 
.045 
.031 
.045 
.033 
.050 
.032 
.051 
.038 
.043 
.042 
.038 

Author. 

.... 

.... 

center  .... 
edge  
center  ... 
edge  .... 

center  .... 
edge  ..... 

.... 

center  .... 
edge  
center  .... 

.... 

.... 

SEGREGATION   AND   HOMOGENEITY. 


349 


This  will  be  shown  by  Table  XIII-F,  which  gives  the  results 
obtained  by  testing  the  edge  and  the  middle  of  several  universal- 
mill  plates  which  were  made  from  slabs  from  the  same  ingot.  A 
careful  record  was  kept  of  the  position  of  each,  slab,  and  the  tests" 
were  cut  from  the  top  end  of  each  plate.  Thus  the  list  of  tests 
from  the  successive  plates  gives  the  same  information  as  if  one  long 
slab  had  been  rolled  into  one  plate  and  had  then  been  cut  up  for 
testing.  The  segregation  in  the  central  axis  is  shown  by  a  slightly 
higher  content  of  metalloids,  and  by  a  higher  tensile  strength,  but 
the  variations  between  parts  of  the  same  plate,  and  the  variations 

TABLE  XIII-F. 

Physical  and  Chemical  Properties  of  Different  Portions  of  Open- 
Hearth  Universal  Mill  Plates,  Rolled  by  the  Central  Iron 
Works  from  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  Slabs. 

NOTE.— Plate  No.  1  represents  the  bottom  of  the  ingot,  the  others  being 
numbered  consecutively  toward  the  top. 


Heat  No. 

1 

ft 

«M 

0 

6 
fe 

Part  of  plate. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Ultimate 
strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation 
in  8  inches; 
per  cent. 

Reduction  of 
area;  per 
cent. 

Composition; 
per  cent 

P. 

S 

Mn. 

2905 
Acid. 

1 

Edge, 
Middle, 

33030 
35880 

54040 

55000 

29.50 
27.50 

59.1 
61.8 

C66 
.074 

040 
.040 

-89 
38 

2 

Edge, 
Middle, 

33240 
34870 

54000 
55540 

29.50 
2900 

688 

61.3 

,068 
074 

044 
039 

86 
.37 

3 

Edge, 
Middle, 

82570 
34670 

53220 
65420 

3100 
80.50 

62.5 
621 

.068 
.074 

.040 
040 

.37 
.36 

4 

Edge, 
Middle, 

aS430 
35240 

53400 
56450 

31.25    ' 
30.50 

60.6 

58.4 

.054 
074 

•040 
.045 

.37 
35 

5 

Edge, 
Middle, 

33270 
846(30 

54080 
56840 

3075 
33.00 

60.7 
67.1 

080 
-088 

.047 
052 

.86 
85 

6 

Edge, 
Middle, 

33520 
85090 

54380 
57380 

31.00 
29.25 

57.3 

567 

077 
087 

.05( 
.048 

.87 
.88 

7 

Edge, 
Middle, 

33150 
85110 

54120 

58180 

2925 
2625 

59.5 
66.2 

.071 
083 

046 
060 

.36 
.86 

9765 
Basic. 

1 

Edge, 
Middle, 

34050 
31900 

55360 
54440 

29.50 
31.50 

63.2 
64.2 

.007 
.007 

038 
.032 

45 
43 

2 

Edge, 
Middle, 

83580 
32460 

55350 
53780 

30.50 
31.75 

692 
63.6 

008 
007 

.045 
031 

.040 
035 

45 
43 

.45 
43 

3 

Edge, 
Middle, 

,33210 
33170 

56340 
55240 

2875 
3250 

57.8 
63.1 

007 
008 

4 

Edge, 
Middle, 

33580 
32550 

56580 
56020 

80.50 
30.25 

665 
604 

.007 
008 

.036 
036 

.45 
.43 

5 

Edge, 
Middle, 

33580 
32800 

56340 
57240 

28.75 
80.00 

582 
58ft 

007 
.008 

042 
.040 

,46 
.44 

350 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


between  different  plates,  are  much  less  than  is  shown  in  Table 
XIII-E  -for  plates  rolled  directly  from  ingots. 

The  usual  way  of  testing  is  to  take  a  strip  from  a  corner  of  the 
plate,  and  Table  XIII-G-  gives  the  records  so  obtained  from  one- 
quarter-inch  sheets,  which  were  rolled  from  basic  open-hearth  slabs 
made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company.  The  ingots  from 
which  the  slabs  were  made  varied  in  section  from  26"x24"  to 
38"x32",  and  weighed  from  6  to  10  tons  each.  A  record  was  kept 
of  the  part  of  the  ingot  from  which  each  slab  came,  and  the  corre- 
sponding plates  were  tested  both  in  the  natural  and  in  the  annealed 
states. 

The  table  gives  only  the  results  on  the  annealed  bars,  for  by  the 
reheating  and  cooling  the  artificial  effects  of  cold  finishing  were 
avoided,  .and  all  the  test-pieces  were  brought  to  a  common  ground 
of  comparison.  The  plates  of  any  one  heat  are  all  of  one  thickness^ 
the  discard  of  other  sizes  accounting  for  the  many  missing  mem- 
bers. In  each  case  the  order  in  the  list  follows  the  order  in  the 


TABLE  XIII-G. 

Physical  and  Chemical  Properties  of  Annealed  Bars  cut  from 
Plates  Eolled  from  Basic  Open-Hearth  Slabs,  which  were  cut 
from  different  parts  of  10-Ton  Ingots. 

NOTE.— Carbon  was  determined  by  color  and  is  therefore  unreliable. 


Thickness  of  plate. 

: 

Part  of  ingot  from 
which  slab  was 
cut. 

Ult.  strength; 
pounds  per 
'  square  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

oo  "3 
S  'M 

8>J! 

d  « 
ofl 

H"* 

4J 

t% 

fi  *"* 

•§  * 

0?  cd 

Chemical  composition; 
per  cent. 

C. 

P. 

Mn. 

S. 

inch. 
1st  ingot. 

Top, 
Bottom, 

49080 
48330 
47750 
48500 
47810 
46970 
48200 

81830 
31170 
29980 
81760 
31110 
80690 
81000 

36.75 
82.00 
84.50 
29.50 
83.00 
35.00 
82.50 

65.3 
63.6 
67.0 
66.3 
68.1 
64.5 
64.3 

.11 
.15 
.16 
.13 
.12 
.12 
.11 

.015 
.018 
.015 
.013 
.015 
.015 
.017 

.31 
.32 
.82 
.81 
.31 
.31 

.027 
.020 
.022 
.023 
.023 
.019 
.025 

Average, 

48091 

81077 

83.82 

65.6 

.13 

.015 

.81 

.023 

^    I 
_rt 

3 

Top, 
Bottom, 

49380 
48010 
48760 
49170 
49040 
47670 
46860 

32080 
28760 
82030 
82010 
29940 
30090 
81380 

33.00 
83.00 
33.75 
32.00 
81.75 
33.00 
32.50 

64.2 
65.7 
64.9 
64.2 
60.7 
63.8 
65.3 

.10 
.16 
.13 
.13 
.12 
.14 
.11 

.016 
.018 
.018 
.015 
.014 
.013 
^013 

.31 
.35 
.31 
.32 
.31 
.34 
.32 

.025 
.023 
.026 
.024 
.025 
.019 
.021 

Average, 

48413     I      80899     1   32.71 

64.1 

.13 

.015 

.82 

.028 

SEGREGATION    AND    HOMOGENEITY. 


351 


TABLE  XIII-G— Continued. 


1 

a 

•s 

M 
a 

Part  of  ingot 
from  which 
slab  was  cut. 

C« 

. 

Chemical  composition; 
percent. 

Ult.  strengtl 
pounds  pei 
square  incl 

Elastic  limil 
pounds  pei 
square  inc 

i« 

Is 

1- 

5  ^ 

5~ 

| 

"8  'of 
%Z 

«  ti 

£ 
EH 

C. 

P. 

Mn. 

S. 

inch. 
1st  ingot. 

Top, 
Bottom, 

51040 
51660 
51620 
51760 
51200 
50470 
50260 
50820 

32710 

asoso 

82180 
32230 
31730 
32310 
83340 
32820 

81.00 
30.50 
33.00 
32.50 
31.50 
32.75 
32.50 
33.00 

63.8 
64.1 
62.8 
63.3 
61.1 
61.8 
62.6 
62.1 

.13 
.12 
.13 
.14 
.13 
.12 
.10 
.10 

.014 
.014 
.018 

.on 

.017 
.006 
.012 
.016 

.48 
.46 
.42 
.44 
.41 
.45 
.45 
.47 

.014 
.021 
.025 
.024 
.024 
.028 
.020 
.021 

Average, 

51104 

82488 

32.00 

62.7 

.12 

.014 

.45 

022 

X 

3    „• 
1 
£ 

Top, 
Bottom, 

52160 
52050 
52240 
50600 
50820 
50360 
50530 
49880 

32450 
31330 
82940 
33020 
32240 
32470 
32240 
31850 

82.00 
82.00 
33.00 
31.00 
32.25 
82.50 
82.75 
34.50 

57.0 
60.7 
62.6 
61.0 
61.2 
63.5 
60.0 
62.8 

.14 
.12 
.11 
.11 
.12 
.13 
.12 
.11 

.009 
.017 
.018 
.013 
.014 
.005 
.018 
.012 

.45 
.46 
.47 
.46 
.44 
.45 
.46 
.46 

.025 
.024 
.023 
.016 
.022 
.023 
.016 
.016 

Average, 

51080 

32318 

32.50 

61.1 

.12 

.013 

.46 

.021 

ch. 
1st  ingot. 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

52620 
52210 
50940 
50360 
50000 

3J860 
86130 
31780 
30590 
81840 

81.00 
82.50 
32.00 

28.75 
31.50 

60.2 
65.0 
65.7 
60.0 
56.4 

.16 
.16 
.14 
.15 
.14 

.019 
.019 
.016 
.019 
.016 

.44 
.43 
.44 
.44 
.44 

.032 
.032 
.028 
.029 
.025 

51226 

82640 

31.15 

61.5 

.15 

.018 

.44 

.029 

a 

5 

*i 

a 
S 

Top, 
Bottom, 

51880 
53060 
52820 
52970 
52870 
50860 
50000 
50950 

86380 
30660 
85450 
32540 
31340 
80070 
83730 
31280 

32.50 
28.75 
27.00 
31.25 
31.75 
32.50 
85.00 
35.50 

63.5 
55.2 
62.2 
58.9 
57.9 
61.4 
62.7 
64.5 

.14 
.15 
.16 
.15 
.15 
.15 
.14 
.14 

.017 
.024 
.021 
.017 
.019 
.019 
.017 
.016 

.42 
.44 
.44 
.44 
.44 
.44 
.44 
.44 

.029 
.033 
.031  i 
.080 
.032 
.029 
.029 
.025 

Average, 

51926 

32681 

31.73 

61.0 

.15 

.019 

.44 

.030 

All  X  inch. 
2d  ingot.  1st  ingot. 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

54160 
53840 
54460 
51200 
53000 
51740 
52420 
53020 

38230 
38210 
38070 
35500 
88370 
37310 
87200 
87600 

26.00 
27.25 
28.25 
31.00 
30.50 
31.00 
27.50 
31.25 

61.5 
60.1 
61.4 
64.0 
60.9 
64.9 
65.2 
66.3 

.13 
.13 
.12 
.13 
.12 
.11 
.11 
.12 

.039 
.033 
.038 
.023 
.031 
.031 
.030 
.033 

.32 
.28 
.32 
.28 
.37 
.81 
.29 
.29 

.050 
.058 
.060 
-028 
.051 
.047 
.046 
.050 

52980 

37561 

29.09 

63.0 

.12 

.032 

.31 

.048 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

54070 
54130 
51520 
52520 
52980 

88520 
88350 
36090 
38130 
37770 

27.50 
30.25 
26.00 
30.25 
31.00 

64.4 
63.8 
65.6 
63.8 
66.0 

.12 
.13 
.13 
.11 
.12 

.036 
.037 
.036 
.031 
.031 

.34 
.31 
.31 
.31 

.29 

.058 
.053 
.057 
.048 
.044 

53044 

37772 

29.00 

64.7 

.12 

.034 

.31 

.032 

& 

i 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

54850 
54480 
53960 
53580 
53130 

87830 
36560 
88520 
37860 
37260 

30.00 
28.75 
29.50 
28.75 
25.75 

61.9 
63.8 
63.3 
63.8 
54.3 

.13 
.13 
.12 
.12 
.12 

.037 
.035 
.034 
.033 
.031 

.26 
.30 
.32 
.32 
.82 

.050 
.048 
.047 
..045 
.047 

54000 

37006        28.55 

61.4 

.12     !     .034 

.80          .049 

352 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


TABLE  XIII-G— Continued. 


Heat  No. 
Thick,  of  plate. 

Part  of  ingot 
from  which 
slab  was  cut. 

Ult.  strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation  in  8 
in.;  percent. 

Reduction  of 
area;  perct. 

Chemical  composition; 

per  cent. 

C. 

P. 

Mn.    |      8. 

|  8238.  50-ton  heat. 
All  1/5  inch. 

1 

M 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

50:270 
51630 
49180 
50240 
53520 

86880 
38510 
35130 
38090 
36150 

31.75 
32.00 
30.75 
29.25 
31.00 

60.3 
64.0 
58.3 
59.2 
63.4 

.12 
.11 
.11 
.11 
.13 

.027 
.023 
.019 
.024 
.014 

.35 
.36 
.37 
.36 
.43 

.082 
.027 
.027 
.030 
.081 

50908 

38152 

30.95 

61.0 

.12 

.021 

.87 

.029 

i 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

53010 
53620 
51520 
50400 
52730 

37030 
39140 
34270 
37330 
36810 

27.50 
25.75 
25.50 
24.75 
28.50 

61.1 
61.1 

58.0 
56.1 
58.0 

.12 
.13 
.11 
.12 
.13 

.027 
.027 
.021 
.025 
.022 

-33 

.38 
.38 
.40 
.38 

.039 
.035 
.('32 
.028 
.031 

52256 

88916 

20.40 

58.9     |      .12 

.024 

.37 

.033 

a 

i 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

52610 
51540 
52760 
52550 
51480 

36970 
35700 
86940 
37040 
40480 

31.25 
27.00 
33.00 
32.00 

28.75 

60.4 
61.5 
65.0 
62.3 
56.0 

.13 
.12 
.11 
.11 
.11 

.034 
.030 
.026 
.028 
.020 

.38 
.37 
.37 
.36 
.39 

.040 
.033 
.033 
.028 
.028 

52188 

37426 

30.40 

61.0 

.12 

.028 

.37 

.032 

|  8234.  50-ton  heat. 

1 

B9 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

58080 
55580 
54820 
54280 
54360 

3.5890 
34920 
34450 
35320 
34400 

30.00 
28.00 
31.25 
31.25 
30.50 

60.0 
59.0 
62.0 
63.0 
62.2 

.19 
.14 
.13 

.14 
.17 

.025 
.019 
.019 
.023 
.022 

.48 
.46 
.46 
.46 
.47 

.080 
.024 
.023 
.025 
.021 

55024 

34996 

30.20 

61.2 

.15 

.022 

.47 

.025 

1 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

55680 
55210 
54120 
53200 
54180 

35380 
34580 
35950 
34460 
34700 

31.50 
29.50 
31.25 
31.25 
31.75 

59.2 
62.3 
61.2 
62.7 
60.9 

.11 
.12 
.14 
.12 
.13 

.024 
.024 
.021 
.020 
.021 

.49 
.48 
.47 
.46 
.49 

.027 
.027 
,C26 
.020 
.021 

54478 

35014 

31.05 

61.3 

.12 

.022 

.48 

.024 

3       fcfl 

55  ~ 

4 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

54000 
55120 
54180 
53940 
53400 

85440 
36310 
35060 
34460 
33590 

31.50 
29.50 
30.75 
30.00 
31.25 

62.8 
63.8 
62.9 
65.4 
63.6 

.14 
.13 
,17 

.14 
.15 

.020 
.025 
.024 
.019 
.019 

.46 
.48 
.45 
.46 
.46 

.021 
.027 
.028 
.022 
.020 

54128 

34972 

30.60 

63.7 

.15 

.021 

.46 

.024 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

55120 
54280 

53980 
52720 
54720 

34300 
34940 
a5230 
33400 
34340 

30.50 
29.50 
28.00 
32.50 
81.75 

62.6 
61.9 
63.3 
63.8 
63.2 

.16 
.15 
.18 
.14 
.14 

.021 
.024 
.022 
.021 
.023 

.47 
.47 
.54 
.46 
.46 

.027 
.025 
.041 
.024 
.025 

54164 

34442 

30.45 

63.0    |      .14 

.022 

.48 

.028 

Top, 
Bottom, 
Average. 

53970 
54640 
53590 

35710 
34410 
33210 

30.25 
33.00 
32.00 

65.3 
63.9 
64.9 

.16 
.16 
.12 

.023 
.021 
.019 

.48 
.47 
.46 

.024 
.024 
.021 

54067 

34443 

31.75 

64.7 

62.6 
64.6 
60.C 

.15 

.021 

.47 

.023 

Top, 
Bottom, 
Average 

53550 
54550 
55560 

35420 
36180 
87360 

31.75 
32.00 

28.25 

.15 
.12 
.15 

.022 
.021 
.024 

.48 
.49 

.023 
.026 
.022 

54553 

36320 

30.67 

62.4 

.14 

.022 

.49 

.024 

SEGREGATION    AND    HOMOGENEITY. 


353 


TABLE  XIII-G— Continued. 


"Thick"."  of  plate. 

— 

Part  of  ingot 
from  which 
slab  was  cut. 

Ult.  strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation  in  8 
in.;  percent. 

Reduction  of 
area;  perct. 

Chemical  composition; 
per  cent. 

C. 

P. 

Mn. 

8. 

1  All  y±  inch. 

I 
t» 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

49880 
49150 
48190 
48190 

29740 
29680 
30030 
30270 

31.75 
33.00 
33.00 
30.25 

58.5 
63.5 
57.1 
60.8 

.11 
.10 

.11 
.11 

.017 
.017 
.016 
.016 

.32 
.85 
.26 
.35 

.040 
.041 
.033 
.043 

48853 

29930 

32.00 

60.0 

.11 

.017 

.32 

.039 

4J 

S 

a- 

i 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

50480 
49030 
47740 
48310 

28570 
31880 
29930 
30430 

30.75 
33.75 
33.25 

33.00 

61.0 
62.6 
63.9' 
64.7 

.13 
.12 
.10 
.11 

.019 
.018 
.017 
.010 

.83 
.33 
.88 
.31 

.043 
.038 
.085 
.086 

48890 

30203 

32.69 

63.1 

.12 

.018 

.33 

.038 

y 

*s> 

"*  n 

Top, 
Bottom, 

Average, 

49630 
48910 

30410 
30510 

30.00 
30.50 

64.0 
63.0 

.11 
.10 

.017 
.017 

.36 
.35 

.024 
.083 

49270 

30460 

30.25 

63.5 

.10 

.017 

.36 

.029 

Top, 
Bottom, 
Average, 

48440 
47600 
47260 

30460 
80530 
29850 

32.00 
34.00 
31.25 

65.9 
57.2 
58.0 

.10 
.11 
.13 

.019 
.017 
.016 

.32 
.35 
.35 

.036 
.086 
.034 

47767 

30280 

32.42 

60.4 

.11 

.017 

.34 

.085 

A 
« 

5 

< 

+j 

-u  o 

^  5) 

C3 

Top, 
Bottom, 
Average, 

50660 
50860 
53860 

32710 
30480 
33710 

35.00 
33.25 

29.25 

64.7 
63.8 
58.6 

.13 
.13 
.11 

.017 
.021 

.025 

.45 

.44 

.    .46 

.022 
.028 
.087 

51793 

32300 

32.50 

62.4 

.12 

.021 

.45 

.029 

I 

i 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

54080 
52680 
51520 
50750 
50280 

33970 
34100 
32140 
32840 
31760 

80.00 
31.25 
33.00 
33.25 
31.75 

59.4 
63.9 
61.0 
64.2 
65.2 

.15 
.15 
.12 
.14 
.13 

.024 
.022 
.018 
.020 
.013 

.46 
.46 
.44 
.44 
.43 

.081 
.029 
.026 
.023 
.022 

51802 

32962 

31.85 

62.7 

.14 

.019 

.45 

.02G 

i 

a 

s 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

58440 

51(320 
505CO 
492CO 

32440 
33400 
82650 
31460 

32.50 
32.75 
31.25 
31.00 

60.7 
65.1 
61.9 
65.0 

.11 
.13 
.14 
.15 

.024 
.019 
.021 
.020 

.42 
.42 
.42 
.41 

.030 
.029 
.027 
.026 

51245 

32488 

31.88 

63.2 

.13 

.021 

.42 

.028 

1) 

fl 

£ 
•** 

Top, 

Bottom, 
Average, 

52060 
54260 
52880 
50890 

32460 
34450 
33450 
82090 

31.75 
30.00 
29.50 
33.75 

64.2 
59.4 
62.8 
61.4 

.15 
.17 
.14 
.10 

.028 
.026 
.024 
.018 

.44 
.44 
.45 
.42 

.030 
.028 
.030 
.029 

52523 

83113 

31.25 

62.0 

.14 

.024 

.44 

.029 

ingot  from  top  to  bottom,  and  it  will  be  seen  that,  as  a  rule,  the 
plates  from  the  top  give  a  slightly  higher  strength  than  those  from 
the  bottom,  but  that  the  variations  are  unimportant,  not  being  as 
great  as  will  often  be  found  in  different  parts  of  a  single  plate 
rolled  from  an  ordinary  plate  ingot. 

The  carbon  determinations  in  Table  XIII-G  are  inaccurate,  since 
they  were  made  by  the  color  method.     The  work  was  performed  by 


354 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


•rnen  who  are  regularly  engaged  in  doing  nothing  else,  and  without 
any  attempt  at  extra  care,  but  in  order  to  see  whether  there  really 
were  any  such  differences  in  composition  as  the  records  would 
indicate,  the  samples  showing  the  widest  variations  in  three  heats 
were  reworked  twice  by  color  and  once  by  combustion ;  the  results 
are  given  in  Table  XIII-H,.  and  show  that  the  variations  in  any 
one  heat  are  in  the  third  place  from  the  decimal  point,  which  is 
close  to  the  limit  of  experimental  error. 

TABLE  XIII-H. 

Showing  that  Variations  in  the  Carbon  Content  in  the  Test-Pieces 

Given  in  Table  XIII-Gr  are  Due  to  Analytical  Errors. 

.  •  - ' 

Group  A  is  made  up  of 


B  of  those  showing  the  lowest. 


Heat  No. 

Group. 

Composition  ;  per  cent. 

Original  as  given  in  Table  XIII-G. 

Reworked. 

Carbon  by 
color. 

P. 

Mn. 

Duplicate 
determi- 
nations by 
color. 

Average  of 
group  by 
combustion. 

6633 

A 

.15 
.16 

.018 
.015 

.32 
.32 

.13 
.13 

.14 
.13 

.118 

B 

.11 

.015 

.31 

.13 

.14 

.124 

8284 

A 

.19 
.17 
.17 

.025 
.022 
.024 

.48 
.47 
.45 

.18 
.17 
.15 

.19 
.18 
.16 

.165 

B 

.11 
.12 
.12 

.024 
.024 
.020 

.49 

.48 
.46 

.17 
.15 
.16 

.17 
.16 
.17 

.158 

8286 

A 

.15 

.17 

.028 
.026 

.44 
.44 

.14 
.14 

.14 
.15 

.150 

B 

.11 
.10 

.024 
.018 

.42 
.42 

.13 
.14 

.13 
.14 

.149 

SEC.  Xllle. — Homogeneity  of  acid  open-hearth  rivet  and  angle 
steel. — A  very  good  opportunity  of  investigating  the  homogeneity 
of  a  heat  of  steel  occurs  in  the  manufacture  of  rivet  rods  and 
angles,  where  tests  may  be  conveniently  taken  from  many  differ- 
ent members.  In  the  case  of  rivet  rods,  the  test-pieces  will  repre- 
sent the  ent'ire  cross  section  of  the  ingot,  and  thus  include  the 
segregated  portions.  Table  XIII-I  gives  the  records  obtained  from 
several  tests  taken  at  random  from  the  piles  of  rivet  rods  from  five 
different  heats,  without  any  knowledge  as  to  what  part  of  the  heat 
or  what  part  of  the  ingot  the  tests  came  from. 


SEGREGATION   AND   HOMOGENEITY. 


355 


The  data  on  the  natural  bars  are  arranged  in  the  order  of  tensile 
strength,  while  in  parallel  columns  are  given  the  results  obtained 
by  annealing  the  same  bar.  Although  all  the  pieces  of  one  heat 
were  annealed  at  the  same  time,  and  with  the  utmost  care  to  have 
all  conditions  uniform,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  variations  in  the 
strength  of  the  treated  bar  are  entirely  independent  of  the  vari- 
ations in  the  strength  of  the  natural  bar.  This  would  indicate 
that  the  differences  are  due  to  irregularities  in  rolling  and  to  de- 
terminative errors  rather  than  to  any  inherent  variations  in  the 
character  of  the  metal. 

TABLE  XIII-I. 

Tests  on  "Rivet  Rounds  taken  from  Different  Parts  of  the  Same 

Heats. 

All  steels  were  made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Co. 


£'•• 

m 

Ultimate 

Elastic  limit; 

Elongation  in 

Reduction  of 

is  •  * 

P. 

strength;  pounds 

pounds  per 

8  inches  ;  per 

area;  per 

|-g'£ 

I 

per  square  inch. 

square  inch. 

cent. 

cent. 

*  ®|l 

. 

i 

. 

•d 

. 

i 

. 

i 

°  43  !  « 

0^; 

1 

1 

g 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

.S  "®  l=s 

Is 

0 

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3 

O 

d 

"S 

W 

d 

1 

1 

5 

o  o 
0 

1 

1 

fc 

1 

fc 

5 

1 

d 

• 

61260 

55640 

43960 

34420 

31.25 

30.00 

60.30 

66.24 

_      . 

"~£ 

60950 

54760 

42430 

84840 

32.00 

29.50 

62.73 

65.91 

S  -3 

25    • 

60800 

52700 

42790 

33800 

32.X 

31.50 

65.25 

68.88 

. 

®      II    P£ 

60720 

55130 

43600 

34700 

31.25 

32.50 

66.76 

67.87 

1         O 

4^ 

[[5  d 

60210 

54600 

41160 

84040 

30.50 

30.75 

62.60 

65.68 

s;» 

d 

7? 

60010 

54360 

41720 

34040 

30.50 

32.50 

6(5.76 

67.74 

••£?]! 

59970 

54820 

40770 

33840 

30.50 

32.00 

63.97 

C4.92 

0  § 

*?. 

£H&-!Q 

59710 

54340 

40900 

34320 

32.50 

32.50 

63.43 

63.78 

2s 

if  If 

59620 

54040 

40920 

34120 

33.00 

30.00 

57.70 

66.39 

»J 

59300 

54600 

40320 

34030 

34.50 

33.00 

65.96 

68.05 

Avei 

age, 

60260 

54500 

41860 

34220 

31.80 

31.42 

63.55 

66.54 

^ 

H  & 

56040 

49990 

37710 

30200 

33.25 

34.75 

65.73 

66.70 

$H         ^ 

CC  || 

56000 

50520 

37800 

30700 

35.00 

34.i5 

64.26 

69.18 

£fl 

ATS 

55520 

50520 

37890 

31750 

31.50 

35.75 

61.86 

60:94 

43    3 

43* 

S  ••. 

55420 

51000 

37360 

81165. 

81.75 

34.50 

62.18 

67.97 

S 

jro" 

55080 

49460 

36130 

30910 

83.00 

34.75 

56.03 

68.70 

m    ^ 

Q!I  n" 

55040 

51170 

37980 

31475 

34.75 

34.50 

65.48 

69.50 

\00 

ji 

54980 

50400 

37710 

30665 

33.00 

35.50 

59.64 

69.68 

_j    o 

t>\ 

cT5 

54950 

50640 

37800 

31345 

31.75 

35.00 

67.02 

69.28 

2  ^ 

"~i^ 

54860 

50520 

37980 

31970 

33.00 

35.00 

64.09 

68.04 

3  rH 

O^" 

54720 

50940 

36830 

31900 

83.75 

35.75 

55.25 

67.85 

A\ 

er 

age,* 

55260 

50520 

87520 

31210 

33.07 

34.97 

62.15 

68.38 

4J 

II 

54000 

48870 

36230 

30990 

83.75 

33.75 

62.30 

70.59 

3D  .« 

53500 

494GO 

35960 

31220 

34.50 

36.25 

68.32 

68.27 

08  ."O 

c^  . 

53400 

48520 

35710 

31520 

83.50 

35.50 

64.05 

69.28 

43    fl 

J 

o  iM 

52690 

48290 

35880 

31190 

33.75 

32.50 

66.49 

68.77 

'     O 

o 

if  C3  *"• 

53300 

48460 

36060 

31370 

83.75 

34.25 

61.57 

68.14 

§  a 

d 

oiS  " 

52620 

49760 

35080 

82710 

33.75 

36.25 

68.27 

67.52 

0,  8 

iff 

^  «-r? 

52620 

48640 

80490 

33.75 

36.25 

65.29 

69.43 

O  O_ 

«>\ 

gig^ 

52620 

48520 

35950 

30590 

81.25 

35.00 

62.04 

69.49 

2  ~* 

.& 

51910 

49230 

36230 

32580 

82.25 

34.50 

58.68 

67.98 

if 

II  ' 

51900 

48410 

34840 

80350 

33.75 

83.75 

63.72       66.V>5 

A\ 

rerage, 

52860 

48820 

85700    1      31300 

33.40 

34.80 

68.57        68.64 

356 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


TABLE  XIII-I— Continued. 


Acid  open-hearth.  |  Kind  of  steel. 
>  110,000  pounds.  |  Weight  of  charge. 

Diameter  of  bar. 

Composition;  per 
cent. 

Ultimate 
strength;  pounds 
per  square  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation  in 
8  inches;  per 
cent. 

Reduction  of 
area;  per 
cent. 

Natural.- 

Annealed. 

Natural. 

Annealed. 

Natural. 

Annealed. 

Natural. 

Annealed. 

.- 
'= 

5 

A 

.s 
o 

- 

5 

t'l 

L 

s& 

3IJ& 

Jis» 

.-•-O 
3^ 

3 

v'r'ge 

l;l 

«5 

3H£ 

iSi 

33° 

P 

age, 

55480 
55480 
55430 
55400 
55160 
54770 
54750 
54690 
54520 
54220 

49460 
49940 
49460 
49700 
49700 
50720 
50420 
50010 
50880 
49770 

37600 
36670 
38400 
37250 
37950 
37600 
88400 
39120 
38640 
38900 

29870 
30350 
30110 
31300 
32730 
31760 
32740 
32470 
32220 
32230 

32.50 
32.50 
83.25 
30.00- 
30.00 
32.50 
83.75 
32.75 
33.00 
83.75 

28.75 
31.25 
31.75 
35.00 
82.50 
30.00 
33.75 
32.50 
31.25 
33.75 

67.45 

68.22 
68.40 
64.67 
64.97 
69.68 
63.15 
67.35 
67.17 
66.57 

65.80 
65.30 
67.70 
69.22 
60.22 
64.62 
61.12 
67.96 
67.25 
69.47 

54990 

50006 

38053 

31578 

32.40 

32.05 

66.76 

66.72 

55000 
54780 
54700 
54180 
54170 
53880 
53770 
53770 
52860 
52600 

50230 
49170 
50880 
48820 
48290 
48930 
50520 
49060 
50160 
50640 

37710 
37100 
86750 
87450 
36580 
36320 
35610 
85960 
85700 
35360 

81950 
30310 
81623 
30840 
80840 
30730 
31670 
81120 
81920 
32400 

31.75 
33.75 
82.50 
81.75 
31.25 
31.00 
82.50 
82.75 
83.25 
33.00 

33.75 

36.00 
34.00 
85.00 
34.00 
86.00 
34.00 
35.50 
35.50 
33.00 

66.31 
62.83 
60.11 
62.30 
67.83 
60.20 
60.02 
65.73 
61.39 
68.49 

70.77 
68.77 
66.70 
68.77 
68.77 
68.43 
65.08 
69.76 
69.57 
68.62 

53970 

49670 

36450 

31340 

32.35 

8*i87 

63.52 

68.52 

Basic  open-hearth. 
%  40,000  pounds. 

1  2  ys  inch. 

Si 

l& 

O 
age, 

48340 
47380 
48450 
48230 
49175 
48560 
47730 
48785 
48640 
49440 
47835 
48050 
48360 
48400 

33065 
31530    • 
83650 
31600 
83340 
32760 
83260 
82130 
82935 
83270 
82900 
81920 
82185 
83880 

84.50 
85.00 
85.00 
87.00 
86.25 
33.75 
35.00 
34.00 
84.25 
84.00 
34.00 
33.75 
86.25 
33.75 

!  !  !  ! 

71.87 
72.05 
72.05 
74.14 
70.09 
72.95 
74.49 
71.80 
71.92 
71.48 
72.72 
71.42 
74.28 
73.64 

!  !  ! 

!     !     .' 











48384 



32745 

34.75 

72.49 

In  further  proof  of  this,  drillings  were  taken  from  the  three 
annealed  bars  of  heat '  10,168,  which  showed  the  highest  tensile 
strength,  and  from  the  three  which  were  the  weakest.  The  results 
of  analysis  are  given  in  Table  XIII-J. 

The  ingots  from  which  these  rivet  rods  were  made  measured 
16"x20"  in  cross  section  and  weighed  about  two  tons  each.  In  the 
case  of  angles  it  is  the  practice  at  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Works 
to  roll  a  larger  ingot  than  is  used  elsewhere  for  the  same  purpose, 
the  cross  section  being  24"x26",  and  the  weight  about  5  tons.  In 
order  to  test  tke  uniformity  of  the  material,  the  blooms  from  sev- 


SEGREGATION    AND    HOMOGENEITY. 


367 


eral  such  ingots  were  stamped  so  as  to  denote  from  what  part  of 
the  ingot  each  one  came,  and  drillings  were  taken  from  the  corre- 
sponding finished  angles. 

TABLE  XIII-J. 

Composition  of  Kivet  Eods  from  Heat  10,168.,'  which  showed  the 
Greatest  Differences  in  the  Tensile  Strength  of  the  Annealed 
Bars. 


Nature  of  Sample. 

Ultimate  strength  ; 
pounds  per  sq.  inch. 

Composition;  percent. 

Natural. 

Annealed. 

C. 

P. 

S. 

Mn. 

Preliminary  test 

52280 
53690 
54077 

50680 
48680 

.12 
.12 
.12 

.013 
.013 
.013 

.024 
.019 
.024 

.29 
.30 
.30 

Average  of  strongest  three 
bars  of  %  inch  diameter  .  .  . 
Average  of  weakest   three 
bars  of  %  inch  diameter  .  .   . 

The  results  of  analysis  are  given  in  Table  XIII-K,  and  they  show 
that  each  ingot  was  practically  uniform  throughout.  The  drillings 
were  taken  so  -as  to  include  the  center  of  the  bar,  which  is  the  most 
impure  portion.  In  each  case  the  first  bloom  in  the  list  is  the  top 
of  the  ingot,  and  the  last  is  the  bottom;  the  varying  number  of 
blooms  in  the  ingots  arises  from  the  different  weight  of  the  angles 
to  be  made. 

SEC.  XHIf. — Homogeneity  of  high-carbon  steels. — It  would  nat- 
urally be  expected  that  segregation  would  be  most  marked  in  ingots 
of  high-carbon,  because  such  metal  remains  liquid  for  a  long  time. 
It  is  found,  however,  that  even  under  these  conditions  separation 
of  the  impurities  does  not  always  occur.  This  will  be  shown  by 
Tables  XIII-L  and  XIII-M,  which  give  the  results  of  certain  in- 
vestigations by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company.  The  data  on" 
carbon  in  Table  XIII-L  are  of  little  importance,  for  a  color  deter- 
mination is  well-nigh  worthless  on  such  high  steels. 

The  determinations  of  carbon  in  Table  XIII-M  are  made  by  com- 
bustion and  are  accurate,  and  they  show  a  considerable  variation  in 
the  distribution  of  this  element ;  this  might  be  expected  when  such 
a  large  proportion  is  present,  and  its  hold  upon  the  iron  corre- 
spondingly less  firm.  The  sulphur  and  phosphorus  are  very  regu- 
lar, the  variations  in  the  purer  metal  being  almost  within  the 
limits  of  error.  In  the  ingot  of  medium  phosphorus,  the  percent- 
age of  variation  is  no  more  than  in  the  others,  but  the  actual  range 


358 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


is  greater.  Although  this  would  follow  naturally,  it  is  possible  to 
show,  by  an  incident  which  happened  under  my  own  observation, 
that  concentration  does  not  always  occur,,  even  in  the  case  of  im- 
pure steels. 


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i  -H  O  rH  O  (M  O  (M  : 


rn  (M  «  •*  10  «O  t» 


rH  (M  W  •*  U3  «O  t-  00  Oi  O 


jo -OK 


I! 


•          i-  ,,  >  ^-n  ^  4^  CO  -C  ^ 

K      qqqqqqqc 


uaqranu 


A  50-ton  acid  open-hearth  charge  had  been  made  containing  .46 
per  cent,  of  carbon,  together  with  unusually  high  manganese,  phos- 
phorus, and  silicon.  The  ingots  had  a  cross  section  of  16"x20", 
and  weighed  about  4000  pounds  each.  In  loading  them,  one  fell 


SEGREGATION    AND   HOMOGENEITY. 


359 


over  and  "bled"  at  the  top.  The  amount  of  liquid  metal  thus  lost 
did  not  exceed  25  pounds,  although  the  cavity  was  completely 
emptied,  so  that  if  segregation  existed  to  any  considerable  extent  it 
should  appear  in  this  metal  which  remained  liquid  to  the  last. 
Table  XIII-N  will,  however,  show  that  very  little  segregation  had 
taken  place. 

TABLE  XIII-L. 

Distribution    of    Elements    in    a    High-Carbon,    Low-Phosphorus 
Open-Hearth  Ingot,  14  inches  square,  63  inches  long. 

NOTE.— Made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company.    Carbon  was  determined  by 
color,  and  is,  therefore,  only  approximate. 


Part  of  the  ingot  from  which 
test  was  taken. 

fe 

^fl^aS 

£5  H  m  ®,d 

«2fiU|q 

fraaa 

Composition;  percent. 

C. 

P. 

Mn. 

Average. 

C. 

P. 

Mn. 

Four  inches  from  bottom, 

2 
4 

6 

7 

.79 
.78 
.79 
.72 

.013 
.015 
.013 
.012 

.20 
.20 
.19 
.19 

.77 

.018 

.20 

Fifteen  inches  from  bottom, 

2 
4 
6 

7 

.77 
.87 
.84 
.78 

.011 
.015 
.011 
.011 

.20 
.20 
.20 
.19 

.81 

.012 

.20 

Twenty-six  inches  from  bottom, 

2 
4 

6 

7 

.80 
.89 
.85 
.81 

.012 
.014 
.014 
.009 

.18 
.21 
.21 
.20 

.84 

.012 

.20 

Thirty-seven  inches  from  bottom, 

2 
4 
6 

7 

.77 
.90 
.89 
.83 

.011 
.014 
.015 
.012 

.20 
.21 
.20 
.20 

.85 

.013 

.20 

Forty-eight  inches  from  bottom: 
all  above  this  would  be  cut  off  as 
scrap  when  the  ingot  is  rolled, 

2 
4 
6 

7 

.79 
.91 

.89 
.94 

.011 
.014 
.016 
.014 

.21 
.20 
.19 
.21 

.88 

.014 

.20 

Four  inches  from  top, 

2 
4 
6 

7 

.74 
.90 
.95 

1.06 

.010 
.016 
.017 
.023 

.21 
.21 
.21 
.21 

.91 

.016 

.21 

SEC.  Xlllg. — Homogeneity  of  acid  open-hearth  nickel  steel. — > 
It  is  the  current  impression  among  manufacturers  of  nickel  steel 
that  the  presence  of  this  element  prevents  segregation.  In  order 
to  have  some  evidence  upon  this  point,  an  investigation  was  con- 
ducted on  an  ingot  of  nickel  steel  made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel 
Company.  The  cross  section  of  the  ingot  was  18"x20",  and  the 
weight  about  5500  pounds.  This  was  rolled  into  a  piece  16  inches 
wide,  5  inches  thick,  and  20  feet  long,  and  cut  into  five  slabs. 


360 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


The  top  slab  was  rolled  into  a  three-eighth-inch  universal  plate,  the 
second  slab  into  a  three-eighth-inch  sheared  plate,  the  third  slab 
into  a  half-inch  universal  plate,  the  fourth  slab  into  a  half-inch 
sheared  plate,  and  the  fifth  slab  was  hammered  into  a  bloom  and 
then  rolled  into  6"x4"  angles. 

TABLE  XIII-M. 

Distribution  of  Elements  in  7-inch  Square  Blooms  Eolled  from 
High-Carbon,  Open-Hearth  Ingots,  14  inches  Square. 

A  slice  was  cut  crosswise  from  the  rolled  bloom  at  different  places  and  drillings 
taken  from  the  center  of  this  slice,  corresponding  to  the  center  of  the  ingot. 


Kind  of 
ingot. 

Place  from  which  slice  was  taken. 

Composition;  percent. 

Cby 
comb. 

P. 

Mn 

S. 

Si. 

.12 

.09 
.10 
.09 
.11 
.11 

Low- 
phosphorus 
ingot. 

Ladle  test   -...•£ 
Top  of  ingot  after  cutting  off  20  per  cent, 
as  scrap 

.984 

.941 
.990 
.991 
.982 
1.012 

.013 

.015 
.019 
.017 
.020 
.016 

.09 

.11 
.11 
.11 
.11 
.11 

.022 

.012 
.010 
.012 
.010 
.010 

One-fourth  way  down  the  ingot  
One-half  way  down  the  ingot  
Three-quarters  way  down  the  ingot  .  .  . 
Bottom  of  ingot  

Medium- 
phosphorus 
ingot. 

Ladle  test  
Top  of  ingot  after  cutting  off  20  per  cent, 
as  scrap        .  .             ....          

1.440 

1.205 
1.430 
1.443 
1.400 
1.459 

.050 

.064 
.059 
.051 
.053 
.055 

.28 

.28 

.27 
.27 
.27 

.27 

.016 

.015 
.015 
.013 
.014 
.012 

.12 

.16 
.12 
.12 
.18 
.12 

One-fourth  way  down  the  ingot  
One-half  way  down  the  ingot  
Three-quarters  way  down  the  ingot  .  .  . 
Bottom  of  ingot  

Low- 
phosphorus 
ingot. 

Ladle  test 

.913 
.925 

.024 

.021 
.022 
.021 
.025 
.021 

.13 

.13 
.14 
.18 
.13 
.13 

.019 

.018 
.018 
.020 
.021 
.021 

'• 

Top  of  ingot  after  cutting  off  20  per  cent, 
as  scrap                  .  .                

One-fourth  way  down  the  ingot  
One-half  way  down  the  ingot  . 

.965 
.948 
.956 
.943 

Three-quarters  way  down  the  ingot  .  .  . 
Bottom  of  ingot  . 

TABLE  XIII-K 

Composition  of  the  Liquid  Interior  of  an  Ingot  as  Compared  with 
the  Ladle  Test  of  the  Same  Charge. 


Origin  of  sample. 

Composition;  percent. 

Carbon  by 
combustion 

P. 

S. 

Mn. 

Si. 

Metal  from  interior  . 

.480 
.461 

.095 
.091 

.047 
.034 

0.95 
1.18 

und.. 
.12 

Ladle  test  

Each  end  of  each  slab  was  marked  so  as  to  note  whether  it  was 
toward  the  top  or  bottom  of  the  ingot,  and  the  location  of  each  test- 
piece  in  each  plate  was  kept  of  record.  Table  XIII-0  gives  the 
physical  and  chemical  results  obtained  from  the  ^different  strips, 


SEGREGATION   AND   HOMOGENEITY. 


361 


while  the  diagram  immediately  below  the  table  represents  the  entire 
length  of  the  original  piece  produced  by  rolling  the  18"x20"  ingot 
to  a  section  of  16"x5".  The  numbers  on  this  diagram  correspond 
to  the  numbers  of  the  test-pieces  in  the  table,  and  serve  to  mark  the 
exact  place  in  the  ingot  from  which  the  corresponding  test-piece 
was  derived. 

TABLE  XIII-0. 


Homogeneity  of  Acid  Open-Hearth  Mckel  Steel. 


Size  of  ingot, 


,  18"x20" ;  made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company.  Coi 
preliminary  test,  per  cent.:  C,  .24;  Mn,  .78;  P,  .032;  S,  .027. 


Composition  ol 


i 
i 

Shape  into  which 
slab  was  rolled. 

J 

03 
3 

<M 

0 

1 

Composition; 
percent. 

Ultimate 
strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
Ibs.  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation 
in  8  inches; 
per  cent. 

OQ 

§J^ 

i§§ 
!«! 
Is  I 

Reduction  of  1 
area;  per 
cent. 

Ni. 

P. 

M.n. 

S. 

A 
B 

%-inch  universal 
mill  plate. 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 

3.22 
3.21 
3.31 
3.24 
3.22 
3.29 

.038 
.040 
.035 
.039 
.031 
.037 

0.78 
0.80 
0.78 
0.78 
0.77 
0.77 

.036 
.046 
.034 
.036 
.028 
.026 

86480 
88500 
85140 
88700 
84080 
85400 

59000 
59500 
59240 
58100 
57320 
59410 

19.25 
20.50 
21.75 
19.75 
21.25 
19.75 

37.00 
86.00 
89.00 
34.50 
40.00 
38.00 

47.8 
39.1 
54.2 
38.6 
53.1 
51.5 

%-inch  sheared 
plate. 

7 
8 
9 

3.27 
3.29 
3.27 

.035 
.039 
.087 

0.77 
0.77 
0.78 

.034 
.037 
.038 

84440 
86680 
86520 

58800 
59640 
59560 

19.50 
17.00 
20.50 

87.00 
81.50 
87.00 

48.8 
42.S 
52.6 

C 

%-inch  universal 
mill  plate. 

10 
11 

3.22 
3.22 

.037 
.037 

0.77 
0.78 

.032 
.032 

86200 
85660 

58260 
56760 

21.00 
22.00 

40.00 
42.00 

54.1 
53.1 

D 
~lT 

%-inch  sheared 
plate. 

12 
13 

3.21 
8.21 

.035 
.035 

0.77 
0.78 

.034 
.033 

85180 
84020 

56800 
57600 

19.00 
20.50 

34.50 
39.00 

50.2 
52.2 

Angles. 

14 

3.25 

.038 

0.77 

.033 

86960 

58550 

21.75 

39.67 

50.5 

NOTE.— The  following  diagram  shows  the  parts  of  the  ingot  which  correspond  to 

the  places  in  the  plates  from  which  the  tests,  given  in  the  third 

column  of  above  table,  were  taken. 


£                         S 

S 

5 

-=• 

OT            CO           h-> 

3* 

g 

^ 

te 

S 

<O                          00 

0             ^            U, 

•d^ 

g.3 

S 

Slab  E. 

Slab  D. 

Slab  C. 

Slab  B. 

Slab  A. 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  are  evidences  of  segregation,  both  in  a 
slightly  higher  tensile  strength  and  in  higher  phosphorus  and  sul- 
phur, in  the  center  of  the  ingot  near  the  top,  but  the  differences 
are  unimportant,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  carbon  in  the  steel 
was  .24  per  cent.,  there  seems  to  be  good  ground  for  the  assumption 
that  nickel  prevents  the  separation  of  the  metalloids.  It  has  not 
prevented  it  altogether,  however,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  any 
other  agent  will  ever  be  found  competent  for  this  task. 


362 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

TABLE  XIII-R 


Segregation  in  Swedish  Ingots. 

Calculated  from  Wahlberg:  Journal  I.  and  S.  I..  Vol.  II,  1901.  Left-hand  figures  In  each 
rectangle  =  surface  at  top  and  bottom.  Right-hand  figures  =  centre  of  ingot  at  top  and 
bottom.  Each  figure  is  average  of  determinations  by  three  chemists.  Plain  figures  =*  car 
bon  ;  parentheses  in  italics  =  phosphorus. 


Top. 

Top. 

Top. 

0% 

.159 

.470 

.475 

.929 

1.032 

i 

(.028) 

(-091)    gj            $ 

(.024) 

(.029)    £             6 

(.035) 

(.055)    £ 

i 

A 

a        1 

E 

•g         «8 

I 

a 

i 

.095 

.128     0           jg 

.483 

.469     6            | 

.975 

.932     0 

(.031) 

(.056) 

(.025) 

(.023) 

(.043) 

(.035) 

Bottom. 

Bottom. 

Bottom 

Top. 

Top. 

Top. 

.128 

.129 

.508 

.590 

1:032 

.906 

8 

(.012) 

(.015)    n'            g 

(-033) 

(.063)     £             g 

(.025) 

(.021)    ^; 

8 

B 

J 

F 

3 

J 

m 

a 

.106 

.115    S 

.495 

.486     6 

.982 

1.024     5 

(.013) 

(.013) 

(.034) 

(.035) 

(.025) 

(.027) 

Bottom 

Bottom. 

Bottom 

Top. 

Top. 

Top. 

.125 

.207 

.591 

.594 

1.055 

1.202 

0 

(.020) 

(.056)    K-             «3 

(.026) 

(.031)    n-             o> 

(.025) 

(.040)    u 

5 

C 

o          -^ 

G 

"S        «§ 

K 

Q 

s 

.117 

.140   6           | 

.549 

.543     0             S 

1.102 

1.099     0 

(.019) 

(.034) 

(.026) 

(.025) 

(.026) 

(.026) 

Bottom 

Bottom. 

Bottom 

Top 

Top. 

Top. 

.220 

.270 

.612 

.675 

1.234 

1.262 

i 

(.022) 

(.042)    g-             g 

(.030) 

(.034)    g            g 

(.028) 

(.033)    ^ 

£ 

D 

fl 

H 

a          •« 

L 

a 

1 

.192 

.218  a     | 

.625 

.631     0             g 

1.240 

1.217     0 

(023) 

(.030) 

(.033) 

(.034) 

(.031) 

(.031) 

Bottom 

Bottom. 

Bottom 

SEC.  Xlllh. — Investigations  on  Swedish  steel. — The  experiments 
related  in  this  chapter  were  for  the  most  part  made  at  Steelton; 
manufacturers,  as  a  rule,  do  not  want  to  discuss  segregation  at  all, 
and  published  records  are  rare.  Very  recently,  however,  a  careful 
account  has  been  written  by  Wahlberg*  on  certain  investigations 
on  Swedish  steels.  He  gives  the  determinations  by  three  chemists 

*  Journal  I.  and  S.  !„  Vol.  II,  1901. 


SEGREGATION    AND    HOMOGENEITY.  363 

of  the  carbon  and  phosphorus  in  several  different  steels  and  Table 
XI II-P  shows  the  averages  made  from  his  tables.  Inspection  will 
show  that  B,  E,  G,  H,  J  and  L,  which  is  to  say  one-half  of  all  the 
ingots,  showed  practically  no  segregation  of  either  carbon  or  phos- 
phorus. F,  I  and  K  showed  segregation  in  the  center  of  the  top  of 
both  carbon  and  phosphorus,  but  none  elsewhere.  C  and  D  showed 
segregation  in  the  top  and  a  slight  amount  in  the  centre  of  the 
bottom,,  while  A  showed  quite  marked  segregation  in  the  top  and  a 
very  considerable  amount  in  the  bottom  of  both  carbon  and  phos- 
phorus. It  will  be  evident,  however,  that  by  cutting  off  the  top 
of  the  ingot  the  remainder  of  the  steel  will  be  practically  uniform, 
for,  as  before  pointed  out,  the  central  axis  constitutes  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  finished  material. 

The  burden  of  the  testimony  given  in  this  chapter  is  to  the  effect 
that  segregation  is  an  ever  present  factor;  that  the  extent  of  the 
concentration  bears  a  certain  relation  to  the  proportion  of  impuri- 
ties that  are  present;  that  manganese,  copper  and  nickel  do  not 
segregate  to  any  extent,  but  that  certain  portions  of  the  finished 
material  will  contain  a  higher  percentage  of  carbon,  phosphorus 
and  sulphur  than  will  be  found  in  the  tests  cut  from  the  edge  of 
plates  and  bars,  or  than  will  be  shown  by  an  analysis  of  the  pre- 
liminary test.  It  is  also  indicated  that  a  degree  of  uniformity, 
sufficient  for  practical  needs,  may  be  expected  if  the  initial  metal  is 
low  in  phosphorus  and  sulphur. 


CHAPTEK  XIV. 

INFLUENCE  OF  HOT  WORKING  ON  STEEL. 

SECTION  XlVa. — Effect  of  thickness  upon  the  physical  prop- 
erties.— One  of  the  fundamental  difficulties  in  writing  specifications 
is  to  decide  the  nature  of  the  test-piece  to  be  required,  inasmuch  as 
the  strength  and  ductility  will  vary  in  pieces  of  different  thickness, 
while  the  results  will  not  be  alike  in  tests  cut  from  different  struc- 
tural shapes,  like  plates,  angles  and  rounds,  even  though  they  be 
/oiled  from  the  same  steel.  From  one  point  of  view  each  piece 
of  metal  throughout  a  bridge  should  be  of  exactly  the  same  strength 
per  unit  ctf  section  without  regard  to  its  thickness;  but  in  taking 
this  as  a  basis  a  serious  trouble  is  encountered.  Suppose,  for  in- 
stance, that 'a  metal  is  required  running  between  56,000  and  64,000 
pounds  per  square  inch,  and  a  charge  is  made  which  in  three- 
eighth-inch  plate  gives  57,000  pounds.  If  this  steel  be  rolled  into 
seven-eighth-inch  angles,  or  into  one-inch  plate,  or  into  two-inch 
rounds,  it  is  quite  probable  that  these  will  run  below  the  allowable 
minimum.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  steel  gives  62,000  pounds 
in  a  preliminary  test,  the  larger  sections  will  give  proper  results, 
while  one-quarter-inch  plate  will  be  too  high  in  ultimate  strength. 

Where  a  structure  is  to  be  made  of  large  quantities  of  very  large 
or  very  small  sections,  it  is  well  to  specify  that  the  test  shall  be 
made  on  the  special  thicknesses  needed,  but  in  ordinary  cases  it 
seems  absurd  to  the  practical  mind  that  a  heat  of  steel  can  be 
perfectly  suitable  for  one  size  and  unsuitable  for  another.  It  was 
the  custom  in  the  past  for  inspectors  to  recognize  the  situation  and 
make  tests  from  the  usual  sizes,  with  a  full  knowledge  that  thicker 
and  thinner  members  would  give  different  results,  but  in  later  prac- 
tice there  is  a  growing  tendency  to  test  each  separate  thickness,  a 
change  which  has  been  the  cause  of  great  expense  to  the  manufac- 
turer. Provisions  to  cover  this  point  should  be  incorporated  into 
contracts  and  a  certain  definite  allowance  made  for  variations  in 
the  dimensions  of  the  finished  material.  On  the  other  hand  the 

364 


INFLUENCE   OF    HOT    WORKING   ON    STEEL.  365 

requirements  should  be  worded  so  that  manufacturers  would  be 
obliged  to  put  sufficient  work  on  large  members  to  render  them 
of.  proper  structure. 

There  is  often  a  confusion  of  terms  in  considering  the  effect  of 
work  as  represented  by  a  large  percentage  of  reduction  from  the 
ingot,  and  the  effect  of  finishing  at  a  low  temperature.  This  is 
found  most  often  in  the  case  of  plates,  for  it  has  been  quite  a  gen- 
eral practice  to  roll  these  directly  from  the  ingot  in  one  heat.  In 
order  that  a  piece  shall  be  finished  hot  enough  under  this  practice, 
there  has  been  a  standing  temptation  to  use  a  thin  ingot;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  has  been  almost  universally  shown  that  the  best 
results  are  obtained  when  a  large  amount  of  work  is  put  upon  the 
piece  during  rolling. 

SEC.  XlVb. — Discussion  of  Riley's  investigations  on  the  .effect 
•of  work. — The  truth  of  this  last  statement  was  disputed  by  Kiley,* 
who  tabulated  the  results  of  testing  different  thicknesses  of  plate 
when  rolled  from  ingots  of  varying  section.  In  all  cases  the  ingot 
was  either  hammered  or  cogged  to  a  slab  and  this  was  reheated  be- 
fore finishing  into  a  plate.  His  analysis  of  the  records  consisted  in 
picking  out  individual  cases  and  showing  that  the  small  ingots  gave 
some  results  which  were  equal  to  those  from  the  large  ones,  but 
this  method  of  comparison  must  be  recognized  as  entirely  unworthy 
of  the  subject.  It  is  true  that  the  number  of  tests  is  very  small, 
and  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  the  accidental  variations  in  the 
double  working  should  produce  anomalous  results ;  but  even  taking 
these  very  data  and  making  comparisons  by  the  proper  system  of 
averages,  it  will  be  found  that  they  tell  a  story  exactly  opposite 
from  the  conclusions  formulated  by  Mr.  Eiley.  In  Tables  XIY-A 
and  XIV-B  such  figures  are  presented. 

In  the  comparison  of  the  different  thicknesses  in  Table  XIV- A 
the  thinner  plates  give  much  better  results,  the  one-half-inch  plate 
showing  an  increased  ductility  in  spite  of  its  greater  strength. 
The  one-quarter-inch  plates  are  somewhat  lower  in  elongation  and 
two  and  one-half  per  cent,  better  in  reduction  of  area  than  the 
one  inch  plates,  but  they  possess  7600  pounds  more,  strength,  so 
that  less  ductility  should  be  expected.  This  statement  is  open  to 
criticism,  as  no  account  is  taken  of  the  effect  of  variation  in  the 

*  Some  Investigations   as   to   the  Effects  of  Different  Methods   of   Treatment 
of  MiJd  Steel  in  the  Manufacture  of  Plates.     Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1887, 
121. 


366 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


dimensions  of  the  test-piece,  but  Table  XIV-B,  which  is  free  from 
this  error,  proves  that  the  plates  made  from  the  large  sizes  have  a 
higher  tensile  strength  and  greater  ductility. 

TABLE  XIY-A. 

Average  Physical  Eesults  on  Different  Thicknesses  of  Steel  Plates 
Without  Regard  to  Size  of  Ingots ;  there  being  an  Equal  Num- 
ber of  Plates  of  each  Thickness  Rolled  from  Each  Sized  Ingot.* 


Thickness  of 
plate. 

Ultimate 
strength;  Ibs. 
per  square  in. 

Elongation  in 
8  inches; 
per  cent. 

Reduction  of 
area;  per 
cent. 

Annealed,  ulti- 
mate strength  ; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

One  inch    .  .  . 
One-half  inch  . 
One-quarter  in. 

62037 
64534 
69642 

24.40 
24.71 
22.35 

40.20 
44.85 
42.68 

59416 
61018 
62989 

TABLE  XIY-B. 

Average  Physical  Results  on  Plates  from  Different- Sized  Ingots 
Without  Regard  to  Thickness  of  Plate;  there  being  the  same 
Number  of  each  Thickness  Rolled  from  a  Given  Size.* 


Size  of 
ingot:  in 
inches. 

Thickness 
of  slab  in 
inches. 

Ultimate 
strength;  Ibs. 
per  square 
inch. 

Elongation 
in  8  inches; 
per  cent. 

Reduction 
of  area; 
per  cent. 

Annealed  ulti- 
mate strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

24x15 
14x14 
18x12 
18x12 
12x6 

8 
8 
8 
4 
4 

66155 
65296 
65128 
65520 
64923 

24.14 
23.91 
23.77 
23.68 
23.68 

45.79 
44.13 
41.38 
40.00 
41.58 

62197 
•  62571 
60461 
60461 
60013 

Thus  these  experiments  which  were  heralded  as  upsetting  current 
beliefs  are  found  to  vindicate  them;  they  do  prove  that  in  some 
cases  very  good  results  may  be  obtained  by  skillful  manipulation 
under  a  bad  system;  but  manufacturers  have  long  since  learned 
that  a  large  amount  of  reduction  is  essential  to  secure  reliable  re- 
sults in  regular  practice,  and  no  short  series  of  tests  can  upset  this 
well-established  fact. 

SEC.  XIYc. — Amount  of  work  necessary. — Up  to  within  a  com- 
paratively recent  period  it  was  a  common  practice  in  America  to 
roll  plates  directly  from  the  ingot  in  one  heat.  This  was  unsatis- 
factory for  more  than  one  reason.  First,  the  rolling  of  thin  plates 
involved  either  the  making  of  small  ingots,  which  was  objection- 
able and  costly,  or  it  involved  rolling  them  from  a  large  ingot,  which 


*  From  data  in  Journal  I.  and  8,  I.,  Vol.  I.,  1887,  p.  121,  et  aeq. 


INFLUENCE   OF    HOT    WORKING   ON    STEEL.  367 

was  very  severe  on  the  machinery;  second,  when  the  ingot  was 
rolled  into  one  single  plate  the  segregated  interior  of  the  mass  con- 
stituted a  very  considerable  proportion  of  the  finished  piece,  and 
it  was  generally  out  of  the  question  to  cut  this  part  off,  as  by  so 
doing  a  piece  would  be  wasted  which  would  be  a  very  large  pro- 
portion of  the  whole  and  which  generally  would  be  unsuited  for 
other  purposes  on  account  of  its  dimensions. 

Third,  it  is  not  possible  io  make  every  heat  of  steel  just  the 
exact  composition  and  physical  qualities  desired,  and  if  the  steel 
be  cast  in  ingots  of  a  size  suited  for  the  making  of  certain  plates, 
and  if,  on  account  of  such  variations  in  chemical  or  physical  qual- 
ity, they  are  not  suited  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  made, 
they  may  be  unsuited  for  any  other  purpose.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  large  ingots  are  cast  and  bloomed  in  a  large  mill  and  cut 
up  into  slabs,  it  is  possible  to  know  before  the  steel  is  rolled  just 
what  are  the  chemical  and  physical  qualities  of  the  metal,  and  the 
slabs  may  be  made  to  suit  the  orders  on  hand.  Moreover,  the  upper 
part  of  the  ingot  may  be  put  into  the  less  important  work,  while  the 
bottom  portion  may  be  used  for  fire  box  places  and  for  other  pur- 
poses calling  for  the  best  material.  For  these  reasons  the  use  of  a 
slabbing  mill  has  come  into  quite  general  use. 

The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  was  the  first  works  in  this 
country  to  introduce  this  practice;  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company 
followed  with  a  much  larger  mill;  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Com- 
pany then  built  one  of  a  large  size  handling  an  ingot  36  inches 
by  48  inches,  and  the  Illinois  Steel  Company  and  the  Lukens  Iron 
and  Steel  Company  have  lately  followed  the  example. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  just  what  should  be  the  size  of  the  slab  for  a 
given  plate.  Theoretically  it  would  seem  immaterial  whether  a  15- 
inch  ingot  is  cogged  to  8  inches  and  rolled  to  one-half  inch,  or 
whether  it  is  cogged  to  4  inches  and  rolled  to  the  same  thickness. 
The  experiments  of  Mr.  Eiley  point  the  same  way,  but  they  are  far 
from  being  comprehensive.  If  a  slab  4  inches  thick  is  not  heated  to 
a  full  heat  the  plate  may  be  finished  at  the  same  temperature  as  one 
of  the  same  gauge  rolled  from  a  hotter  slab  of  twice  the  thickness, 
but  in  regular  practice  the  thin  slabs  are  sometimes  heated  hotter 
than  the  thick  ones,  and  consequently  will  be  finished  at  a  higher 
temperature.  If  carried  too  far  this  produces  a  coarser  structure 
and  an  inferior  metal,  so  that  it  is  best  to  proportion  the  thickness 
of  the  slab  to  the  thickness  of  the  plate.  The  exact  relation  is  of 


368 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


little  importance  as  long  as  the  reduction  is  sufficient,  for  in  this 
matter  the  old  adage  is  strictly  applicable :  "Enough  is  as  good  as  a 
feast."  This  will  be  shown  by  Tables  XIV-C  and  XIV-D,  which 
investigate  the  effect  of  work  on  billets  made  from  ingots  16  inches 
square  and  which  thus  had  an  all-sufficient  reduction  to  begin  with. 

TABLE  XIV-C. 

Influence  of  Thickness  of  Test-Piece  on  the  Physical  Properties 
when  the  Percentage  of  Seduction  in  Soiling  is  Constant  for 
all  Thicknesses ;  the  Finished  Bars  in  each  Case  having  a  Sec- 
tional Area  of  about  8  Per  Cent,  of  the  Billet. 


Ultimate 

d 

•1 

J3 

strength; 
Ibs.  per  sq. 
inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation  ir 
8  inches;  per 
cent. 

Reduction 
of  area; 
per  cent. 

1 

43 
Q 

«Sta 

• 

Sfi 

c8 

^ 

IB 

"3  S  ^ 

3 

n 

a 

4J 

3* 

«M    2 

°0 

! 

o 

«5^ 
®^5 

•C  <S^ 

«S  C 

IL 

Wr5    C3 

-rt-22 
1-5 
•23£ 

•gl 

2^ 

GO"  oj 

*£l 
l§g 

Hi 

_.^2 
|f£ 

33g 

!ln 

2 

si 

I 

'2  CO   O 

•3s  ft 

Egg, 

73  S  4( 

.S'tf.a 

SSft 

S-e.§ 

"2  oc  O 

BS& 

.§•0.3 

W 

02 

OQ 

S 

s 

S 

E 

fe 

£ 

m 

4x4 

2x% 

51640 

51280 

33440 

85380 

37.50 

29.50 

60.1 

50.9 

8%x3% 

2x|| 

51120 

52340 

82650 

35410 

82.50 

83.75 

56.4 

55.6 

4605 

3x3 

50850 

51970 

85700 

37860 

82.50 

30.00 

60.8 

58.9 

2xjJ 

53320 

53200 

37360 

41400 

31.25 

31.50 

61.0 

66.2 

1x1% 

2x>| 

58850 

50620 

19.75 

.   .    . 

58.4 

4x4 

2x% 

59540 

60160 

37050 

89840 

85.00 

31.00 

60.0 

57.4 

8%x3% 

2x54 

59730 

60490 

38100 

40490 

29.76 

32.50 

66.4 

55.1 

9227 

8x3 

2x% 

60950 

61390 

42110 

42090 

30.00 

30.50 

60.0 

55.9 

2^x2J4 

2x^4 

62J350 

62700 

43070 

46630 

27.50 

28.75 

60.7 

63.3 

2x1% 

8x$ 

65130 

67470 

52180 

57830 

26.25 

23.75 

58.9 

67.5 

4x4 

2x% 

67860 

68140 

42850 

44050 

25.00 

24.25 

40.8 

43.9 

1509 

2x^4 

67550 

68040 

43190 

45560 

26.25 

28.25 

46.1 

46.6 

8x3 

2x% 

67470 

68300 

44090 

46610 

26.25 

23.25 

53.2 

50.3 

4x4 

2x% 

72840 

73260 

47080 

49160 

25.00 

24.00 

40.7 

40,8 

8%x3% 

2xVjs 

71230 

73510 

46010 

50830 

26.25 

25.00 

40.5 

43.5 

1440 

3x3 

2x% 

72950 

78710 

48760 

50540 

26.25 

22.00 

52.1 

43.1 

2J£x2^£ 

2x% 

73620 

75650 

51550 

58280 

26.25 

26.75 

45.9 

52.1 

2x1% 

2x^ 

78560 

79260 

58140 

6382C 

22.75 

25.25 

52.0 

50.4 

It  will  be  found  from  a  detailed  comparison  of  these  tables  that 
there  is  little  difference  between  the  bars  of  the  same  thickness, 
even  though  rolled  from  different-sized  billets.  There  is  a  gain  in 
ultimate  strength  as  the  thickness  decreases,  this  being  most  marked 
in  the  cold-finished  bars,  but  the  differences  are  not  very  marked 
-except  in  the  case  of  the  one-eighth-inch.  The  elastic  limit  follows 
the  same  law,  but  it  is  raised  more  than  the  ultimate  as  the  bar 
gets  thinner.  The  elongation  varies  irregularly,  but,  as  a  rule,  it 
remains  unaffected  except  in  the  one-eighth-inch,  where  it  is  low- 


INFLUENCE   OF   HOT   WOKKING   ON   STEEL. 

TABLE  XIV-D. 


369 


Influence  of  Thickness  of  Bar  upon  the  Physical  Properties  when 
all  Pieces  are  Boiled  from  Billets  Three  Inches  Square. 


Heat  number. 

en 
1 
£ 

ti 

I 

*O 
I 

33 

Ultimate 
strength  ;  Ibs.  per 
square  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation  in 
8  inches; 
per  cent. 

Reduction  of 
area  ;  per 
cent. 

Finished  at 
usual  tem- 
perature. 

Finished  at 
dull  red  heat. 

Finished  at 
usual  tem- 
perature. 

Finished  at 
dull  red  heat. 

Finished  at 
usual  tem- 
perature. 

Finished  at 
dull  red  heat. 

Finished  at 
usual  tem- 
perature. 

Finished  at 
dull  red  heat. 

4605 

1 

51370 
51070 
50850 
52960 
55560 

50960 
52430 
51970 
52280 
55000 

32860 
83200 
35700 
86220 
47380 

83760 
86050 
37860 
40040 
42500 

84.50 
81.50 
82.50 
81.25 
80.00 

82.75 

80.00 
80.00 
82.50 
29.00 

59.6 
59.2 
60.8 
63.2 
53.2 

56.7 
57.2 

58.9 

68.3 
60.4 

9227 

1 

59690 
60350 
60950 
62230 
66340 

60190 
60510 
61390 
63970 
68130 

87000 
88560 
42110 
42600 
49860 

40130 
40470 
42090 
49200 
56180 

85.00 
29.50 
80.00 
25.75 
27.50 

80.00 
32.50 
80.50 
29.25 
24.00 

55.4 
58.8 
60.0 
55.9 
56.6 

58.7 
61.7 
55.9 
61.9 
65.7 

1509 

1 

65ROO 
67310 
67470 
69210 
72100 

67090 
67660 
68300 
70200 
77460 

40980 
43090 
44090 
47950 
54060 

45830 
45170 
46610 
53680 
64430 

29.50 
26.25 
26.25 
26.50 
27.75 

25.50 
25.50 
23.00 
25.25 
15.25 

50.9 
47.1 
53.2 
54.1 
55.0 

44.8 
46.2 
50.3 
56.9 

48.2 

1440 

2xg 

72440 
72570 
72950 
75620 

77500 

74060 
68150 
73710 
71260 
80240 

46440 
46200 
48760 
51160 
60920 

49480 
45990 
50540 
54660 
69360     . 

27.50 
27.25 
26.25 
25.00 
26.00 

24.00 
28.50 
22.00 
27.25 
18.50 

45.7 
47.3 
52.1 
53.5 
46.8 

42.0 
58.4 
48.1 
49.4 
58.6 

'  TABLE  XIV-E. 
Effect  of  Hammering  Boiled  Acid  Open-Hearth  Steel. 

NOTE.— Chemical  composition  in  per  cent. ;  C,  .40 ;  Mn,  .86 ;  P,  .037 ;  S,  .046. 


JJ 

1 

£j» 

aa 

* 

Jr 

Is* 

—  — 

«|§ 

1 

I 

1 

||I 

|S 

E* 

£  CD 
oa  ft 

O&gS 

O 

I 

Remarks. 

g 

3«3<g 

^—  QQ 

&A 

O  05 

•^        O  .ts 

•§"3® 

S  o> 

en  C? 

M 

_O    . 

X 

O  &  ^  O 

^    LJ  fM 
TT    3    £} 

S  3 

~f  "  £>  « 

§h 

4J  "(H 

S 

8.gg-§ 

IEJ 

Hp*S 

OG  Jg 

§§ 

S 

55 

H 

& 

W 

PH 

E 

A 
B 

6 
6 

54460 
41500 

89240 
88660 

29.00 
28.00 

41.2 
42.2 

61.0 
46.8 

Finished  at  dull  yellow. 
Annealed  at  bright  yellow. 

0 

5 

50800 

89070 

26.50 

88.0 

57.0 

Finished  at  dull  yellow. 

D 

4 

55240 

87300 

25.50 

87.0 

63.3 

Finished  at  dull  yellow. 

E 

3 

51170 

86450 

27.50 

39.3 

59.2 

•Finished  at  dull  yellow. 

F 

2 

51830 

89280 

28.00 

41.8 

58.1 

Finished  at  dull  yellow. 

G 

2 

57140 

92400 

28.00 

42.0 

61.8 

Finished  at  cherry  red. 

H 

4 

45620 

89900 

27.00 

38.9 

50.8 

Finished  at  dull  yellow. 

I 

3 

47830 

88800 

25.00 

34.3 

53.9 

Finished  at  dull  yellow. 

K 

2 

51000 

88760 

27.50 

42.7 

57.5 

Finished  at  dull  yellow 

L 

5 

54020 

86400 

7.50 

5.8 

62.5 

Annealed  at  white  heat. 

•M 

2 

£4700 

93360 

24.50 

84.8 

58.6 

Finished  at  cherry  red. 

370  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

ered  to  some  extent.  The  reduction  of  area  is  also  irregular,  but  it 
seems  to  be  independent  of  the  thickness  even  in  the  thinnest  plate. 
The  conclusion  seems  justifiable  that  if  the  billets  have  already 
received  sufficient  work,  the  good  condition  caused  thereby  is  not 
destroyed  by  reheating,  since  bars  rolled  from  them  reach  their 
standard  level  of  quality  with  only  a  reasonable  degree  of  reduction, 
as  proven  by  the  fact  that  further  work  gives  no  decided  improve- 
ment. But  it  is  also  certain,  as  shown  by  all  experience,  that  no 
harm  can  be  done  by  increased  work,  and  that  there  is  a  slight  gain 
in  the  long  run  provided  the  finishing  temperature  remains  con- 
stant. 

SEC.  XlVd. — Experiments  on  forgings. — The  persistency  of  a 
proper  structure  even  through  subsequent  heating  may  be  seen  in 
Table  XIV-E,  which  gives  the  results  obtained  from  a  series  of 
forged  billets.  The  original  bloom  was  6  inches  square,  being  rolled 
from  an  ingot  18"x20".  From  this  bloom  several  short  pieces  were 
cut  and  treated  in  different  ways : 

A  was  not  reheated,  but  a  test-piece  was  cut  from  it  as  a  standard 
of  comparison, 

B  was  heated  to  a  full  working  heat  and  cooled  without  hammer- 
ing. 

C  was  hammered  to  5  inches  square  in  one  heat. 

D  was  hammered  to  4  inches  square  in  one  heat. 

E  was  hammered  to  3  inches  square  in  one  heat. 

F  was  hammered  to  2  inches  square  in  one  heat. 

G  was  hammered  to  2  inches  square  in  one  heat  from  the  an- 
nealed bar  B  and  was  finished  at  a  cherry  red  heat. 

H  was  hammered  to  5  inches  square,  then  reheated  and  ham- 
mered to  4  inches. 

/  was  hammered  to  4  inches  square,  then  reheated  and  ham- 
mered to  3  inches. 

K  was  hammered  to  3  inches  square,  then  reheated  and  ham- 
mered to  2  inches. 

L  was  hammered  to  5  inches  square,  then  overheated  and  cooled 
without  hammering. 

M  was  made  by  reheating  the  burned  piece  L  and  hammering  to 
2  inches  square  in  one  heat,  being  finished  at  a  cherry  red  heat. 

All  the  pieces  were  worked  under  a  4-ton  double-acting  hammer, 
and  the  test-bars  were  cut  from  the  corner  of  the  billet  and  pulled 
in  a  length  of  2  inches. 


INFLUENCE    OF    HOT    WORKING   ON    STEEL. 


371 


It  is  quite  evident  that  the  pieces  which  were  heated  twice,  and 
which  received  only  one  inch  of  reduction  after  the  second  heating, 
must  have  been  finished  hotter,  as  well  as  have  received  less  work 
after  a  full  heat,  but  in  spite  of  these  differences  in  amount  of 
work  and  temperature  it  is  clear  that  the  bars  are  practically  uni- 
form in  strength  and  ductility,  showing  that  the  steel  was  in  thor- 
oughly good,  condition  originally,  and  that  proper  heating  did  no 
harm  when  followed  by  a  fair  amount  of  work. 

The  ultimate  strength  is  fairly  uniform  save  in  the  case  of  the 
two  bars  which  were  finished  at  a  cherry  red  heat.  The  elastic  ratio 
varies  in  much  greater  measure,  but  the  results  are  not  regular 
since,  in  some  cases,  as  in  K,  a  high  ratio  accompanies  heavy  reduc- 
tion under  the  hammer,  while  in  others,  as  in  D,  it  appears  in  bars 
which  have  received  very  little  work. 

TABLE  XTV-F. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Test-Pieces  of  Bessemer  Steel 
Cut  from  Thick  and  Thin  Angles  of  Large  and  Small  Sizes. 

Each  figure  is  an  average  of  50  bars. 


Thickness  of 
angle; 
inches. 

Elastic  limit: 
Ibs.  per  sq.  in. 

Ult.  strength; 
Ibs.  per  sq.  in. 

Elastic  ratio; 
per  cent. 

Elongation  in 
Sin.  ;  percent. 

Reduction  of 
area;  per  cent. 

Large 

sizes. 

Small 

sizes. 

Large 

sizes. 

Small 
sizes. 

Large 

sizes. 

Small 
sizes. 

Large 

sizes. 

Small 

sizes. 

Large 
sizes. 

Small 

sizes. 

! 

43002  ' 
43637 
41671 
41080 
40391 
38867 

44158 
43060 
43128 
41634 
41836 
40944 

60097' 
60019 
60120 
59467 
59360 
58267 

61252 
60629 
60239 
59151 
59750 
59084 

'71.55' 
72.70 
69.31 
69.08 
68.04 
66.70 

72.09 
71.07 
71.59 
70.38 
70.02 
69.30 

•28.13' 
28.16 
28.58 

28.65 
29.03 
28.r7 

27.55 
28.55 
28.52 
29.24 
28.74 
29.38 

'58.23' 
57.59 
5-5.17 
55.30 
58.43 
51  .<?3 

56.79 
54.80 
57.53 
56.96 
57.59 
56.07 

The  original  bar  A  shows  a  high  ratio,  but  this  was  finished  at  a 
low  heat.  In  the  annealed  bar  B  the  ratio  drops  very  much,  but 
the  "burned"  bloom  L  shows  almost  as  high  an  elastic  strength  as 
the  original  steel.  In  the  bar  M,  which  should  be  compared  with 
the  bar  G,  it  is  shown  that  reheating  and  hammering  will  do  very 
much  toward  restoring  a  piece  of  burned  steel  to  its  original  con- 
dition, although  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  ever  can  make  of  it  a 
thoroughly  reliable  material. 

SEC.  XlVe, — Tests  on  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  angles  of 
different  thicknesses. — The  fact  that  there  is  very  little  difference 
between  thick  and  thin  pieces,  provided  the  work  has  been  sufficient 
in  both  cases,  is  shown  by  Table  XIV-F.  This  was  constructed  by 


372 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


taking  at  random  from  the  records  of  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Com- 
pany the  tests  on  fifty  bars  of  small  angles  and  fifty  bars  of  large 
angles  of  each  different  thickness,  of  common  Bessemer  steel,  run- 
ning from  .07  to  .10  per  cent,  of  phosphorus. 

For  making  the  6"x6"  angles,  a  bloom  8"x9y2"  was  rolled  from 
a  16"x20"  ingot,  but  all  other  sizes  were  made  from  a  7^-inch 
square  bloom  which  was  cogged  from  a  16"xl6"  ingot.  The  term 
"small"  angles  includes  41/2  "xS",  4"x4",  and  all  smaller  sizes  down 
to  and  including  3"x3";  while  the  "large"  embraces  from  5"x3" 
to  6"x6",  inclusive.  The  finished  area  of  the  smaller  bars  is  such  a 
small  part  of  the  original  bloom  that  the  reduction  may  be  consid- 
ered uniform  for  them  all,  thus  giving  a  fairly  valid  basis  of  com- 
parison for  the  different  thicknesses,  while  the  columns  "large" 
and  "small"  should  show  the  effect  of  a  varying  amount  of  work  on 
a  piece  of  given  thickness. 

TABLE  XIV-G. 

Comparison  of  Ultimate  Strength  of  Bars  Rolled  from  Test  Ingots 
Six  Inches  Square,  and  Test-Pieces  Cut  from  Angles  of  Dif- 
ferent Thicknesses  Boiled  from  the  same  Heats. 


03 

Elastic  limit;  Ibs. 
per  square  inch. 

Ultimate  strength; 
Ibs.  per  square  inch. 

Elastic  ratio; 
per  cent. 

Thickness  of 

^"g 

• 

d 

CO 

0 

d 

1 

angle;  in  inches. 

21 

s  . 

a  . 

5 

a  . 

a  . 

g 

S  . 

a  . 

Is, 

&l 

It 

w^^ 

si 

og-2 

I! 

£"3) 

S  ST 

C3-S 

n  03 

M-C3 

O  oo  c3 

»-  C5 

^  d 

O  "S  c3 

sj9 

fc 

pq 

w 

n 

PQ 

J 

PQ 

T»5  and  % 

39 

42270 

41300 

970 

60200 

60190 

10 

70.23 

68.62 

Xandg 

46 

43070 

40170 

2900 

61360 

60660 

700 

70.19 

66.22 

A  and  § 

37 

42990 

39710 

8280 

62930 

61520 

1410 

68.31 

64.55 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  small-sized  angles  give  slightly  better 
results  on  elongation,  but  the  difference  is 'trifling,  while  in  neither 
the  elastic  ratio  nor  the  reduction  of  area  is  there  any  marked 
superiority.  The  results  indicate  that  when  the  amount  of  work 
is  large,  the  exact  percentage  is  of  little  consequence. 

The  ultimate  strength  decreases  in  the  thicker  angles,  but  it  is 
not  proven  that  the  variation  is  due  entirely  to  the  thickness,  for  it 
may  be  that  the  heats  which  were  rolled  into  thick  sizes  did  happen 
to  be  of  lower  strength,  but  as  all  the  heats  were  made  in  the  same 
way,  and  as  both  large  and  small  sizes  follow  the  same  law,  and  as 


INFLUENCE    OF    HOT    WORKING   ON    STEEL. 


373 


each  group  includes  fifty  bars,  it  seems  probable  that  the  gradation 
represents  in  some  measure  the  effect  of  different  amounts  of  work 
on  the  material. 

TABLE  XIV-H. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Various  Steels,  Made  by  The 
Pennsylvania  Steel  Company,  when  Eolled  into  Angles  of  Dif- 
ferent Thicknesses. 


4h 

A   . 

1   +•>  OD 

S 

-Jl 

I 

ll 

Ss 

.2  « 

ia- 

i.- 

ft 

0> 

ftp< 

—  £~"  o 

'o'o 

A  c, 

&  aj 

-^  ?  o< 

§  ^ 

o"* 

•o  g 

1 
ft 

• 

s 

*  3 

s!S 

%2 

OP  ..» 

°g 

H-g' 

^  t* 

P 

Jflfl 

**•§ 

p 

•a 

1 

*<-< 

S|| 

Ills 

It 

Id 

111 

111 

|| 

*J  fl  . 

o>.2  « 

>-3  p, 

III 

fc 

M 

H 

^ 

^ 

<j 

-4 

<1 

^ 

ft  to  , 

I 

82 

3(5284 

52533 

69.07 

32.18 

63.7 

Basic  open- 

below 

T7ff    tO 

V 

20 

34891 

53171 

65.62 

82.33 

62.3, 

I 

hearth. 

.04 

ft  to  , 

14 

34026 

51903 

65.56 

32.87 

63.4 

8  to 

7 

32356 

51923 

62.31 

33.86 

63.0 

ft  to  i 

I 

64 

39692 

58865 

67.43 

30.52 

58.8 

II 

Basic  open- 
hearth. 

below 
.04 

to 

T75    tO 

I 

39 
17 

37827 
37487' 

58538 
59235 

64.62 
63.28 

80.06 
29.28 

56.8 
52.6 

ti  to  , 

i 

10 

36035 

59125 

60.95 

30.58 

65.3 

ft  to 

212 

40891 

60845 

67.21 

29.35 

57.4 

III 

Acid  open- 
hearth. 

.03  to  .07 

56000 
to 
64000 

fl  to 

126 
81 
121 

39415 
88645 
37478 

60695 
60558 
59906 

64.94 
63.81 
62.56 

29.23 

28.95 
29.32 

55.6 
53.8 
51.8 

9  to 

8 

87793 

61943 

61.01 

28.58 

48.7 

ft  to  | 

50 

41143 

60064 

68.50 

28.82 

58.4 

IV 

Acid  open- 
hearth. 

.07  to  .10 

56000 
to 
64000 

T75   tO-1 

ft  to 

50 
50 
50 

40170 
39656 
38338 

60583 
61049 
59763 

66.30 
64.96 
64.15 

29.05 
28.98 
29.60 

56.3 
54.8 
55.3 

ii  to  , 

50 

37969 

61129 

62.11 

28.85 

50.8 

ft  to  , 

I 

irtf 

43-117 

60659 

71.58 

28.07 

56.6 

V 

Acid 
Bessemer. 

.07  to  .10 

to 

ft  to  I 

ft  to  , 

} 

200 
200 

42518 
41063 

59882 
59415 

71.00 
69.11 

28.63 

28.95 

56.8 
55.6 

! 

200 

38867 

58267 

66.70 

28.37 

51.6 

VI 

Acid  open- 
hearth. 

.05  to  .C7 

64000  to 
72000 

ft  to  i 

T7S    tO   J 

40 
29 

43713 
42191 

65656 
65631 

66.58 
64.28 

27.90 

27.83 

55.0 
53.7 

VII 

Acid  open- 
hearth. 

.07  to  .10 

64000  to 
72000 

ft  to 

T7S   tO 

25 

39 

44486 
42817 

66365 
65777 

67.03 
65.09 

27.19 
27.49 

55.4 
53.2 

VIII 

Acid 
Bessemer. 

.07  to  .10 

64000  to 

72000 

ft  fo  ! 

53 
23 

46422 
45280 

66277 
65940 

70.04 
68.66 

26.42 

27.80 

50.4 
51.5 

SEC.  XlVf. — Comparison  of  the  strength  of  angles  with  that  of 
the  preliminary  test-piece. — That  the  thin  angles  will  give  a  higher 
strength  is  proven  quite  conclusively  by  Table  XIV-G,  which  gives 
in  parallel  columns  the  tests  on  the  finished  angles  from  acid  open- 
hearth  heats,  and  the  results  obtained  from  bars  rolled  from  6-inch 
square  ingots  of  the  same  charges.  It  matters  not  whether  this 
preliminary  test  really  represents  the  true  value  of  the  steel,  for  it 


374  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

may  reasonably  be  assumed  that  it  will  give  a  regular  basis  of  com- 
parison, so  that  the  differences  between  the  results  on  this  standard 
and  on  the  various  thicknesses  will  be  the  measure  of  the  effect  of 
rolling. 

It  is  shown  that  for  en  increase  of  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  thick- 
ness there  is  a  diminution  in  strength  of  700  pounds  per  square 
inch.  It  is,  perhaps,  as  close  an  agreement  as  could  be  expected 
when  we  find  that  in  Table  XIV-F  the  difference  on  the  large  sizes 
between  the  three-eighth-inch  and  three-quarter-inch  angles  was 
1830  pounds  per  square  inch,  or  610  pounds  to  every  one-eighth  in 
thickness,  while  on  the  smaller  sizes  it  is  2168  pounds  from  five- 
sixteenth-inch  to  five-eighth-inch,  or  434  pounds  to  every  eighth, 
being  an  average  of  522  pounds  for  both,  large  and  small  sizes. 

SEC.  XlVg. — Physical  properties  of  Pennsylvania  Steel  Com- 
pany steels  of  various  compositions,  when  rolled  into  angles  of 
different  thicknesses. — The  subject  is  more  fully  investigated  in 
Table  XIV-H,  which  gives  the  average  results  from  angle  bars  of 
several  different  kinds  of  steel.  The  accidental  variations  in  the 
metals  make  it  impossible  to  compare  the  influence  of  the  thickness 
upon  the  ultimate  strength,  but  the  column  showing  the  elastic  ratio 
proves  that  a  lower  elastic  limit  follows  an  increase  in  thickness. 
The  elongation  remains  the  same  for  all  thicknesses.  The  reduc- 
tion of  area  varies  somewhat,  but  in  the  groups  where  a  large  num- 
ber of  tests  make  the  figures  of  much  value  there  is  a  decrease  in 
the  heavier  bars. 

The  variation  in  strength  of  the  different  thicknesses  is  due  in 
part  to  the  fact  that  the  thin  pieces  are  finished  at  a  lower  tempera- 
ture. The  effect  of  such  working  is  investigated  in  Tables  XIV-C 
and  XIV-D,  where  pieces  of  the  same  billets  were  heated  differently 
before  rolling  and  were,  therefore,  finished  under  unlike  conditions. 
In  the  bars  finished, at  the  lower  temperature  the  elastic  limit  was 
raised  very  considerably,  but  the  ultimate  strength  and  the  ductility 
did  not  vary  much  from  the  hot-rolled  bars.  This  conclusion  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  fact  so  well  known  to  all  manufacturers 
that  if  a  bar  or  plate  is  finished  so  cool  that  it  looks  dark  in  the 
sunlight  it  will  give  a  much  higher  tensile  strength;  the  bars  re- 
ferred to  in  the  table  were  all  finished  somewhat  hotter  than  this, 
and  the  small  variation  in  temperature  seems  to  have  little  effect. 
These  conclusions  will  be  corroborated  by  Table  XIV-I,  which 
records  certain  tests  on  acid  open-hearth  steel. 


INFLUENCE    OF    HOT    WORKING    ON    STEEL. 


SEC.  XI Vh. — Comparative  physical  properties  of  hand  and  guide 
rounds. — The  fact  that  the  elongation  is  as  high  on  thick  as  on  thin 
angles  is  contrary  to  a  prevailing  opinion  concerning  the  effect  of 
surface  work  upon  rolled  steel.  Further  information  is  given  in 

TABLE  XIV-I. 

Effect  of  Finishing  2x%-inch  Flats  of  Acid  Open-Hearth  Steel  at 
Different  Temperatures. 

( A  =  finished  at  usual  temperature.    B  =  finished  at  a  low  red  heat.) 


Ult.strength; 
per  sq.  in. 

Heat  No. 

Composition; 
per  cent. 

Ultimate 
strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elonga- 
tion in  8 
inches; 
per  cent. 

Reduction 
of  area; 
per  cent. 

C. 

P. 

Mn. 

A. 

B. 

A. 

B. 

A. 

B. 

A. 

B. 

SI 

10063 
10058 
10055 

.11 
.12 
.12 

.037 
.037 
.030 

.49 
.55 
.65 

57520 
57810 
59060 

59160 
61270 
59140 

39150 
89250 
40800 

41490 
44860 
42760 

30.50 
32.75 

28.00 

33.25 
31.75 
30.50 

63.0 
64.8 
57.9 

60.9 
58.6 
59.3 

Av. 

.12 

.035 

.50    |     58130 

59857 

39733 

43037  |  30.42  |  31.83 

61.9 

59.6 

II 

10065 
10064 
10071 
10066 

.11 
.11 
.13 
.12 

.056 
.062 
.065 
.074 

.48 
.48 
.48 
.50 

60840 
60903 
C2230 
62840 

63160 

63500 
C3820 
03860 

41540 
41500 
42290 
42610 

44230 
45890 
46730 
44COO 

29.25 
30.25 
32.00 
29.25 

29.00 
30.50 
30.00 
30.75 

61.8 
60.6 
58.9 
61.5 

56.5 
56.3 
60.2 
57.3 

Av. 

.12 

.064 

.48 

C17C3 

C3585 
74500 
75910 
75840 
77280 
79430 
80260 
80880 
80560 

41985 

45213 

30.19 

30.06 

60.7 
~59.5~ 
57.8 
55.3 
60.7 
54.4 
52.3 
48.6 
53.8 

57.6 
57.1 
51.0 
54.6 
54.8 
51.2 
52.4 
47.4 
«9.8 

s! 

t"*OD 

10041 
10045 
10043 
10061 
10034 
10047 
10068 
10042 

.23 

121 
.25 
.25 
.25 
.26 
.26 

.047 
.052 
.049 
.062 
.059 
.045 
.062 
.042 

.77 
.86 
.75 
.68 
.78 
.80 
.79 
.76 

72780 
73060 
73340 
75300 
76860 
77340 
78280 
78540 

47010 
48660 
48580 
49400 
49340 
49460 
50860 
49930 

49090 
54240 
49900 
51600 
54920 
54800 
57220 
54900 

25.50 
25.75 
24.00 
25.50 
22.50 
23.75 
26.00 
24.25 

28.75 
28.00 
28.25 
28.50 
27  .£0 
26.75 
27.50 
24.00 

Av. 

.24 

.052 

.77        75688 

78083 

49155 

53334 

24.66 

27.41 

54.1 

52.2 

TABLE  XIV-J. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Hand  Rounds  and  Guide 
Rounds  from  the  Same  Acid  Open-Hearth  Heats. 


ft 

5 

Limits  of  ult. 
strength  in 
group;  pounds 
per  sq.  inch 

Number  of  heats 
in  group. 

Average  manga- 
nese ;  per  cent. 

Ultimate 
strength  ;  Ibs. 
per  sq.  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
Ibs.  per  square 
inch. 

Elonga- 
tion in  8 
inches  ; 
percent. 

Reduction 
of  area; 
per  cent. 

Hand. 

Guide. 

w 

Guide. 

Hand. 

Guide. 

Hand. 

Guide. 

I 
II 
III 

IV 

56000  to  64000 
70000  to  75000 
75000  to  80000 
80000  to  86000 

3 
5 
5 
6 

19 

.41 
.76 
.81 

.79 

59830 
72464 

78805 
83813 

59192 
69750 
77790 
82524 

42548 
48024 
51943 
52986 

38848 
45601 
51933 
52863 

28.23 
22.77 
23.55 
22.74 

29.85 
24.73 
24.92 
24.51 

55.90 
40.77 
46.09 
45.69 

61.85 
48.98 
53.30 
55.57 

Av.  of  all  heats, 

.73      75722 

74232 

49758 

48495 

23.83    25.44 

46.11 

64.28 

376 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


Table  XIV-J,  which  shows  the  comparative  results  on  hand  and 
guide  rounds  from  the  same  heats. 

A  guide  round  is  made  in  one  pass  from  an  ellipse,  while  a  hand 
round  is  put  through  the  same  pass  several  times,  being  turned  one- 
Quarter  way  each  time  in  order  to  obtain  a  true  circular  section. 
This  has  the  effect  of  finishing  the  bar  somewhat  cooler  than  a  guide 

TABLE  XIV-K. 

Changes  in  the  Physical  Properties  of  Steel  by  Variations  in  the 
Details  of  Plate-Boiling;  Classified  According  to  Strength  of 
Preliminary  Test. 


fel 

£2» 

ri 

"ft 

ats  tested. 

0) 

« 

4?  OJ'Q® 

Ultimate  strength; 
Ibs.  per  sq.  in. 

II 

"ft 
O 

d 

o3  0 
0,° 

area  of 
ent. 

9 

L 

si! 

« 

S 

CM 
O 

lip  •' 

i 

I*5 

||: 

p 

L 

§5 

°  o> 

Qr-H    Q 

0  02 

J^ 

O>  ^j  C8irX 

S 

D  Pij? 

CH 

,£j  i* 

•2 

«.. 

II 

1 

it  IN 

jd 

or 

15 

SH   Q    *2    CS 

.2  p. 

.28 
"£n 

ft| 

|2 

3-S 

0 

S  OQr^  pt,;j 

9^  +3 

>£flft 

5ft 

t"  00 

$)  Qi 

a 

H 

fc 

M 

K 

OH 

H 

M 

P3 

12 

more  than  7500 

60040 

49479 

10561 

44659 

74.4 

25.94 

52.9 

^ 

8 

T8 

'18 

less     than  7500 

56475 

51177 

5298 

42570 

75.4 

26.31 

52.3 

5 

8g 

13 

more  than  5500 

57807 

50020 

7787 

40407 

69.9 

26.94 

57.4 

CD 

5 

19 

less    than  5500 

54799 

51033 

3766 

39675 

72.4 

28.78 

61.1 

i 

94 

more  than  4000 

59582 

54096 

5486 

44653 

74.9 

26.44 

59.6 

/B 

68 

less    than  4000 

58823 

55741 

2582 

43028 

73.8 

27.10 

55.3 

• 

69 

more  than  3000 

58705 

54013 

4692 

40420 

68.9 

28.50 

56.9 

& 

i 

60 

less     than  3000 

57021 

55328 

1693 

40266 

70.6 

28.37 

57.8 

o 

Jig 

7 

10 

more  than  3000 

59414 

53557 

5857 

38222 

64.3 

28.09 

59.9 

10 

TB 

16 

less     than  3000 

56501 

54786 

1715 

36525 

64.6 

30.58 

58.5 

« 

7 

more  than  3000 

59135 

53934 

5201 

88078 

64.4 

27.90 

57.9 

10 

less     than  3000 

56977 

55840 

1137 

36770 

64.5 

27.13 

52.5 

8 

more  than  2000 

62228 

59506 

2722 

42687 

68.6 

25.69 

51.0 

C  * 

f 

4 

less    than  2000 

61425 

60550 

875 

42325 

68.9 

25.41 

51.0 

i| 

Is 

jr 

11 

more  than  1000 

61827 

59706 

2121 

42027 

68.0 

25.12 

63.2 

st 

11 

IB 

9 

less    than  1000 

59022 

59320 

39875 

67.6 

24.46 

55.5 

j?  ~ 

s 

i 

19 

more  than  1000 

61174 

59573 

1601 

40157 

65.7 

24.19 

50.2 

fj 

4 

14 

less     than  1000 

60293 

60408 

39693 

65.8 

24.69 

48.7 

round,  and  thus  naturally  gives  a  higher  ultimate  strength,  while  it 
also  works  the  skin  of  the  piece  during  the  finishing  process  with- 
out any  great  reduction  in  diameter.  It  will  be  seen  that  nothing 
is  gained  by  this  operation,  for,  although  the  guide  rounds  are 
slightly  reduced  in  strength,  they  are  considerably  better  in  elonga- 
tion and  reduction  of  area. 

SEC.  XI Vi. — Changes  in  the  physical  properties rof  steel  by  vari- 


INFLUENCE    OF    HOT    WORKING   ON    STEEL. 


377 


ations  in  the  details  of  plate-rolling. — It  has  been  already  stated 
that  it  is  the  practice  at  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Works  to  roll  a 
preliminary  test-bar  from  each  open-hearth  heat  for  physical  test- 
ing, and  that  the  ultimate  strength  of  this  bar  corresponds  closely 
with  that  of  angles  rolled  from  the  same  charge.  In  the  case  of 
plates,  on  the  contrary,  there  is  often  a  considerable  variation,  and 
Table  XIV-Iv  investigates  the  effect  of  such  differences  upon  the 
physical  qualities. 

TABLE  XIV-L. 

Changes  in  the  Physical  Properties  of  Steel  by  Variations  in  the 
Details  of  Plate-Eolling ;  Classified  According  to  Strength  of 
Finished  Plate. 


0-3 

d 

fl 

Ultimate  strength  ; 

i 

00 

"^  S 

1 

pounds  per  square 

oT-2 

o> 

d 

da  . 

0 

in 

2 

|gaT8 

inch. 

s2 

Is 

05 

3 

-is  03  o 

«.ga 

ft 

CO 

Is 

£Sft| 

0 

1 

J!< 

?! 

ft 
o 

ft 

IJ 

Ed 

03  o> 

ifl 

ess  of 
s. 

A 

<~ 
O 

Sj|* 

ft 
-g 

b 

d 

if  i 

-^  * 

!§, 

3  m 

i* 

'-C  HI 

*° 

O  fe 

d  * 

s§* 

o  « 

g 

itlll 

la 

la£l 

s"§ 

~« 

S® 

d  o 

|| 

J3t£H     ^ 

s.s 

§£dftS 

a 

11 

><«  d"ft 

«  ft 

5  ft 

od 

*A 

n3 

fc 

fe 

^ 

H 

H 

H 

<£ 

85 

more  than  4000 

56971 

51963 

5008 

43106 

75.6 

26.66 

57.8 

^ 

IB 

80 

less     than  4000 

56652 

54680 

1972 

41345 

73.0 

27.35 

55.2 

2 

42 

more  than  8000 

56370 

52161 

4209 

40387 

71.6 

28.28 

58.5 

50000 
to 

49 

less     than  8000 

55358 

54441 

1517 

39759 

71.0 

28.66 

58.2 

B 

58000 

7 

more  than  1700 

55963 

53391 

2572 

87613 

67.2 

30.27 

58.6 

TB 

6 

less     than  1700 

53981 

53213 

768 

84802 

64.5 

31.43 

59.6 

1 

3 

more  than  1100 

56633 

54076 

2557 

36366 

64.2 

27.91 

54.7 

» 

ft 

4 

4 

less     than  1100 

55292 

54843 

449 

36150 

65.4 

28.50 

53.7 

o 

39 

more  than  4000 

60130 

54234 

5896 

44572 

74.1 

26.63 

58.7 

58000 

TS 

38 

less     than  4000 

59344 

56401 

2943 

44054 

74.2 

26.92 

56.2 

rS 

to 

« 

64000 

15 

more  than  3000 

59750 

53676 

6074 

40928 

63.5 

27.87 

57.6 

15 

less     than  3000 

58920 

56969 

1951 

40855 

60.3 

28.07 

58.7 

.! 

6 

more  than  2550 

62841 

59151 

8690 

43933 

60.9 

25.92 

50.5 

Q| 

6 

less     than  2550 

61080 

60557 

523 

•41200 

67.4 

25.04 

52.0 

p,KJ  56000 

9 

more  than  1400 

61833 

59647 

2186 

42512 

68.7 

25.28 

54.9 

•«-£ 

64000 

TB 

11 

less     than  1400 

59527 

59439 

88 

40230 

67.6 

24.45 

53.8 

«3  03 
«T<  05 

17 

more  than  1700 

61241 

59442 

171:9 

40110 

63.5 

24.38 

50.7 

16 

less     than  1700 

60331 

60442 

39800 

C'J.O 

24.43 

48.6 

It  is  assumed  that  the  preliminary  test-piece  is  the  standard,  and 
whatever  difference  from  this  is  shown  in  the  plate  is  due  to  the 
conditions  of  rolling.  On  this  basis  it  is  possible  to  compare  those 
plates  which  show  a  great  with  those  which  show  a  less  variation 


378 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AXD   STEEL. 


from  the  standard,  and  note  the  corresponding  ductility.  In  the 
first  division,  for  example,  it  was  found  that  the  average  increase 
in  strength  from  the  preliminary  bar  to  the  finished  plate  was 
7500  pounds  per  square  inch.  Consequently  this  figure  was  taken 
as  a  dividing  line,  and  a  comparison  was  made  of  the  heats  showing 
more  than  this  difference  with  those  showing  less.  The  same  rule 
was  followed  in  all  the  other  divisions. 

Table  XIV-L  gives  a  different  view  of  the  same  data,  the  groups 
being  divided  on  the  less  logical  but  more  practical  basis  of  the 

TABLE  XIV-M. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Angles  and  Sheared  Plates, 
both  being  made  from  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  Steel. 


S-l 

0 

1 

! 

Sfe-S 

**hA 

g 

as 

oo 

t» 

a  ft.S 

|ft.S 

•g  J 

3  M" 

dS 

C-2  05 

§ 

2-S  2 

"^•5  g 

G§ 

«-S 

S  ^ 

M  '£•& 

ti 

O  03 

00  3  * 

ic^-^ 

s  d 

1S° 

5 

.  > 

0  03 

S&$ 
D 

lal  jft 

^          H' 

I*8 

|S 

Angles 

32 

52533 

3(5284 

69.07 

32.18 

63.7 

Basic  open-hearth  soft  steel, 
below  .04  per  cent,  in  phos- 
phorus. 

A  to  | 

Plates 

107 

20 

54998 

38017 

69.12 

29.28 

58.G 

Angles 

53171 

34891 

65.62 

32.33 

62.3 

™    °  " 

Plates 

102 

55017 

34947 

63.52 

29.03 

61.5 

Basic  open-hearth  medium 
steel,  below  .04  per  cent.  In 
phosphorus. 

A  to  | 

Angles 
Plates 

64 
265 

58865 
58271 

39692 
40349 

67.43 

69.24 

30.52 

28.27 

58.8 
58.1 

Angles 

212 

60845 

40891 

67.21 

29.35 

57.4 

A  to  f 

Plates 

190 

60217 

43278 

71.87 

25.98 

57.4 

Acid  open-hearth  soft  steel, 
below  .08  per  cent,  in  phos- 
phorus. 

A  to  j 

Angles 
Plates 

126 
59 

60695 
60768 

39415 
39061 

64.94 
64.28 

29.23 

25.87 

55.6 
55.1 

A  to  | 

Angles 
Plates 

81 
13 

60558 
60666 

38645 
37932 

63.81 
62.53 

28.95 
24.67 

53.8 
52.7 

strength  of  the  finished  plate.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  elongation 
for  a  given  tensile  strength  is  not  seriously  affected  by  the  variations 
in  rolling,  but  that  the  hotter  finished  plates  are  somewhat  better. 
The  elastic  ratio  exhibits  much  less  variation  than  would  be  ex- 
pected, and  this  might  throw  some  doubt  on  the  results,  but  all  the 
different  groups  teach  the  same  lesson,  and  in  some  of  them  the 
number  of  heats  is  so  large  as  to  give  great  weight  to  the  conclu- 
sion. The  plates  were  all  rolled  from  slabs,  which  in  turn  had 
been  rolled  from  large  ingots,  so  that  there  was  ample  work  on  all 
thicknesses. 

SEC.    XI Vj. — Comparative   physical   properties    of   plates    and 


INFLUENCE    OF    HOT    WORKING   ON   STEEL.  379 

angles. — It  is  very  difficult  to  make  a  comparison  of  two  different 
structural  shapes,  since  it  does  not  often  happen  that  the  same 
heat  is  rolled  into  more  than  one  kind  of  section,  but  an  attempt 
is  made  to  do  this  in  Table  XIV-M.  The  prime  requisite  is  that 
the  steel  in  both  cases  shall  be  of  the  same  manufacture,  and  this 
specification  is  satisfied  in  the  present  instance.  The  figures  for 
the  angles  are  found  by  combining  certain  groups  in  Table  XIV-H, 
which  was  compiled  from  the  records  of  The  Pennsylvania  Steel 
Company,  while  the  plates  represent  the  average  obtained  from 
The  Paxton  Boiling  Mill,  which  was  running  on  slabs  from  the 
same  works. 

The  one  predominant  feature  is  the  lower  elongation  in  the 
plates.  This  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  metal  receives 
a  less  thorough  compression  in  the  plate  train  than  it  does  in  the 
rolling  of  angles,  in  which  latter  case  it  undergoes  a  certain  amount 
of  lateral  thrust. 

SEC.  XlVk. — Effect  of  thickness  on  the  physical  properties,  of 
plates. — The  effects  caused  by  variations  in  rolling  temperature 
appear  in  their  most  marked  degree  in  the  comparison  of  plates  of 
different  gauges.  It  is  not  customary  to  test  the  same  heat  in 
several  sizes,  but  by  long  experience  the  manufacturer  is  able  to 
judge  the  relative  properties  of  each  thickness.  The  heads  of  two 
widely-known  plate  mills  have  given  me  as  their  estimate  that, 
taking  one-half  inch  as  a  basis,  there  will  be  the  following  changes 
in  the  physical  properties  for  every  increase  of  one-quarter  inch 
in  thickness : 

(1)  A  decrease  in  ultimate  strength  of  1000  pounds  per  square 
inch. 

(2)  A  decrease  in  elongation  of  one  per  cent,  when  measured  in 
an  8-inch  parallel  section. 

(3)  A  decrease  in  reduction  of  area  of  two  per  cent. 

W.  R.  Webster*  gives  the  same  data  on  ultimate  strength,  but 
does  not  mention  the  relation  of  section  to  elongation. 

It  is,  therefore,  plain  that  in  the  writing  of  specifications  some 
allowance  must  be  made  for  these  conditions,  since  a  requirement 
which  is  perfectly  proper  for  a  three-eighth-inch  plate  will  be  un- 
reasonable for  a  l!/2-inch.  Moreover,  the  effect  is  cumulative, 
since  a  harder  steel  must  be  used  in  making  the  thick  plate  and 

*  Observations  on  the  Relations  between  the  Chemical  Constitution  and  Ulti- 
mate Strength  of  Steel.  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1894,  p.  329. 


380  METALLURGY    OF   IKON    AND   STEEL. 

this  will  tend  to  lessen  the  ductility  rather  than  make  up  for  the 
reduction  caused  by  the  larger  section.  In  plates  below  three- 
eighths  inch  in  thickness  it  is  also  necessary  to  make  allowances, 
since  it  is  almost  impossible  to  finish  them  at  a  high  temperature, 
and  the  test  will  give  a  high  ultimate  strength  and  a  low  ductility. 

These  conditions  have  now  been  officially  recognized  by  the 
United  States  Government,  for  the  rules  of  the  Board  of  Supervis- 
ing Inspectors,  issued  January,  1899,  contain  the  following  clause  : 

"The  sample  must  show,  when  tested,  an  elongation  of  at  least 
25  per  cent,  in  a  length  of  two  inches  for  thicknesses  up  to  one- 
quarter  inch,  inclusive;  and  in  a  length  of  four  inches,  for  over 
one-quarter  to  seven-sixteenths,  inclusive;  and  in  a  length  of  six 
inches,  for  all  thicknesses  over  seven-sixteenths  inch  and  under 
1%  inches." 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  constructive  engineers  will  follow  this 
example  in  recognizing  the  influence  of  causes  over  which  the 
manufacturer  has  no  control. 


CHAPTER  XY. 

HEAT   TREATMENT. 

Within  the  last  few  years  there  have  been  radical  advances  in 
our  knowledge  of  the  structure  of  steel  and  the  influence  exerted  by 
what  has  come  to  be  known  as  "heat  .treatment."  The  main  prin- 
ciples of  this  branch  of  metallurgy  have  been  understood  for  quite 
a  long  time,  but  they  were  applied  only  in  exceptional  cases,  such 
as  the  manufacture  of  guns  and  armor  plate.  To-day  progressive 
manufacturers  are  using  the  results  of  research  in  improving  the 
quality  of  their  ordinary  forgings  and  castings,  and  it  is  therefore 
necessary  to  consider  at  some  length  the  general  underlying  prin- 
ciples of  the  science  of  micro-metallography.  This  has  been  done 
in  the  latter  half  of  this  chapter,  the  article  being  written  by  my 
brother,  J.  W.  Campbell,  who  has-  charge  of  the  special  steels  at 
Steelton. 

The  introduction  of  accurate  determinations  of  temperatures 
and  a  better  knowledge  of  the  proper  heat  to  use,  h#s  to  a  certain 
extent  diminished  the  value  of  the  experiments  and  investigations 
published  in  the  first  edition  of  this  book,  but  I  believe  they  may  be 
worth  recording  again,  as  it  is  quite  certain  that  many  non-pro- 
gressive works  will  follow  the  common  and  ancient  methods  of  an- 
nealing both  at  the  forge  of  the  smith  and  on  a  larger  scale  in  the 
treatment  of  eye  bars  and  similar  material.  In  the  following  sec- 
tions the  word  "annealing"  is  used  unless  otherwise  stated  to  signify 
that  the  piece  was  heated  in  a  muffle  heated  by  a  soft  coal  fire,  the 
bar  being  withdrawn  when  it  had  reached  a  dull  yellow  heat.  The 
experiments  were  carefully  performed  and  it  is  believed  that  the 
practice  was  fairly  uniform. 

SECTION  XVa. — Effect  of  annealing  on  the  physical  properties 
of  rolled  bars. — It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  annealing  tends  to 
remove  the  strains  which  are  created  by  cold  rolling  and  distortion, 
but  it  is  not  generally  understood  how  profound  are  the  changes 

381 


382 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


produced.     Table  XV-A  will  show  the  results  obtained  on  rounds 
and  flats  by  comparing  the  natural  bar  with  the  annealed  specimen 

TABLE  XV-A. 

Effect  of  Annealing  on  Rounds  and  Flats  of  Bessemer  and  Acid 
Open-Hearth  Steel. 

A  4"x4"  billet  from  each  heat  was  rolled  into  a  2"x%"  flat  and  another  into  a  ^ 

round. 


Limits  of  ultimate 
strength;  pounds 
per  square  inch. 

Kind  of  steel. 

Number  of  heats  in 
average. 

Condition  of  bar. 

Ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per  square 
inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per  square 
inch. 

Elongation  in  8 
inches  ;  per  cent. 

Reduction  of  area; 
percent. 

Elastic  ratio;  per 
cent. 

56000 

Bess. 

11 

Natural 
Annealed 

58869 
55703 

42318 

37828 

27.75 
29.14 

58.83 
66.55 

71.88 
67.91 

60000 

O.H. 

4 

Natural 
Annealed 

58568 
54098 

40300 
31823 

29.69 

28.75 

60.78 
62.65 

68.81 

58.82 

60000 
to 

Bess. 

6 

Natural 
Annealed 

62087 
59372 

45323 
40570 

27.04 
80.13 

55.31 
65.50 

73.00 
68.83 

1 

64000 

O.H. 

7 

Natural 
Annealed 

62187 
58364 

42606 
35120 

28.04 
28.61 

62.16 
63.47 

68.51 
60.17 

A 

64000  to 
68000 

Bess. 

9 

Natural 
Annealed 

66241 
61694 

47568 
42228 

26.08 

28.25 

50.07 
62.91 

71.81 
68.45 

a 
& 

68000 
to 

Bess. 

3 

Natural 
Annealed 

70457 
65903 

50263 
44660 

24.75 

26.08 

48.30 
63.23 

71.34 
67.76 

72000 

O.H. 

2 

Natural 
Annealed 

70530 
65500 

49000 
37685 

26.88 
23.38 

61.10 
55.30 

69.47 
57.63 

72000 
to 

Bess. 

4 

Natural 
Annealed 

77440 

71548 

53760 
47643 

24.06 
25.81 

42.35 
57.53 

69.42 
66.59 

80000 

O.H. 

12 

Natural 
Annealed 

76616 
69402 

51108 
40505 

24.52 
23.04 

53.73 

56.54 

66.71 
58.36 

56000 
to 

Bess. 

11 

Natural 
Annealed 

58458 
54194 

41698 
35603 

31.45 
30.05 

56.13 
63.13 

71.33 
65.70 

60000 

O.H. 

4 

Natural 
Annealed 

58130 
51418 

40400 
30393 

30.13 
31.06 

61.75 
60.50 

69.51 
59.11 

60000 
tn 

Bess. 

6 

Natural 
Annealed 

60825 
56192 

43135 
87542 

30.42 
30.63 

56.20 
63.38 

70.92 
66.81 

« 

64000 

O.H. 

7 

Natural    • 
Annealed 

62089 
55021 

42441 
31576 

80.14 
30.36 

60.86 
60.00 

68.86 
57.39 

1 

64000  to 
68000 

Bess. 

9 

Natural 
Annealed 

64621 

58838 

45194 
88476 

28.42 
28.36 

47.80 
59.01 

69.94 
65.39 

& 

£ 

68000 
to 

Bess. 

3 

Natural 
Annealed 

69773 
04160 

49060 
43770 

2C.G7 
28.53 

48.40 
59.50 

70.31 
68.22 

72000 

O.H. 

2 

Natural 
Annealed 

69420 
60850 

45090 
84000 

25.63 
26.50 

59.30 
52.10 

64.98 

55.87 

72000 
to 

Bess. 

.< 

Natural 
Annealed 

76900 

68780 

52240 
43568 

23.44 

26.38 

40.15 
51.00 

67.93 
63.34 

80000 

O.H. 

12 

Natural 
Annealed 

75865 
67618 

49691 
39403 

1    24.69 
[    26.31 

54.40 
51  .C6 

65.50 

58.27 

HEAT    TREATMENT. 


383 


when  all  the  pieces  were  rolled  from  billets  of  the  same  size  and 
on  the  same  mill. 

The  decrease  in  ultimate  strength  by  annealing  the  Bessemer 
bars  averaged  4175  pounds  per  square  inch  in  the  rounds  and  5683 
pounds  in  the  flats,  while  the  open-hearth  was  lowered  5134  pounds 
in  the  rounds  and  7649  in  the  flats.  In  this  important  and  funda- 
mental quality  the  two  kinds  of  steel  are  very  similarly  affected, 
but  in  other  particulars  there  seems  to  be  a  radical  difference  which 
is  difficult  to  explain. 

TABLE  XV-B. 

Comparison  of  the  Natural  and  Annealed  Bessemer  Steel  Bars 
Given  in  Table  XV-A,  which  show  about  the  same  Ultimate 
Strength. 


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H 

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56000  to 

11 

Natural 

58869 

42318 

27.75 

58.83 

71.88 

60000 

17 

Annealed 

56998 

38796 

29.49 

66.18 

68.06 

T  T 

60000  to 

6 

Natural 

62087 

45323 

27.04 

55.31 

73.00 

64000 

9 

Annealed 

61694 

42228 

28.25 

62.91 

68.45 

64000  to 

9 

Natural 

66241 

47568 

26.08 

50.07 

71.81 

68000 

3 

Annealed 

65903 

44660 

26.08 

63.23 

67.76 

IV 

68000  to 

3 

Natural 

70457 

50263 

24.75 

48.30 

71^4 

72000 

4 

Annealed 

71548 

47643 

25.81 

57.53 

66.59 

56000  to 

11 

Natural 

58458 

41698 

31.45 

56.13 

71^3 

T 

60000 

15 

Annealed 

57780 

38102 

29.27 

60.76 

65.95 

VT         G4COO  to 

9 

Natural 

64621 

45194 

28.42 

47.80 

69.94 

C8000 

3 

Annealed 

64160 

43770 

28.58 

59.50 

68.22 

VII 

68000  to 

72000 

3 
4 

Natural 
Annealed 

69773 

C8780 

49060 
435C8 

26.67 
26.38 

48.40 
51.00 

70.31 
63.34 

The  elongation  of  the  Bessemer  steel  is  increased  by  annealing  in 
every  case  except  two,  the  average  being  1.33  per  cent.,  while  the 
open-hearth  metal  shows  a  loss  in  three  cases,  with  an  average  loss 
for  all  cases  of  0.21  per  cent.  This  is  not  very  conclusive,  but  there 
is  a  more  marked  difference  in  the  reduction  of  area,  for  in  the 
Bessemer  steel  there  is  an  increase  in  the  annealed  bar  in  every 
case  varying  from  7  to  15.18  per  cent.,  while  the  open-hearth 


384 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


showed  an  increase  in  only  three  cases,  the  maximum  being  2.81  per 
cent.,  and  a  decrease  in  five  cases,  the  greatest  loss  being  7.20  per 
cent. 

The  elastic  limit  fell  much  more  than  the  ultimate  strength,  and 
here  again  the  Bessemer  seems  to  be  different  from  the  open-hearth 
steel,  for  while  the  elastic  ratio  of  the  former  is  lowered  from  2.1 
to  4.7  per  cent,  by  annealing,  the  latter  loses  from  7.2  to  11.9  per 
cent.  It  willnot  do  to  draw  a  general  conclusion  from  these  lim- 
ited data  on  the  nature  of  the  two  kinds  of  steel,  but  whether 

TABLE  XY-C. 

Comparison  of  the  Natural  and  Annealed  Open-Hearth  Steel  Bars 
Given  in  Table  XV-A,  which  show  about  the  same  Ultimate 
Strength. 


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Natural 

58568 

40300 

29.63 

60.78 

68.81 

8? 

60000 

7    j  Annealed 

58364 

35120 

28.61 

63.47 

60.17 

68000  to 

2 

Natural 

70530 

49000 

26.88 

61.10 

69.47 

*^£ 

72000 

12 

Annealed 

69402 

40505 

23.04 

56.54 

58.36 

55000  to 

4 

Natural 

58130 

40400 

30.13 

61.75 

69.51 

.d 

60000 

7 

Annealed 

55021 

31576 

30.36 

60.00 

57.39 

5S 

60000  to 

7 

Natural 

62089 

42441 

30.14 

60.86 

68.36 

jj^S 

64000 

2 

Annealed 

60850 

34000 

26.50 

52.10 

55.87 

S 

V' 

66000  to 

2 

Natural 

69420 

45090 

25.63 

59.30 

64.96 

70000 

12 

Annealed 

67618 

89403 

26.31 

51.36 

58.27 

further  experiment  would  or  would  not  corroborate  these  results, 
it  is  quite  certain  that  annealing  under  ordinary  conditions,  even 
though  very  carefully  conducted,  may  produce  grave  differences  in 
physical  properties  in  steels  of  similar  composition  which  have 
been  rolled  in  the  same  manner  and  treated  at  the  same  time,  even 
when  the  effect  upon  the  ultimate  strength  has  been  the  same. 

It  would  also  appear  that  in  the  Bessemer  steel  the  marked 
increase  in  ductility  is  purchased  at  a  great  sacrifice  of  strength, 
and  the  question  arises  whether  the  gain  is  not  more  than  balanced 
by  the  loss,  and  whether  an  equal  degree  of  toughness  could  not  be 


HEAT    TREATMENT. 


385 


secured  by  using  a  softer  steel  in  its  unannealed  state.  A  com- 
parison of  the  natural  and  annealed  bars  of  corresponding  tensile 
strength  in  Table  XY-A  will  give  the  results  shown  in  Tables 
XV-B  and  XV-C. 

SEC.  XVb. — Effect  of  annealing  on  bars  rolled  at  different  tem- 
peratures.— These  results  show  that  the  annealed  bar  has  a  very 
much  lower  elastic  limit  than  a  natural  bar  of  the  same  ultimate 
strength,  and  oftentimes  has  less  ductility.  The  difference  between 
the  Bessemer  and  open-hearth  steels  cannot  be  due  to  irregular 

TABLE  XV-D. 

Effect  of  Annealing  Acid   Open-Hearth  Boiled  Steel  Bars  2x% 

inches. 


to  ^  t, 

£2 

2 

a 

©c  ip, 

«8 

* 

S 

rt& 

a 

ccg 

1 

3  8-2d 

,9 

^ 

•« 

d  " 

1 

!||l 

iS  . 

jj 

"S  <» 
Pi 

|ft 

0 

dj 

O 

1 

«M    ^ 

o^g,| 

o3      ^ 

.2 

S-S 

"o^ 

3  aT 

2d 

2  ^ 

E 

o  . 

d 

5*3  ®  o  a) 

.S   OB   ft  O   O 

111 

1 

111 

ill 

!! 

!! 

0 

fc 

3 

H 

0 

5 

H 

H 

PH 

5 

56000  to  60000 

Usual 

Nat. 
Ann. 

58130 
52323 

89733 
31677 

80.42 
30.75 

61.90 
60.63 

68.4 
60.5 

1 

3 

C    I9'  P    035' 

'  'Mn,  .56. 

Dull  red 

Nat. 
Ann. 

59857 
51557 

43037 
33893 

31.83 
32.92 

59.60 
63.60 

71.9 
65.7 

60000  to  64000 

Usual 

Nat. 
Ann. 

61703 
54463 

41985 
30953 

30.19 
30.38 

60.70 
59.35 

68.0 
56.8 

T-r 

4 

C     12  "P    086* 

Mn,  .48.     ' 

Dull  red 

Nat. 
Ann. 

63585 
55058 

45213 

36988 

30.06 
30.94 

57.58 
61.53 

71.1 
67.2 

72000  to  80000 

Usual 

Nat. 
Ann. 

75688 
66584 

49155 
37934 

24.66 
26.06 

54.05 
50.74 

64.9 
57.0 

III 

g 

C    94  *  P    052  * 

'  Mn,  .77.     ' 

Dull  red 

Nat. 
Ann. 

78083          53334 
67058    1      40343 

27.41 
26.50 

52.23 
53.41 

68.3 
60.2 

finishing,,  since  all  the  bars  were  rolled  at  the  same  time,,  and 
further  experiments  given  in  Table  XV-D  indicate  that  the  same 
law  holds  good  whether  the  metal  is  finished  hot  or  cold. 

In  the  bars  which  are  finished  at  the  usual  temperature  there  is 
a  loss  in  strength  due  to  annealing  of  from  6000  to  9000  pounds 
per  square  inch,  and  a  lowering  in  the  elastic  limit  of  from  8000 
to  11,000  pounds.  In  the  colder  finished  bars  the  loss  in  strength 
is  from  8000  to  11,000  pounds,  and  the  elastic  limit  is  lowered 
from  8000  to  13,000  pounds.  Thus  in  both  cases  the  elastic 
limit  is  affected  much  more  than  the  ultimate  strength,  and  the 


386 


METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 


result  is  seen  in  a  lower  elastic  ratio.     The  ductility  does  not  seem 
to  be  materially  improved  in  any  instance. 

The  cold  finishing  raised  the  strength  of  the  bars  1727  pounds 
per  square  inch  in  Group  I,  1882  pounds  in  Group  II,  and  2395 
pounds  in  Group  III.  Annealing  lowered  the  strength  of  these 
cold-finished  bars  so  that  in  Group  I  it  was  766  pounds  per  square 
inch  below  the  annealed  hot-finished  bar,  while  in  Group  II  it  was 

TABLE  XV-E. 

Effect  of  Annealing  on  Bars  of  Different  Thickness,  when  the  Per- 
centage of  Eeduction  in  Kolling  had  been  Constant  for  all 
Pieces. 


a 

^s 
SS 
•s§ 


Ultimate 
strength;  Ibs, 
per  sq.  inch. 


Elastic 
limit;  Ibs. 
per  sq.  inch. 


Elongation 

in  8  inches; 

percent. 


Reduction 
of  area ; 
percent. 


4605 


4x4 

f 

2x1* 


4x4 


51640 
51120 

50850 


45870 
45100 
46350 
46010 
44960 


33440 


26350 
25980 


37.50 
82.50 
82.50 


28570 


87.50 
88.00 
89.50 
84.00 
81.25 


59540 
59730 


51360 


62350 
65130 


51230 
54110 


37050 
38100 
42110 
43070 
52180 


28410 


85.00 
29.75 
80.00 
27.50 


82.50 
32.75 
81.75 
80.00 


31170 


60.1 
56.4 


61.0 


64.8 
64.0 


64.3 
67.2 


60.0 
56.4 
60.0 
60.7 
58.9 


59.7 
60.1 
56.6 
62.4 
64.9 


1509 


4x4 


2x 


67860 
67550 
67470 


42850 
43190 
44090 


38750 
88810 
40430 


25.00 
26.25 
26.25 


26.50 
29.00 
29.25 


40.8 
46.1 
53.2 


57.S 

58.4 
56.1 


4x4 


1440 


72840 
71230 
72950 
73620 

78560 


67060 
67860 
69720 
74000 


47080 
46010 
48760 
51550 
58140 


43580 
42020 
43920 


25.00 
26.25 
26.25 
26.25 
22.75 


27.00 
29.00 
26.25 
26.50 
25.25 


40.7 
40.5 
52.1 
45.9 
52.0 


53.6 
63.4 
55.4 
54.1 
53.G 


595  pounds  above  it,  and  in  Group  III  474  pounds.  The  effect 
upon  the  elastic  limit  is  not  as  thorough,  and  the  influence  of  the 
cold  finishing  may  be  seen  in  the  higher  elastic  ratio  of  the  an- 
nealed cold-finished  bar. 

SEC.  XVc. — Effect  of  annealing  on  bars  rolled  under  different 
conditions  of  work  and  temperature. — All  these  results  will  be  cor- 
roborated by  Tables  XV-E  and  XV-F,  which  show  the  effect  of 
annealing  on  bars  which  have  been  finished  under  different  con- 
ditions. In  Table  XV-E,  where  each  bar  was  made  from  a  billet 


HEAT    TREATMENT. 


387 


of  proportionate  size,  the  pieces  would  be  in  the  rolls  about  the 
same  length  of  time,  so  that  the  only  difference  in  character  will 
be  due  to  the  more  rapid  loss  in  heat  from  a  thin  bar  and  from 
the  more  "thorough  compression.  In  Table  XV-F,  where  all  bars 
were  rolled  from  the  same-sized  billet,  these  factors  are  supple- 
mented by  the  extra  cooling  during  the  longer  exposure  in  the  rolls. 

TABLE  XV-F. 

Effect  of  Annealing  on  Bars  of  Different  Thickness,  when  All 
Pieces  had  been  Boiled  from  Billets  3  inches  Square. 


Heat  Number. 

ft 

PQ  w 

1" 

Ult.  strength; 
Ibs.  per  sq.  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
Ibs.  per  sq.  inch. 

Elongation  in 
Sin.  ;  percent. 

Reduction  of 
area;  per  ct. 

| 

Annealed. 

Natural. 

Annealed. 

1 

£ 

Annealed. 

Natural. 

Annealed. 

4605 

1 

51370 
51070 
60850 
52960 
6556Q 

45490 
43280 
46350 
44470 
45830 

32860 
83200 
35700 
86220 
47380 

25560 
24110 
25980 

84.50 
81.50 
32.50 
81.25 

30.00 

86.75 
88.00 
89.50 
88.50 
33.25 

59.6 
59.2 
60.8 
63.2 
63.2 

65.6 
64.2 
67.0 
69.6 
69.0 

27780 

9227 

1 

59690 
60350 
60950 
62230 
66340 

52880 
52270 
52460 
53500 
64310 

37000 
88560 
42110 
42600 
49860 

29030 
28460 
29860 
81000 
30600 

85.00 
29.50 
80.00 
25.75 
27.50 

82.00 
82.00 
81.75 
80.75 
26.25 

55.4 
58.8 
60.0 
55.9 
66.6 

66.4 
65.1 
56.6 

58.4 
61.6 

1509 

1 

65600 
67310 
67470 
69210 
72100 

61480 
64500 
62660 
65240 
66940 

40980 
43090 
44090 
47950 
64060 

37840 
41400 
40430 
44510 
49000 

29.50 
26.25 
26.25 
26.50 
27.75 

29.00 
29.25 
29.25 
80.50 
27.50 

50.9 
47.1 
63.2 
64.1 
55.0 

57.1 
66.0 
66.1 
52.6 
52.6 

1440 

li§ 

72440 
72570 

72950 
75620 
77500 

69730 
67980 
67860 
71560 
70820 

46440 
46200 
48760 
51160 
60920 

45250 

42000 
43920 
48250 
56420 

27.50 
27.25 
26.25 
25.00 
26.00 

24.25 
28.25 
26.25 
26.50 
25.50 

45.7 
47.3 
52.1 
63.5 

46.8 

56.3 
64.2 
65.4 
59.0 
59.9 

SEC.  XVd. — Effect  of  annealing  on  plates  of  the  same  charge 
which  showed  different  physical  properties. — This  matter  of  finish- 
ing temperature  is  of  supreme  importance  in  filling  specifications 
on  structural  material,  more  especially  in  the  rolling  of  thin  plates, 
for  it  will  often  happen  that  different  members  of  one  heat  will 
show  wide  variations  in  tensile  strength  when  the  metal  itself  is 
practically  homogeneous.  Table  XV-G  will  illustrate  this  point 
by  giving  the  records  of  test-pieces  which  gave  the  greatest  vari- 
ations in  any  one  heat,  and  comparing  the  natural  bar  with  a  piece 
of  the  same  strip  when  annealed. 


388 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


It  will  be  seen  that  annealing  has  almost  wiped  away  the  vari- 
ations in  each  heat,  and  it  is  therefore  quite  certain  that  the  dif- 
ferences lie  in  the  rolling  history.  The  true  way  of. testing  the 

TABLE  XV-G. 

Showing  that  Eolled  Plates  of  the  same  Acid  Open-Hearth  Heat, 
which  show  Wide  Variations  in  their  Physical  Properties,  are 
made  alike  by  Annealing. 

NOTE.— In  each  case,  A  is  the  test  giving  the  highest  tensile  strength  of  any  plate 

in  the  heat,  and  B  is  the  one  giving  the  lowest.    Carbon  was 

determined  by  color  and  is  therefore  not  reliable. 


Heat  number. 

Thickness  of  plates. 

Condition  of  test 
bar. 

i 

49 
CO 

i 

Ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per  square 
inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per  square 

4* 
3 

00  03 

d  ° 
.-  - 

H   ® 
•§* 

is 

WU3 
II 

H 

Reduction  of  area; 
per  cent. 

Elastic  ratio;  per 
cent. 

Chemical  composi- 
tion; per  cent. 

C. 

P. 

Mn. 

S. 

6633 

i 

Natural 
Natural 
Annealed 
Annealed 

A 
B 
A 
B 

61000 
56480 
47750 
46970 

53200 
46300 
29980 
30690 

21.50 
25.25 
34.50 
35.00 

61.9 
60.0 
67.0 
64.5 

87.2 
82.0 
62.8 
65.3 

.16 

.12 

.015 
.015 

.32 
.31 

.022 
.019 

.   .   . 

.   .   . 

.   .   . 

5658 

i 

Natural 
Natural 
Annealed 
Annealed 

A 
B 
A 
B 

65370 
60380 
52160 
50260 

52560 
48800 
32450 
33340 

21.75 
21.50 
32.00 
32.50 

58.7 
61.1 
57.0 
62.6 

80.4 
80.8 
62.2 
66.3 

.14 
.10 

.009 
.012 

.45 
.45 

.025 
.020 

8217 

i 

Natural 
Natural 
Annealed 
Annealed 

A 
B 
A 
B 

64620 
59960 
52820 
50000 

53140 
48490 
35450 
31840 

25.00 
21.50 
27.00 
31.50 

58.1 
45.5 
62.2 
56.4 

82.2 
80.9 
67.1 
63.7 

.16 
.14 

.021 
.016 

.44 
.44 

.081 
.025 

8226 

i  . 

Natural 
Natural 
Annealed 
Annealed 

A 
B 
A 
B 

64260 
57040 
54070 
53960 

54370 
39990 
38520 
38520 

21.00 
28.75 
27.50 
29.50 

50.6 
56.6 
64.4 
63.3 

84.6 
70.1 
71.2 
71.4 

.12 
.12 

.036 
.084 

.34 
.82 

.058 
.047 

8231 

T«8 

Natural 
Natural 
Annealed 
Annealed 

A 
B 
A 
B 

64480 
61100 
53*30 
52180 

50560 
45030 
84870 
33780 

26.00 
26.00 
31.25 
81.25 

58.8 
48.0 
61.9 
63.2 

78.4 
73.7 
64.8 

64.7 

.13 
.11 

.021 
.018 

.55 
.51 

.048 
.044 

8233 

i 

Natural 
Natural 
Annealed 
Annealed 

A 
B 
A 
B 

66360 
58160 
52760 
51480 

59100 
47630 
36940 

.40480 

20.75 
24.50 
33.00 

28.75 

62.7 
60.3 
65.0 
56.0 

89.1 
81.9 
70.0 

78.6 

.11 
.11 

.026 
.020 

.37 
.89 

.033 
.028 

8234 

A 

Natural 
Natural 
Annealed 
Annealed 

A 
B 
A 
B 

66300 

maso 

55560 
5403& 

49440 
47930 
87360 
84448 

20.75 
27.00 
28.25 
31.75 

67.5 
61.7 
60.0 
63.7 

74.6 

78.1 
67.2 
63.7 

.15 
.14 

.024 
,  .021 

.49 

.47 

.022 
.023 

8235 

i 

Natural 
Natural 
Annealed 
Annealed 

A 
B 
A 
B 

63220 
58240 
47740 
47600 

58300 
47630 
29930 
30530 

13.50 
21.25 
83.25 
34.00 

54.9- 
53.5 
63.9 
57.2 

92.2 

81.8 
62.7 
64.1 

.10 
.11 

.017 
.017 

.33 
!85 

.035 
.034 

8296 

A 

Natural 
Natural 
Annealed 
Annealed 

A 
B 
A 
B 

64020 

58720 
53860 
50660 

49510 
42960 
83710 
32710 

23.25 
30.25 
29.25 
85.00 

58.1 
60.0 
58.6 
64.7 

77.3 
73.2 
62.6 
64.6 

.11 
.13 

.025 
.017 

.46 
.45 

.037 
.022 

HEAT    TREATMENT. 


389 


homogeneity  of  steel,  or  of  comparing  two  different  samples,  is  to 
make  the  tests  on  annealed  bars.  This  practice  was  pursued  in 
Chapter  XIII. 

SEC.  XVe. — Effect  of  annealing  on  the  physical  properties  of 
eye-bar  flats. — It  does  not  follow  that  plates  and  bars  should  be 
annealed  to  put  them  into  their  best  condition.  On  the  contrary, 
the  foregoing  tests  have  shown  that  very  little  is  gained  in  ductility, 
while  there  is  quite  a  loss  in  working  strength,  and  that  it  would 
be  better  and  much  cheaper  to  choose  a  softer  steel  in  its  natural 
state.  Moreover,  it  must  be  considered  that  the  bars  which  have 
been  discussed  in  the  foregoing  tables  have  been  small  test-pieces 
which  could  be  treated  under  fairly  constant  conditions,  and  even 
then  the  results  are  far  from  regular. 

TABLE  XV-H. 
Comparative  Tests  of  Eye-Bar  Steel. 


Heat  number. 

Longitudinal  strip;  cut  from  near 
the  edge  of  eye-bar  ;  natural. 

Full-sized  eye-bar;  annealed. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  in. 

JH 

lf§! 

—   03  P<  00 

Elongation 
in  8  inches; 
per  cent. 

Reduction 
of  area;  per 

cent. 

Elastic  ratio; 
per  cent. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  in. 

i"|fl- 

itsg 

i«fl£ 

2£ss 

|^a§r 

Elongation 
in  8  inches; 
percent. 

Reduction 
of  area;  per 
cent. 

Elastic  ratio; 
per  cent. 

1 
2 
8 
4 

5 
6 

7 
8 
9 

40710 
•11370 
C.7CO 
40380 
41480 
41310 
40370 
41900 
41070 

68830 
71400 
69460 
69400 
72320 
73640 
72060 
76700 
69680 

27.CO 
26.25 
25.75 
25.00 
24.50 
23.75 
25.60 
25.75 
27.00 

47.18 
50.C8 
44.31 
48.41 
46.78 
86.54 
40.00 
43.76 
44.33 

E9.1 

58.2 
57.3 
58.9 
57.4 
66.1 
56.0 
54.6 
58.9 

86500 
40400 
38300 
40600 
42100 
83700 
35400 
89600 
35900 

62100 
65200 
63250 
67100 
65000 
57600 
64700 
67700 
65200 

43.70 
40.00 
41.85 
86.00 
86.60 
45.60 
45.62 
88.43 
40.00 

32.60 
46.55 
45.95 
45.00 
48.40 
50.00 
61.80 
42.65 
46.40 

58.8 
62.0 
60.5 
60.5 
64.8 
58.5 
54.7 
58.5 
55.1 

Av.    !  f  41008 

71499 

25.62 

44.60 

57.4 

88056 

64206 

4087 

46.54 

59.3 

These  deductions  will  be  corroborated  by  Table  XV-H,  which 
gives  the  parallel  records  of  pieces  cut  from  a  flat  bar  in  its  natural 
state,  and  the  full-sized  eye-bars  after  annealing.  The  steel  was 
made  and  rolled  by  one  of  our  largest  American  works.  It  is  plain 
that  there  is  a  great  gain  in  the  elongation,  but  the  reduction  of 
area  is  unaffected  and  there  is  a  decided  loss  in  elastic  and  ultimate 
strength. 

SEC.  XVf. — -Methods  of  annealing. — A  different  view  of  the  sub- 
ject is  taken  by  Grus.  C.  Henning.*  He  states  that  steel  is  injured 


*  Trans.  Am.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng.}  Vol.  XIII,  p.  572. 


390 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


by  annealing  if  it  is  in  contact  with  flame,  while  it  is  improved  if 
it  is  reheated  in  a  sealed  muffle.  I  cannot  assent  to  this  broad  con- 
clusion, for,  while  it  may  be  true  that  a  flame  can  be  run  too  hot 
and  the  piece  be  burned  through  carelessness,  it  by  no  means  fol- 
lows that  such  local  overheating  is  necessary;  nor  is  there  any 
ground  for  assuming  the  absorption  of  deleterious  gases  from  a 
proper  flame.  Moreover,  the  figures  which  he  gives  do  not  show 
a  decided  improvement  of  any  kind  in  the  bars  which  were  heated 
in  a  retort. 

TABLE  XV-I. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Natural  and  Annealed  Flat 
Steel  Bars;  as  given  by  Henning.* 


« 

is" 

I 

. 

1 

o 

• 

d 

• 

E 

p, 

<M 

M 

o 

SH 

-^"t-J3 

i  u,ja 

d 

.. 

o  • 

Tp  ^5 

0 

*^5  D  o 

0 

•2 

h 

0 

ll 

11 

8,2? 

| 

fis 

1^2 

i?* 

08^3  «> 

43   W 

H 

U  <9 

£ 

M   C 

53    »  C 

•^H 

s  S  « 

•^   H   eg 

00 

^0 

0 

§- 

^1 

I 

Ml 

43    2^0^ 

Ixl 

9    - 

73  01 
0  ^ 

II 

fc 

S 

4 

W 

H 

N 

H 

P2 

10 

i  to  l& 

1.12 

Natural 
Annealed 

88737 
40299 

71226 
69296 

23.89 
25.53 

47.0 
53.5 

54.4 

58.2 

16 

1|   tO  I/B 

1.41 

Natural 
Annealed 

85411 

88298 

684C5 
67971 

24.38 
24.95 

46.65 
49.17 

51.7 
56.3 

12 

li  to  15 

1.62 

Natural 
Annealed 

85729 
38692 

63490 
60411 

24.25 
25.28 

47.27 
49.85 

51.4 
55.7 

It  is  stated  (loc.  cit.,  p.  577)  that  most  of  the  "flats"  were 
"properly"  annealed,  and  so  I  have  averaged  the  records  which  he 
gives  of  the  natural  and  the  reheated  pieces,  separating  them  into 
three  groups  according  to  thickness.  The  results  are  given  in  Table 
XV-I.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  metal  has  undergone  very  little 
change  at  all,  and  it  is  impossible  to  see  anything  which  can  be 
called  a  radical  improvement. 

Any  attempt  to  carry  out  a  general  system  of  annealing  plates 
and  shapes  will  result  in  wide  variations  in  temperatures  and  rates 
of  cooling,  for  it  will  be  impossible  to  have  a  large  pile  of  metal 
heated  uniformly  throughout,  since  the  outside  of  the  lot  will  be  at 

•  Trans.  Amer.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng.,  Vol.  XIII,  p.  586,  et  seq.  The  factor  which 
Mr.  Henning  calls  the  "yield  point"  is  here  called  the  elastic  limit.  I  havfe 
omitted  from  the  averages  the  tests  which  are  noted  in  the  original  as  being 
wrongly  marked,  and  also  three  tests  which  show  such  extremely  low  elongation 
that  it  is  certain  the  material  was  not  properly  treated,  or  that  there  is  an, 
error  in  the  records. 


HEAT    TREATMENT. 


391 


a  full  heat  when  the  interior  is  unaffected.  Since  the  manufacturer 
may  always  manipulate  the  operation  so  as  to  affect  the  test-pieces 
in  preference  to  the  rest  of  the  steel,  and  since  it  will  be  to  his 
interest  to  keep  the  temperature  as  low  as  possible  to  avoid  warp- 
ing, there  will  be  no  certainty  either  that  the  work  has  been  properly 
carried  out  or  that  it  has  been  of  the  least  advantage. 

SEC.  XVg. — Further  experiments  on  annealing  rolled  bars. — 
The  experiments  on  annealing  related  in  this  chapter  were  per- 
formed by  the  usual  method  of  estimating  temperatures  by  the  eye. 
They  were,  however,  conducted  under  conditions  exceptionally 
favorable  to  uniform  results,  as  the  pieces  were  small  and  were 
enclosed  in  a  muffle  and  were  carefully  watched.  No  ordinary  an- 

TABLE  XV-J. 

Effect  of  Annealing  at  about  800°  C.  (1472°  F.)  on  the  Physical 
Properties  of  Structural  Steel.     (Bars  are  rolled  flats  2"x%".) 


~£.s 

II 

-r  f-t 

-  <u 

•M    «-. 

O  0) 

Limits  of 

1—  1  pf   • 

| 

•**  A 

01 

o 

Ulitimate 
Strength 
Ibs.  per  sq. 

Kind  of  Steel. 

No.  of 
bars. 

Con- 
dition of 
bar. 

ill 

ISs 

O  .. 

Us  . 

1^ 

! 

inch. 

§15 

SI* 

laS 

'rt  ^  aj 
OJ  08  0 

3 

* 

^ 

p 

w 

57  to  61,000 

Acid  open  hearth. 

10 

Natural 

60.110 

39770 

33.3 

52.0 

66.1 

15 

Annealed 

55,690 

36,180 

36.3 

56.8 

64.9 

56  to  64,000 

Basic  open  hearth. 

12 
17 

Natural 
Annealed 

61.740 

57,870 

38,861 
35.320 

33.0 
36.6 

52.3 
57.6 

63  0 
61.0 

58  to  68,000 

"Transferred." 

10 

Natural 

62,050 

39.590 

33.4 

54.9 

64.6 

See  Section  Xlla. 

15 

Annealed 

55,590 

34,790 

37.3 

59.0 

62.6 

nealing  of  eye-bars  or  plates  would  be  carried  out  under  such 
favorable  auspices.  For  purposes  of  comparison,  I  have  repeated 
some  of  the  experiments,  the  temperatures  being  determined  by 
the  Le  Chatelier  pyrometer.  In  Table  XV-J  it  is  shown  that  the 
heat  treatment  has  reduced  the  tensile  strength,  the  elastic  limit 
and  the  elastic  ratio,  and  has  raised  the  elongation  and  reduction 
of  area.  In  Table  XY-K  are  compared  the  bars  showing  similar 
ultimate  strength.  The  annealed  pieces  show  greater  elongation, 
but  a  lower  elastic  ratio,  and  in  order  to  obtain  the  same  elastic 
limit  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  a  harder  steel,  whereby  the 
elongation  would  be  somewhat  lowered.  It  would  seem  doubtful 
therefore  whether  the  bars  under  the  most  careful  annealing  are 


392 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


more  suitable  for  structural  work  than  the  ordinary  product  of  a 
mill,  while  assuredly  the  extra  cost  of  such  careful  treatment  of 
long  and  heavy  sections  would  make  it  commercially  out  of  the 
question  in  almost  all  cases.  It  is,  of  course,  understood. that  the 
treatment  of  eye-bars  is  a  different  question,  this  being  made  neces- 
sary by  the  work  done  in  shaping  the  ends. 

TABLE  XV-K. 

Comparison  of  the  Natural  and  Annealed  Bars  shown  in  Table 
XV-J,  which  show  about  the  same  Ultimate  Strength. 


O  f-> 

-•     •"'.;• 

""^.S 

IE 

f-  <U 

O  « 

Limits  of 

,_  ^   • 

"•  <  p, 

ft 

o 

Ultimate 
Strength  : 
Ibs.  per  sq. 
inch; 

Kind  of  Steel. 

No.  of 
bars. 

Con- 
dition of 
bars. 

3  £  M 

|j§, 

^S-O 

c£  §  o< 

Ho 

-- 

| 

* 

W 

« 

H 

54  to  58,000 

Acid. 

10 

Natural 

56.200 

39,550 

29.7 

58.8 

70.4 

52  to  59  000 

15 

Annealed 

55,690 

36180 

36  3 

56.8 

64.9 

55  to  58,000 

Basic 

12 

Natural 

56.s"0 

37,760 

30.4 

56.4 

6f>.4 

54  to  64,000 

17 

Annealed 

57.870 

35.320 

36.6 

57.6 

61.0 

55  to  60.000 

Acid.* 

4 

Natural 

58130 

40400 

30.1 

61.7 

69.5 

55  to  60,000 

7 

Annealed 

55.021 

31,576 

30.4 

60.0 

57.4 

SEC.  XVh.f — General  remarks  on  the  determination  of  tempera- 
tures.— For  the  commercial  operation  of  annealing,  the  tempera- 
ture may  be  conveniently  and  accurately  determined  by  the  use  of 
a  platinum  or  copper  ball  with  the  usual  water  receiver.  In  more 
accurate  work  it  is  advisable  to  use  a  Le  Chatelier  pyrometer,  but 
in  either  case  considerable  care  must  be  taken  to  insure  that  the 
piece  of  metal  which  registers  the  temperature,  whether  it  be  the 
ball  or  the  electric  couple,  is  of  the  same  degree  of  heat  as  the  forg- 
ing or  the  casting  under  treatment. 

It  is  generally  taken  for  granted  that  if  the  juncture  of  a  Plati- 
num— Platinum — ten  per  cent.  Ehodium  couple  is  in  contact  with 
the  steel  under  treatment,  the  temperature  as  registered  is  correct. 
Practically,  although  not  absolutely,  this  is  true,  for  if  the  con- 
ditions of  heating  are  the  same,  that  is,  if  the  furnaces  are  of  the 
same  general  size  and  plan  and  the  pieces  under  treatment  are 


*  These  constitute  Group  III  In  Table  XV-C. 

t  The  remainder  of  this  chapter  is  mainly  the  work  of  .?.  W.  Campbell. 


HEAT    TREATMENT.  393 

approximately  the  same  size,  the  readings  are  relative,  and  being 
relative  may  be  considered  to  be  correct.  Now  is  this  true  under 
conditions  radically  different  ?  If  a  small  piece  of  steel  is  placed 
in  a  muffle  and  heated,  the  muffle  having  been  at  a  high  temperature 
before  the  introduction  of  the  piece,  it  will  be  found  even  while  the 
piece  is  black  or  very  dark  red,  say  not  over  650°  C.,  that  the 
needle  of  a  Le  Chatelier  pyrometer,  the  couple  of  which  is  in  con- 
tact with  the  steel,  will  indicate  a  temperature  some  thirty  degrees 
higher.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  while  it  takes  some 
time  for  the  mass  of  steel  to  absorb  the  heat  from  the  muffle,  the 
fine  wires  of  the  couple  arrive  at  the  high  temperature  in  perhaps 
twenty  or  thirty  seconds.  Of  course,  the  juncture,  being  in  con- 
tact with  the  cooler  steel,  is  considerably  cooler  than  the  furnace, 
but  nevertheless  it  is  some  degrees  higher  than  the  piece,  and  this 
higher  temperature  is  the  one  which  sets  up  the  difference  of  poten- 
tial which  affects  the  galvanometer. 

This  is  undoubtedly  the  case  in  still  greater  measure  with 
larger  furnaces  and  larger  masses,  and  if  it  is  desired  to  compare 
a  small  piece  with  a  large  one  the  temperature  of  treatment,  must 
be  the  same.  There  is  one  way  of  arriving  at  this  with  certainty, 
and  this  is  in  accordance  with  what  Howe  describes  as  the  con- 
dition of  invisibility.  He  sets  forth  that  a  certain  color  is  indica- 
tive of  a  certain  temperature,  whatever  the  material,  and  proves  it 
by  stating  that  if  pieces  of  several  different  kinds  of  metals  be 
placed  in  a  furnace  and  heated  carefully  and  slowly,  and  held  till 
it  is  certain  that  they  are  heated  equally  through  and  through, 
on  looking  into  the  furnace  nothing  can  be  seen  but  the  walls  of 
the  furnace.  The  pieces  are  invisible.  He  then  shows  that  since 
the  only  light  is  that  given  off  by  the  heated  surfaces  themselves 
and  since  if  there  were  even  the  slightest  difference  in  color,  the 
edges  of  the  pieces  could  be  seen,  the  whole  furnace  and  contents 
must  be  the  same  color  and  this  he  calls  "invisibility." 

Now  if  a  large  piece  of  metal  is  heated  until  the  wires  of  the 
couple  cannot  be  seen  in  contact  with  the  piece,  and  if  this  heating 
be  continued  until  the  piece  shows  an  uniform  color  all  over  its 
surface,  and  until  it  has  been  heated  throughout  to  this  color,  an 
absolute  reading  is  obtained — at  least  absolute  within  the  limits 
of  error  of  the  galvanometer.  In  this  connection  it  should  be 
stated  that  the  Le  Chatelier  pyrometer  is  the  best  practical 
method  of  taking  readings  of  high  temperatures.  That  a  piece 


394  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

has  been  heated  thoroughly  can  only  be  discovered  by  prac- 
tice and  a  knowledge  of  the  heating  capacity  of  the  furnace.  As 
good  a  way  perhaps  as  any  is  to  note  the  time  of  heating  to  a  certain 
indicated  temperature,  then  cool  under  conditions  which  may  be 
duplicated  and  note  time  of  cooling ;  then  heat  to  this  temperature 
again,  soak  for  some  time  and  cool  under  previous  conditions,  and 
if  the  cooling  takes  longer  the  piece  is  heated  more  nearly  uni- 
formly. After  a  few  trials  in  this  way  the  necessary  time  may  bo 
estimated  with  sufficient  accuracy.  It  may  seem  that  this  is  an 
unnecessary  refinement,  but  up  to  the  present  time,  except  in  a 
limited  number  of  grades  of  steel  and  at  a  few  wrorks,  proper  atten- 
tion has  not  been  given  to  the  annealing  of  steel. 

SEC.  XVi. — Definition  of  the  term  "critical  point/' — If  a  piece 
of  steel  containing  over  0.50  per  cent,  of  carbon  be  allowed  to  cool 
slowly  from  a  high  temperature,  certain  peculiar  phenomena  will 
be  noticed.  The  cooling  at  first  proceeds  at  a  uniformly  retarded 
rate,  but  when  a  temperature  of  about  700°  C.  is  reached  there 
is  an  interruption  of  this  regularity.  In  some  cases  the  rate  of 
cooling  may  become  very  slow,  in  other  cases  the  bar  may  not  de- 
crease in  temperature  at  all,  while  in  still  other  cases  the  bar  may 
actually  grow  hotter  for  a  moment  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  is 
free  to  radiate  heat  in  every  direction  and  that  it  has  been  cooling 
regularly  down  to  that  particular  temperature.  Moreover,  it  will 
be  found  that  when  this  "critical  point"  is  passed,  the  bar  cools  as 
before  until  it  reaches  the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere.  It  is, 
of  course,  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  a  bar  will  cool  in 
less  time  from  1000°  C.  to  900°  C.  than  it  will  from  200°  C.  to 
100°  C.  and  the  term  "uniformly  retarded/'  as  above  used,  is  in- 
tended to  cover  this  fact. 

It  is  quite  clear  that  there  must  be  some  change  taking  place 
within  the  metal  itself  giving  rise  to  heat,  and  any  point  at  which 
such  an  action  takes  place  in  any  steel  is  called  a  "critical  point" 
and  in  metallography  such  a  point  is  denoted  by  the  letter  A,  the 
particular  one  just  described  in  which  there  is  a  retardation  in  the 
cooling  of  a  piece  of  steel  being  denoted  by  the  term  Ar.  In  heat- 
ing a  piece  of  steel  through  this  range  of  temperature,  we  naturally 
encounter  an  exactly  opposite  phenomenon,  there  being  an  absorp- 
tion of  heat  by  internal  molecular  reaction,  with  a  consequent 
retardation  in  the  rise  of  temperature,  and  this  point  is  called  Ac. 
It  has  been  shown  by  Prof.  Howe  that  Ac  is  some  30°  C.  higher 


HEAT    TREATMENT. 


395 


than  Ar,  but  it  is  also  found  that  in  order  to  induce  the  change 
Ar  the  steel  must  first  be  heated  past  the  point  Ac.  while  the 
change  at  Ac  cannot  take  place  unless  the  steel  has  first  been 
cooled  to  a  point  below  Ar.  It  is  clear  therefore  that  these  two 
retardations  are  simply  opposite  phases  of  the  same  phenomena. 

The  previous  discussion  has  considered  only  steels  containing  as 
much  as  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  of  carbon  and  mention  has  been 
made  of  only  one  critical  point,  when  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is 
quite  certain  that  there  are  three,  although  it  will  be  shown  later 
that  the  three  points  are  practically  coincident  in  steels  containing 


900' 


850 


.60 


ABSCISSAS  =CARBON  CONTENT 
ORDINATES=TEMPERATURE  CENT. 


.70         .80 


FIG.  XV- A. — VARIATIONS  IN  THE  CRITICAL  POINTS  IN  DIFFERENT 

STEELS. 

over  0.30  per  cent,  of  carbon.  At  one  of  these  points,  recently 
proven  to  be  the  second,  is  the  point  of  magnetic  transformation. 
Below  this  point  carbon  steel  is  attracted  by  a  magnet.  Abo^e  this 
point  it  is  attracted  only  slightly  if  at  all.  It  has  been  before 
explained  that  the  critical  points  are  found  at  a  slightly  different 
temperature  according  to  whether  the  metal  is  being  heated  or 
being  cooled,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  point  of  magnetic  trans- 
formation, which  coincides  with  the  second  critical  point,  will  vary 
in  the  same  way. 

In  soft  steels  these  three  points  are  readily  distinguished,  but  as 


396  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND  STEEL. 

the  carbon  content  is  increased  the  difference  in  temperature  be- 
tween these  points  grows  less  and  less,  until  in  the  harder  steels 
the  variations  are  hardly  beyond  the  limits  of  experimental  error. 
Moreover,  there  are  several  elements  beside  carbon,  like  mangan- 
ese, phosphorus,  etc.,  which  influence  the  location  of  the  critical 
point,  so  that  with  two  steels  of  the  same  carbon  content,  but  with 
varying  manganese,  the  upper  critical  point  of  one  may  be  lower 
than  the  lower  critical  point  of  the  other. 

The  three  critical  points  in  a  cooling  bar  are  distinguished  as 
Ar3,  Ar2,  Ar1?  the  point  Ar3  being  the  one  at  the  highest  tempera- 
ture and  Ar±  at  the  lowest.  In  heating  a  bar  the  same  three  in- 
terruptions take  place  and  the  points  are  designated  Ac1?  Ac2,  Ac;i, 
it  being  understood  that  in  each  case  the  lowest  numerals  Ac±  and 
Arj  refer  to  the  lowest  temperatures,  and  the  highest  numerals 
Ac3  and  Ar3  to  the  highest  temperatures,  and  that  points  bearing 
the  same  exponent  like  Ac±  and  Ar±  represent  practically  the  same 
degree  of  temperature.  In  Fig.  XY-A  is  shown  a  diagram  which 
aims  to  represent  the  variations  in  the  critical  points  for  different 
steels.  The  data  given  by  different  experimenters  vary  consider- 
ably, but  the  heavy  lines  representing  Ar1?  Ar2  and  Ar3  are  found 
by  striking  a  sort  of  average  from  the  available  information.  On 
each  side  of  these  heavy  lines  are  shaded  areas  which  represent  the 
variations  in  the  position  of  the  critical  point  caused  by  differences 
in  the  content  of  manganese,  phosphorus,  etc.  In  the  case  of  the 
soft  steels  the  critical  points  are  so  far  apart  that  the  variations 
caused  by  these  elements  do  not  cause  the  maximum  of  one  point  to 
coincide  with  the  minimum  of  the  one  just  above,  but  as  the  content 
of  carbon  increases,  the  range  between  the  highest  and  lowest  criti- 
cal points  decreases,  while  the  variations  do  not  decrease,  and  as  a 
consequence  the  maxima  and  minima  run  together  so  that  they 
are  indistinguishable. 

The  nature  of  the  change  that  takes  place  at  any  one  of  these 
critical  points  is  not  known,  but  it  is  known  that  at  each  such  point 
there  is  a  great  change  in  the  micro-structure  of  the  steel.  It  is 
known  that  the  structure  of  the  metal  is  quite  different  on  either 
side  of  the  critical  points ;  that  the  forms,  in  which  the  iron  and  its- 
alloyed  constituents  present  themselves,  change  quite  suddenly  at 
certain  definite  points,  and  the  structures  found  under  certain  well 
understood  conditions  are  so  characteristic  that  they  form  the  basis 
of  a  science,  but  it  is  not  known  whether  the  heat  liberated  or  ab- 


HEAT   TREATMENT. 


397 


No.l. 


No.  2. 


No.  3. 


No.  4. 


N  ,.  5. 


No.  6 


No.  7. 


No,  8. 

FIG.  XV-B, 


No.  9 


398 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON"   AND   STEEL. 


No.  10. 


No.  11. 


No.  12. 


No.  13. 


No.  14. 


No.  15. 


No.  16. 


No.  17. 

FIG.  XV-C. 


No.  18. 


HJ2AT    TREATMENT. 


399 


No.  19. 


No.  20. 


No.  21 


No.  22. 


No.  23. 


FIG.  XV-D. 


No.  24. 


400 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


No.  25. 


No.  26. 


No.  27. 


No.  2& 


No.  29.  No.  30. 

FIG.  XV-E. 


HEAT   TREATMENT. 


401 


No.  31. 


No.  32. 


No.  33. 


No.  34. 


No.  35. 


No.  36. 


FIG.  XV-F. 


402 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 


No.  37. 


No.  38 


No.  39. 


No.  40, 


No.  41. 


No.  42. 


No.  43. 


No.  44. 

FIG.  XV-G. 


No.  45. 


HEAT    TREATMENT.  403 

sorbed  at  a  critical  point  is  due  to  the  change  from  one  structure 
to  another,  or  whether  both  the  change  and  the  heat  are  due  to 
some  unknown  molecular  phenomena. 

The  next  section  will  discuss  the  structures  and  forms  which  are 
best  known  and  which  must  be  studied  to  understand  the  effect 
-of  heat  treatment. 

SEC.  XVj. — Definitions  of  the  different  structures  seen  under  the 
microscope. — The  microscopic  examination  of  almost  any  piece  of 
steel  properly  polished  and  etched  will  show  that  it  is  not  entirely 
homogeneous,  but  that  it  is  usually  made  up  of  at  least  two  differ- 
ent forms  of  matter.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  it  is  always  made 
up  of  different  substances,  for  it  is  generally  agreed  that  some  of 
these  forms  are  allotropic,*  the  particular  forms  present  in  any 
one  piece  depending  upon  the  way  in  which  that  piece  has  been 
heated  and  cooled.  Considering  all  variations  in  heat  treatment, 
the  following  forms  will  be  encountered  by  the  investigator:  aus- 
tenite, martensite,  pearlite,  cementite,  ferrite,  trpostite  and  sorbite. 
Austenite  is  produced  only  by  quenching  steel  containing  more  than 
1.30  per  cent,  of  carbon  in  ice  water  from  above  1050°  C.  Its  ap- 
pearance is  intended  to  be  represented  by  the  white  portion  of  No. 
1,  Fig.  XV-B,  but  this  may  be  cementite  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  piece  was  steel  containing  1.40  per  cent,  carbon,  one-quarter 
of  an  inch  thick,  and  was  quenched  in  melting  ice  from  a  dazzling 
heat.  Even  under  these  conditions  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  a 
large  quantity  of  austenite,  sirce  the  tendency  to  revert  to  the  next 
form  is  very  strong  when  the  proper  temperature  is  reached.  The 
theory  of  austenite,  as  well  as  of  martensite,  will  be  taken  up  in 
Section  XVo.  At  about  1050°  C.  a  change  occurs,  and  in  this 
grade  of  steel  quenched  below  th\s  point  and  above  A^  the  second 
form,  martensite,  appears.  This  phase,  together  with  a  certain 
amount  of  cementite  or  of  ferrite,  depending  on  the  carbon  con- 
tent, is  found  in  carbon  steels  containing  less  than  1.30  per  cent, 
of  carbon  quenched  at  any  point  above  Ar1?as  will  be  shown  in  Table 
XV-M.  Martensite  is  the  constituent  which  confers  hardness  on 
steel  and  corresponds  to  the  maximum  hardness  obtainable  by 

*  The  word  "allotropic"  is  used  by  some  of  the  metallographists  to  designate 
the  character  of  the  metallic  aggregates.  This  is  not  strictly  correct,  since 
allotropy  refers  to  unlike  forms  of  the  same  element,  while  the  different  metallic 
aggregates  found  in  microscopical  investigations  of  masses  of  steel  are  not  ele- 
ments and  are  not  of  the  same  composition.  The  term  "phase"  was  introduced 
by  Gibb  and  is  used  later  in  this  discussion. 


404  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

carbon  alone.  It  may  be  compared  to  a  sugar  solution  which  is  more 
or  less  sweet  according  to  the  proportion  of  sugar  present.  Marten- 
site  may  be  easily  recognized  by  its  appearance,  shown  in  Fig.  XV-B 
No.  2.  At  the  upper  critical  point  Ar3,  the  conditions  become  more 
favorable  for  the  production  of  cementite  and  ferrite,  and  variable 
amounts  of  one  or  the  other  are  formed,  depending  on  the  carbon 
content;  at  the  second  critical  point,  Ar2,  no  radical  change  is 
noticeable,  the  only  effect  being  an  increase  in  the  amount  of  ce- 
mentite or  ferrite,  but  at  the  lower  critical  point,  Ar1?  the  marten- 
site  disappears,  and  in  steels  cooled  slowly  to  below  this  temperature 
the  structure  is  composed  entirely  of  ferrite,  or  entirely  of  pearlite, 
or  of  pearlite  mixed  with  ferrite  or  cementite.  Ferrite  is  iron 
free  from  carbon"  and  forms  almost  the  whole  of  a  low  carbon  steel, 
while  cementite  is  considered  to  be  a  compound  of  iron  and  carbon 
denoted  by  the  formula  Fe3C,  the  carbon  of  this  form  being  known 
as  cement  carbon.  Pearlite  is  formed  by  the  structural  union  of 
ferrite  and  cementite  in  definite  proportions,  not  being  a  com- 
pound, but  simply  an  intimate  mixture.  It  appears  in  two  forms, 
granular  and  lamellar,  the  former  being  seen  in  steel  which  has 
been  worked  or  reheated  to  a  low  heat,  while  the  latter  is  found 
only  in  steel  which  has  been  cooled  slowly  through  the  critical 
range.  It  is  to  the  lamellar  variety  that  its  name  is  due,  the  struc- 
ture by  oblique  light  giving  an  effect  like  mother  of  pearl.  In 
addition  to  these  common  forms  there  are  two  others,  troostite  and 
sorbite,  of  which  little  is  known  at  present.  As  steel  cools  through 
the  critical  range,  the  transition  from  martensite  to  one  of  the 
forms  contained  in  unhardened  steel  is  not  abrupt,  but  appears  to 
be  in  two  steps.  Thus  by  quenching  during  this  critical  change  a 
new  condition  will  be  obtained — troostite — and  if  this  quenching 
takes  place  at  the  end  of  the  critical  range  in  cooling,  a  second 
effect  is  noticed,  which  is  called  sorbite.  Quenching  in  lead,  or 
reheating  quenched  steel  to  a  purple  tint  may  also  produce  sorbite, 
and  Osmond  states  that  when  small  pieces  are  cooled  in  air  the 
chilling  is  sufficiently  rapid  to  prevent  the  complete  transformation 
into  ferrite  and  cementite,  some  sorbite  being  formed.  Thus  aus- 
tenite,  martensite  and  troostite  are  found  only  in  steel  quenched  at 
or  above  the  critical  range,  while  ferrite,  cementite,  pearlite  and 
sorbite,  are  characteristic  of  unhardened  steel.  It  is  difficult  to 
develop  troostite  and  sorbite  in  the  process  of  etching  in  such  a  way 
that  they  will  be  clearly  visible  under  the  microscope,  and  it  has 


HEAT    TREATMENT.  405 

already  been  stated  that  the  conditions  of  their  existence  are  uncer- 
tain, so  that  for  practical  purposes  these  two  forms  may  be  neg- 
lected until  their  properties  have  been  further  studied,  and  since 
the  conditions  under  which  austenite  is  formed  are  never  realized 
in  practice,  this  also  may  be  passed  by.  Ferrite  and  cementite 
present  very  nearly  the  same  appearance,  but  they  never  occur  to- 
gether, and  as  they  differ  very  much  in  hardness  it  is  easy  to  dis- 
tinguish them,  for  ferrite  is  pure  iron  and  if  the  point  of  a  needle 
is  drawn  across  it  the  surface  will  be  easily  scratched,  while  cemen- 
tite is  a  compound  of  carbon  and  iron  and  the  point  will  make  very 
little  impression.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  ferrite  is  structure- 
less even  under  the  highest  powers  of  the  microscope. 

Pearlite  is  an  "eutectic  alloy,"  a  term  which  may  possibly  not  be 
familiar  to  all  readers.  An  eutectic  alloy  is  formed  by  the  simul- 
taneous crystallization  of  different  metals  in  a  liquid  mixture,  as 
for  example  a  mixture  of  copper  and  silver.  These  metals  form  an 
alloy  in  the  proportions  of  72%  silver  and  28%  copper  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  770°  C.  (1418°  F.),  and  if  a  melted  mixture  of  these  two 
metals  contain  any  different  proportion  than  this,  and  if  it  be 
allowed  to  cool,  the  element  in  excess  of  this  proportion  crystallizes 
out,  the  crystals  remaining  uniformly  distributed  throughout  the 
molten  mass.  When  the  critical  point  of  770°  C.  is  reached,  the 
alloy  of  72  silver  and  28  copper  becomes  solid,  and  entrains  the 
innumerable  crystals  of  the  excess  element  which  have  separated 
from  the  mother  liquid.  A  little  consideration  will  show  that  under 
the  microscope  the  element  solidifying  first  and  the  eutectic  alloy 
will  occupy  areas  exactly  proportional  to  the  original  constitution. 

In  steel  at  high  temperatures  the  same  conditions  exist  as.  in  the 
mass  of  silver  and  copper  just  described,  save  that  the  elements 
are  in  what  is  called  "solid  solution,"  martensite  at  the  lowest 
critical  point  going  through  a  transition  into  ferrite  and  cementite. 
The  element  in  excess  separates  by  itself,  and  when  the  proper 
relation  has  been  established  the  ferrite  and  cementite  crystallize 
together  in  most  intimate  mixture  to  form  pear  lite.  As  stated  pre- 
viously, the  excess  of  cementite  or  ferrite  begins  to  form  by  itself 
at  the  upper  critical  point,  a  small  amount  being  found  in  steel 
quenched  just  below  this,  and  at  the  second  point  this  amount  is 
increased,  but  this  excess  is  always  small  except  in  the  case  of  low 
carbon  steel. 


406  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

The  foregoing  argument  may  be  summarized  as  stated  by  Sau- 
veur : 

(1).  All  unhardened  steels  are  composed  of  pearlite  alone,  or  of 
pearlite  associated  with  ferrite  or  cementite. 

(2)  Without  taking  into  consideration  austenite  and  troostite, 
hardened  steel  is  composed  of  martensite  alone,  or  of  martensite 
associated  with  ferrite  or  cementite. 

(3)  Ferrite  and  cementite  cannot  exist  together  in  the  same 
piece  of  steel. 

(4)  The  presence  of  the  lamellar  variety  of  pearlite  is  almost 
certain  proof  that  the  steel  has  been  annealed. 

Following  the  proposition  that  ferrite  is  iron  free  from  carbon 
and  that  cementite  is  a  compound  represented  by  the  formula, 
Fe3C,  it  is  evident  that  in  very  low  steels,  say  ranging  from  .02-.10 
carbon,  the  structure  will  be  almost  entirely  ferrite,  and  that  in 
steel  of  2.00  per  cent,  carbon  there  will  be  an  excess  of  cementite. 
There  will  therefore  be  one  point  of  carbon  content  at  which  the 
component  ferrite  and  cementite  will  both  be  satisfied,  which  is  to 
say  that  the  original  proportion  will  be  that  of  the  eutectic  alloy. 
This  occurs  in  a  pure  steel  containing  about  .80  per  cent,  of  car- 
bon, the  micro-structure  of  this  grade  showing  no  ferrite  or  cemen- 
tite. 

Late  investigations  seem  to  prove  that  in  hypereutectic*  steels, 
that  is,  those  containing  more  than  .89  per  cent,  of  carbon,  the 
upper  critical  point,  A3,  follows  the  curve,  SE,  in  Fig.  XV-H. 
This  is  the  point  at  which  cementite  begins  to  form  and,  according 
to  Howe  and  Roberts-Austen,  progressively  separates  out  within 
the  martensite  in  cooling  and  forms  a  network  whose  coarseness  is 
proportional  to  the  temperature  to  which  the  steel  has  been  heated. 
No  break  in  the  cooling  curve  has  been  noticed,  but  the  first  appear- 
ance of  cementite  is  considered  to  mark  the  point,  Ar3,  while  Ar2 
and  Ar!  are  as  given  in  diagram  Fig.  XV-A. 

Tables  taken  from  Prof.  Sauveur  give  results  as  shown  in  Tables 
XV-L  and  XV-M,  the  numerals  being  intended  to  represent  per 
cent,  of  volume,  since  if  a  body  containing  an  infinite  number  of 
particles,  uniformly  distributed,  is  cut  by  a  plane,  the  ratio  of  the 
sum  of  the  small  areas  to  the  total  area  is  equal  to  the  ratio  of  the 
volume  of  the  small  particles  to  the  total  volume.  Theoretically, 
of  course,  this  is  not  true  of  a  mass  of  steel,  but  for  practical  pur- 
poses it  is  correct. 


HEAT    TREATMENT. 


407 


The  different  photographs  in  Fig.  XV-B  represent  the  appear- 
ance of  steels  of  different  carbon  content.  No.  3  is  a  steel  con- 
taining 1.39  per  cent,  of  carbon  and  is  from  a  bar  in  the  condition 
in  which  it  left  the  rolls.  It  shows  a  pearlite  grain  surrounded  by 
walls  of  cementite.  Nos.  4  and  5  represent  lamellar  and  granular 

TABLE  XV-L. 
Theoretical  Micro- Structure  of  Carbon  Steels. 


Carbon 
per  cent. 

Pearlite. 

Fe. 

Cem. 

0 

0 

100 

0 

.10 

12 

88 

0 

.40 

50 

50 

0 

.70 

87 

13 

0 

.80 

100 

0 

0 

1.00 

97 

0 

3 

1.20 

93 

0 

7 

2.50 

71 

0 

29 

TABLE  XV-M. 
Micro- Structural  Composition  of  some.  Quenched  Carbon  Steels. 


Carbon,  per 
cent. 

Quenched  above 
Ars 

Quenched  between 
Ar3  and  Ar2. 

Qvv  nched  between 
Ar2  and  ATI. 

Quenched  below 
Arj  or  slowly  cooled 

Mart.    Fer. 

Cera. 

Mart 

Fer. 

Cem. 

Mart. 

Fer. 

Cem. 

Pearl. 

Fer. 

Cem. 

0.09 

0.21 
0.35 

0.80 
1  20 
2  50 

77         23 

0 

27 

73 

0 

11 

31 
56 

89 

69 
44 

'   0 

0 
0 

10 

23 
50 

.100 
92 

77 

90 

77 
50 

0 
0 
0 

0 

0 
0 

0 
8 
23 

Quenched  above  Ar2. 

Martens!  te. 

Ferrite. 

Cementite. 

100 
100 

0 
0 

0 

0 

Quenched  above  Arx. 

Martensite. 

Ferrite. 

Cementite. 

i-00 
94 

80 

0 
0 
0 

0 
6 
20 

pearlite  respectively.  No.  6  is  a  steel  containing  .67  per  cent,  of 
carbon,  the  appearance  of  which  is  similar  to  No.  3,  but  there  is 
really  quite  a  difference,  in  that  there  is  not  a  sufficient  amount  of 
carbon  to  form  the  eutectic  alloy.  Consequently  there  is  an  excess 
of  ferrite  and  this  forms  the  walls,  whereas  when  the  carbon  ex- 


408  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

ceeds  .89  per  cent,  there  is  an  excess  of  cementite,  which  therefore 
forms  the  walls.  Nos.  7  and  8  contain  very  little  carbon,  No.  8  being 
especially  soft,  showing  almost  no  pearlite. 

Index  of  Micro-Photographs,  Figs.  XY-B  to  G. 

Magnification. 
No.  Diameters. 

1  Austenite    wo 

2  Martensite. 175 

3  Pearlite  with  cementite  walls  C=1.39 75 

4  Lamellar  pearlite   900 

6  Granular  pearlite   900 

6  Pearlite  with  ferrite  walls  C=0.67 75 

7  Mild  steel  C=0.20  showing  ferrite  and  pearlite 75 

8  Ferrite  C=0.03    75 

9  Cold  worked  steel  showing  lines  of  flow  and  in  center  actual  rupture  30 
,10  Nickel  steel  roll,  fracture  in  relief 1 

11  Same  steel  as  No.  10,  polished  and  etched 50 

12  Nickel  steel  roll  shown  in  No.  10,  annealed  at  800°  C 50 

13  Small  piece  of  same  nickel  steel  roll  annealed  three  times  at  850°, 

800°,  750°  C 50 

14  Special   high   carbon   steel,    unannealed 50 

15  Special  high  carbon  steel,  annealed 50 

16  Carbon  steel  casting,  unannealed 20 

17  Same  steel  as  No.  16,  annealed 50 

18  Same  steel  as  No.  16,  annealed  twice 50 

19  75-lb.  T  rail,  center  of  head  ;  broken  in  service 46 

20  75-lb.  T  rail,  center  of  head  ;  broken  in  service 46 

21  85-lb.  T  rail,  center  of  head ;  broken  on  drop  test 46 

22  100-lb.  T  rail,  center  of  head  ;  finished  at  1000°  C 46 

23  85-lb.  T  rail,  center  of  head ;  "hot  rolled" 46 

This  rail  was  one  of  two  from  the  same  ingot  rolled  under  different 

conditions.     See  Section  XVe,  Par.  1  and  2. 

24  85-lb.  T  rail,  center  of  head  ;  "cold  rolled."     See  No.  23 46 

25  107-lb.  girder  rail.  Sec.  228,  P.  S.  Co 44 

26  3  07-lb.  girder  rail,  Sec.  228,  P.  S.  Co 46 

27  90-lb.  girder  rail,  Sec.  200,  P.  S.  Co 48 

28  90-lb.  girder  rail,  Sec.  200,  P.  S.  Co 46 

29  70-lb.  T  rail,  Sec.  237,  P.  S.  Co.,  center  of  head 46 

30  70-lb.  T  rail,  Sec.  237,  near  surface 46 

31  M.  S.  Co.  100-lb.  T  rail,  center  of  head 46 

32  M.   S.  Co.   100-lb.   T  rail,  near  surface 46 

33  M.  S.  Co.  85-lb  T  rail,  near  surface 46 

34  M.  S.  Co.  85-lb.  T  rail,  "hot  rolled."     See  No.  23 4G 

35  M.  S.  Co.  85-lb.  T  rail,  near  surface,  "cold  rolled."     See  No.  23.  .  46 

36  Bessemer  steel,  C=0.45.     Finished  at  490°  to  show  effect  of  cold 

rolling    50 

37  Ingot  structure,  C=0.06 20 

38  Center  of  1"  round,  C=0.06 75 

39  Near  surface  of  same  piece  as  No.  38,  showing  loss  of  carbon  by 

heating 75 

40  Ingot  structure,  C=0.47 20 

41  Bloom  8"x8",  rolled  from  32"x38"  ingot ;  C=.40 75 

42  Billet  2"x2"  hammered  from  bloom  shown  in  No.  41 75 

43  Section  of  a  finished  angle 75 

44  Ingot  structure,  C=1.00 20 

45  1 ''  round  rolled  from  ingot  shown  in  No.  44 „ 50 


HEAT   TREATMENT.  409 

SEC.  XVk. — Effect  of  work  on  the  structure  of  soft  steel  andj 
forging  steel. — Steel  as  usually  cast,  cooling  slowly  from  the  liquid 
state  with  no  work  done  upon  it,  forms  in  crystals  and  shows  in 
general  the  same  structure  throughout.  The  outer  skin  has  a 
structure  different  from  the  rest  of  the  mass,  as  it  cools  quickly  and 
is  under  heavy  strains  as  long  as  any  of  the  metal  is  hot,  and  there 
is  also  an  area  of  abnormal  crystallization  at  the  top  of  the  ingot 
due  to  segregation,  but  the  greater  part  of  an  ingot  is  of  the  same 
general  crystalline  character.  Rolling  tends  to  break  up  this  grain 
and  prevent  further  growth  during  the  process,  but  immediately 
after  cessation  of  work  the  formation  of  grains  begins  and  con- 
tinues until  the  metal  has  cooled  to  the  lower  critical  point.  Hence 
it  is  evident  that  the  lower  the  temperature  to  which  steel  is 
worked  the  more  broken  up  the  structure  will  be,  but  on  the  other 
hand  if  the  rolling  be  continued  below  the  critical  point,  the  effect 
of  cold  work  will  be  shown  and  strains  will  be  set  up  which  will 
make  the  piece  unfit  for  use  without  annealing.  Consequently  it 
is  necessary  to  stop  the  work  somewhat  above  the  critical  point  and 
in  practice  with  large  pieces  it  is  customary  to  finish  some  150°  C. 
to  200°  C.  above  this  point,  since  the  metal  becomes  so  stiff  at  the 
lower  temperature  that  the  wear  and  tear  on  the  rolls  is  excessive. 

In  blooms,  billets  and  such  hard  steels  as  are  to  be  reheated  for 
hardening,  the  need  of  an  extremely  low  finishing  temperature  is 
not  so  evident.  If  the  grain  be  reasonably  fine,  the  metal  is  solid 
and  dense,  and  the  crystallization  of  the  steel  when  put  in  service 
will  be  determined  by  the  final  heat  treatment.  This  will  be  taken 
up  more  in  detail  in  Section  XVm.  It  would  appear  that  the 
smaller  the  piece  the  finer  the  grain,  and  this  arises  partly  from 
the  necessity  of  finishing  a  large  piece  while  the  center  is  still  hot 
and  partly  from  the  slower  rate  of  cooling  of  the  large  piece.  In 
No.  37,  Fig.  XV-G,  is  shown  the  micro-structure  of  a  low-carbon 
ingot  magnified  20  diameters  and  in  Nos.  38  and  39  the  same 
grade  of  steel  rolled  into  I"  rounds  and  magnified  75  diameters. 
These  last  two  are  the  center  and  outside  respectively  of  the  same 
piece  and  show  the  effect  of  a  high  temperature  in  burning  the 
carbon  of  the  steel  near  the  surface.  The  dark  element  in  No.  38 
is  pearlite,  the  light  is  ferrite.  It  will  be  noticed  that  very  little 
pearlite  is  shown  in  No.  39.  This  is  in  accordance  with  the  ex- 
planation in  Section  XVm,  where  it  is  shown  that  if  the  carbon 
were  partly  burned  away  it  would  leave  just  so  much  less  cementite 


410  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

to  mix  with  the  ferrite  to  form  pearlite,  and  consequently  leave 
more  ferrite  free.  In  No.  40  is  shown  the  structure  of  an  ingot 
containing  0.47  per  cent,  of  carbon  magnified  20  diameters.  No. 
41  gives  the  structure  of  an  8"  bloom  rolled  from  a  32"x38"  ingot, 
and  No.  42  a  test  from  the  same  bloom  hammered  to  a  piece  2" 
square.  These  last  two  are  magnified  75  diameters,  and  it  should 
be  noted  that  the  areas  of  the  ingot  structure  shown  in  the  photo- 
graphs are  to  the  areas  of  the  finished  pieces  as  one  to  fourteen. 

Figs.  44  and  45  show  the  structure  of  a  steel  containing  about 
one  per  cent,  of  carbon  before  and  after  rolling,  the  first  being  a 
section  from  a  16"x20"  ingot,  the  latter  a  section  from  a  piece  1"  in 
diameter  cooled  on  the  hot  bed.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  grain  is 
well  broken  up  without  any  sign  of  cold  work,  and  the  bar  is  con- 
sequently'in  very  good  condition  for  the  hardening  and  tempering 
to  which  such  hard  steels  are  usually  subjected.  This  bar  was 
taken  at  random  from  the  hot  bed  at  Steelton. 

If  steel  is  worked  below  the  critical  point,  strains  are  developed 
which  injure  the  metal  and  may  even  rupture  it.  In  No.  9,  Fig. 
XV-B,  is  shown  a  piece  of  forging  steel  magnified  30  diameters. 
This  illustrates  the  distortion  of  cold  work,  and  the  black  line  in 
the  middle  of  the  print  is  a  crack  where  the  tension  became  greater 
than  the  cohesion  of  the  metal. 

SEC.  XY1. — Effect  of  work  upon  the  structure  of  rails. — Nos.  19 
and  20,  in  Fig.  XV-D,  show  the  micro-structure  of  two  rails  which 
broke  in  service.  No  data  are  available  as  to  how  long  they  had 
been  in  use,  but  it  is  probable  that  it  was  only  a  short  time.  No.  21 
is  an  85-lb.  T  rail,  which  broke  under  the  drop  test.  These  three 
fractures,  as  well  as  all  the  other  photographs,  are  selected  not  as 
exceptional,  but  as  representative  of  what  will  usually  be  found  un- 
der similar  conditions.  Fig.  22  is  made  from  a  heavy  rail  section 
finished  at  a  temperature  of  1000°  C.,  and  it  will  be  noticed  that  its 
appearance  is  almost  if  not  quite  the  same  as  that  of  Nos.  19,  20 
and  21.  In  Nos.  23,  24,  34  and  35  are  shown  the  results  of  some 
experiments  performed  by  Mr.  S.  S.  Martin  at  the  works  of  the 
Maryland  Steel  Company  at  Sparrow's  Point.  An  ingot  was  rolled 
into  blooms  and  two  adjacent  blooms  were  rolled  into  rails  without 
further  heating,  the  first  being  held  before  rolling  in  order  to  allow 
it  to  cool  so  that  all  work  should  be  done  at  as  low  a  temperature 
as  possible,  without,  of  course,  reaching  the  lower  critical  point, 
while  the  second  was  rolled  as  quickly  as  possible  through  all  the 


HEAT    TREATMENT.  411 


passes  except  the  last,  but  was  then  held  at  the  finishing  pass 
minutes,  the  result  being  that  both  pieces  went  through  the  finish- 
ing pass  at  the  same  temperature,  which  was  about  750°  C.  I 
will  designate  as  the  "hot-rolled  rail"  the  one  which  was  rolled 
rapidly,  but  which  was  cooled'  down  just  before  the  finishing  pass, 
and  as  the  "cold-rolled  rail"  the  one  which  was  rolled  at  a  lower 
temperature  during  the  whole  operation. 

No.  34  represents  the  micro-structure  of  a  portion  of  the  hot 
rolled  rail  at  a  place  very  near  the  surface  and  No.  35  the  structure 
of  the  cold-rolled  rail  at  a  similar  place.  It  is  evident  that  a 
superficial  examination  of  photographs,  without  any  knowledge  of 
certain  fundamental  conditions,  might  lead  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  two  methods  of  rolling  gave  identical  results,  but  the  testimony 
of  Nos.  23  and  24  proves  quite  the  opposite.  No.  23  is  from  the 
center  of  the  head  of  the  hot-rolled  rail  and  No.  24  from  the  center 
of  the  cold-rolled  rail,  and  it  is  clear  that  there  is  a  radical  and 
fundamental  difference  in  the  results,  the  reason  for  which  is  per- 
fectly clear. 

The  finishing  pass  in  almost  every  set  of  rolls  does  very  little 
work,  for  it  is  unusual  to  have  over  ten  per  cent,  of  reduction  upon 
the  piece,  oftentimes  there  being  much  less,  while  in  all  other  passes, 
save  one  regulating  the  height,  it  is  usual  to  have  from  twice  to 
three  times  as  much.  Consequently  the  effect  of  the  last  pass  does 
not  penetrate  to  any  great  depth.  Such  a  penetration  is  necessary 
if  the  grain  is  to  be  broken  up,  for  the  head  of  a  heavy  rail  offers  a 
thicker  mass  of  metal  than  is  found  in  almost  any  other  structural 
shape,  and  the  very  fact  that  it  is  considered  necessary  to  hold  a 
rail  before  finishing  proves  that  the  grain  needs  to  be  broken.  If 
the  rail  is  at  a  sufficiently  low  temperature  the  grain  will  not  grow 
coarser  as  the  rail  stands,  and  the  rail  might  as  well  be  finished  at 
once;  but  if  it  is  at  a  high  temperature  and  the  grain  is  coarse, 
then  it  will  do  no  good  to  hold  it  before  the  last  pass,  or  to  shower 
it  with  water,  for  this  will  merely  perpetuate  the  coarse  crystalliza- 
tion that  exists.  The  holding  of  the  rail  therefore  before  the  last 
pass  is  a  delusion  ;  it  gives  a  lower  finishing  temperature  and  a  low 
shrinkage,  and  it  renders  possible  a  very  nice  looking  photograph 
from  a  piece  of  the  outside  skin,  but  it  does  not  give  any  of  the 
fundamental  good  qualities  which  should  accompany  such  a  finish- 
ing temperature,  and  which  will  accompany  it  if  the  temperature  of 
the  finishing  pass  is  a  true  exponent  of  the  rolling  conditions.  The 


412  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

attempt  to  estimate  the  structure  of  the  rail  from  the  amount  of 
shrinkage  is  simply  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse;  it  is  much 
like  the  practice  in  vogue  a  few  years  ago  of  rolling  octagon  spring 
steel  and  then  defacing  the  bar  by  hitting  it  with  a  hammer  to 
make  it  resemble  the  bars  turned  out  by  the  tilting  hammer.  This 
tilting  consisted  in  a  rapid  succession  of  blows  continued  during 
the  cooling  of  the  piece  until  a  very  low  temperature  was  reached, 
and  by  this  means  the  crystalline  structure  was  rendered  very  fine 
and  the  steel  was  in  the  very  best  condition.  The  rolls  did  not 
finish  the  bar  as  cold,  nor  did  the  effect  of  rolling  penetrate  as 
thoroughly  as  the  blow  of  the  hammer,  and  this  lack  could  hardly 
be  atoned  for  by  duplicating  an  incidental  accompanying  condi- 
tion. 

There  will  always  be  some  difference  between  the  structure  of  the 
center  of  the  head  of  the  rail  and  the  portion  near  the  surface,  but 
if  the  rail  is  rolled  at  a  proper  temperature  during  the  passes  when 
considerable  work  is  put  upon  the  piece,  this  difference  will  not 
be  serious.  No.  25,  in  Fig.  XV-E,  shows  the  center  of  the  head 
of  a  girder  or  tram  rail  weighing  107  pounds  per  yard,  and  No.  26 
shows  the  surface  of  the  head.  No.  27  shows  the  center  of  the 
head  of  a  90-pound  girder  rail  and  No.  28  the  surface.  No.  29  is 
the  center  of  a  70-pound  T  rail  and  No.  30  the  surface.  All  these 
were  rolled  at  Steelton  on  regular  orders  and  it  will  be  noted  that 
while  there  is  a  difference,  the  structure  of  the  center  is  very  good. 

Fig.  XV-F  shows  the  structure  of  T  rails  rolled  at  Sparrow's 
Point  at  the  works  of  the  Maryland  Steel  Company  and  represents 
the  best  modern  practice.  No.  31  is  the  center  of  a  100-pound  T 
rail  and  No.  32  the  surface;  No.  33  the  center  of  an  85-pound  T 
rails,  these  structures  representing  the  regular  practice  at  the  works. 
Nos.  34  and  35  have  already  been  discussed  as  hot-rolled  and  cold- 
rolled  rails.  No.  36  represents  the  structure  of  a  small  test  bar  of 
rail  steel  which  was  rolled  for  the  purpose  of  this  experiment  as 
cold  as  the  strength  of  the  rolls  would  allow,  the  finishing  tem- 
perature being  490°  C.  (915°  F.),  which  is  considerably  below  the 
critical  point,  as  shown  by  the  lines  of  work  appearing  in  the  photo- 
graph. This  evidently  is  the  finest  structure  obtainable,  and  it  may 
be  used  as  a  standard  by  which  to  estimate  the  condition  of  the 
other  pieces.  All  the  photographs  'in  this  rail  steel  series  are  cross- 
sections  that  are  magnified  forty-six  diameters. 

SEC.  XVm. — Effect  of  heat  treatment  upon  the  structure  of  cast- 


HEAT    TREATMENT.  413 

ings. — It  has  been  proven  by  many  investigators  and  is  generally 
acknowledged  that  in  heating  steel  through  the  lowest  critical  point 
the  crystalline  structure  is  obliterated,  the  metal  assuming  the 
finest  condition  of  which  it  is  capable.  Above  this  point  the  size 
of  the  grain  increases  with  the  temperature.  There  is  a  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  whether  the  increase  in  size  takes  place  during 
the  heating  or  at  the  moment  when  cooling  begins,  but  it  is  un- 
necessary to  determine  this  question,  the  general  proposition  being 
true  that  the  higher  a  piece  of  steel  is  heated  above  this  point  the 
larger  the  grain  becomes. 

At  the  corresponding  point  in  cooling,  the  structure  -  ceases  to 
change,  except  in  very  soft  steel,  as  shown  by  Stead,  and  any  size 
of  grain  is  retained  and  cannot  be  changed  by  heat  treatment  below 
this  point.  There  is,  however,  a  change  from  hardening  to  cement 
carbon,  which  may  take  place  at  comparatively  low  temperatures. 
This  is  the  principle  on  which  the  tempering  of  steel  is  founded, 
quite  a  definite  amount  being  changed  at  temperatures  which  are 
represented  approximately  by  the  color  of  the  bar.  Cement  carbon 
is  that  form  which  confers  the  softest  possible  condition  and  great- 
est ductility,  while  hardening  carbon  gives  the  condition  of  greatest 
hardness.  Hence  the  temper  is  drawn  by  every  rise  in  tempera- 
ture. 

At  the  lowest  critical  point  the  change  from  cement  to  hardening 
carbon  takes  place  almost  instantly,  all  carbon  above  this  tempera- 
ture being  of  the  hardening  variety,  but  the  reverse  change  in  cool- 
ing appears  to  require  a  certain  length  of  time.  This  is  the  ex- 
planation of  hardening  by  quenching,  the  more  rapidly  the  steel  is 
cooled  through  this  point,  the  less  being  the  chance  of  the  carbon 
to  change  its  state.  A  sudden  cooling  in  ice  water  prevents 
any  change,  while  annealing  is  effective  only  in  proportion 
as  the  time  of  exposure  to  this  temperature  was  long  or  short. 
Since  fine  structure  and  cement  carbon  are  the  principal  factors  of 
toughness  and  ductility,  both  of  which  are  the  aim  in  annealing,  it 
would  seem  that  the  best  method  of  tempering  would  be  to  heat  to 
the  lowest  critical  point  and  not  higher,  and  quench  from  this  heat 
and  subsequently  draw  the  temper.  Similarly  the  best  way  of  an- 
nealing, since  the  reverse  change  takes  place  several  degrees  below 
this,  would  be  to  cool  at  once  to  just  above  this  lower  point  and 
allow  several  hours  for  the  metal  to  cool  past  the  critical  tempera- 


414  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

ture,  and  long  enough  from  this  point  to  the  cold  state  to  prevent 
the  setting  up  of  strains  from  too  rapid  cooling. 

Practically,  however,  it  seems  to  be  necessary  to  heat  consider- 
ably above  the  lowest  critical  temperature  in  order  to  insure  the 
thorough  breaking  up  of  the  cell  walls  to  allow  the  enveloping  form 
to  permeate  the  grain.  This  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  changes 
by  which  ferrite  is  formed  attain  their  maximum  effect  only  when 
the  metal  is  subjected  to  a  range  of  temperature  which  includes  the 
three  critical  points.  When  steel  cools  slowly  a  certain  amount  of 
ferrite  forms  at  the  upper  point,  Ar3,  an  additional  amount  at  the 
second  point,  Ar2,  while  the  principal  change  occurs  at  the  lowest 
point,  Arr  Thus  if  the  metal  be  considered  as  a  solid  solution,  it 
may  be  said  that  crystallization  takes  place  at  the  upper  point,  the 
solution  of  martensite  becoming  more  concentrated.  When  the 
steel  is  heated,  as  in  the  case  of  annealing,  the  reverse  phenomenon 
takes  place,  for  at  the  lowest  point  the  grain  is  broken  up,  the  pearl- 
ite  becoming  martensite,  somewhat  diluted  by  the  portion  of  ferrite 
which  it  takes  up.  If  now  the  piece  be  cooled  slowly  without 
further  heating,  the  resulting  structure  will  be  quite  different  from 
the  original.  The  size  of  the  grains  will  be  much  smaller  and  the 
piece  will  therefore  be  in  much  better  physical  condition,  but  there 
will  still  remain  room  for  improvement,  for  throughout  the  mass 
will  be  found  a  certain  proportion  of  ferrite,  corresponding  to  the 
amount  which,  as  already  explained,  is  transformed  at  the  higher 
temperatures  of  Ar2  and  Ar3. 

In  order  therefore  to  thoroughly  disseminate  the  ferrite  and 
encourage  to  the  greatest  extent  the  formation  of  martensite,  it  is 
necessary  to  heat  to  the  upper  critical  point  Ac3.  This  high  tem- 
perature, however,  gives  rise  to  a  somewhat  larger  grain  than  if  the 
lower  critical  point,  Ac1?  had  not  been  exceeded,  so  that  while  there 
is  a  gain  in  the  extent  of  the  transformation,  the  grain  of  the 
resulting  steel  is  coarser  and  there  is  consequently  a  loss  in  strength. 
The  best  result  is  obtained  by  combining  the  two  methods,  the  steel 
being  first  heated  to  the  upper  critical  point,  Ac3,  and  allowed  to 
cool  slowly,  by  which  complete  transformation  is  effected,  and  then 
reheated  just  above  the  lower  critical  point,  Ac1?  by  which  the  grain 
is  rendered  fine  and  all  strains  obliterated.  In  case  two  heatings 
are  out  of  the  question,  it  is  generally  better  to  heat  to  the  upper 
critical  point,  as  it  is  preferable  to  have  a  slightly  larger  grain 
with  a  fine  division  of  the  microscopic  forms,  than  to  have  a  piece 


HEAT    TREATMENT.  415 

of  metal  of  somewhat  finer  grain  but  much  less  homogeneous.  Con- 
siderable care  must  be  exercised  in  heating  pieces  which  are  not  to 
be  machined  after  treatment,  since  at  a  high  temperature  the  carbon 
near  the  surface  of  steel  is  burned  out  to  an  appreciable  depth  by 
the  action  of  the  flame,  unless  the  metal  is  protected  in  some  way 
from  oxidation.  An  effect  of  this  kind  may  be  noticed  under  the 
microscope  with  little  difficulty.  If  the  carbon  has  been  driven  off 
it  follows  that  there  is  less  cementite  left  to  combine  with  ferrite 
to  form  pearlite  when  the  metal  is  cooling  through  the  critical  point. 
Consequently  there  will  be  less  pearlite  formed  in  the  oxidized  sur- 
face than  in  the  remainder  of  the  piece.  This  effect  is  shown  in 
Xos.  38  and  39,  these  being  the  center  and  the  outside  respectively 
of  a  soft  steel  bar. 

In  Xo.  11,  Fig.  XV-C,  is  shown  a  large  pearlite  grain  surrounded 
by  a  thick  wall  of  ferrite.  This  represents  the  micro-structure  of  a 
28-inch  steel  roll  casting  containing  .25  per  cent,  carbon  and  3.5 
per  cent,  nickel,  which  was  put  in  service  unannealed  and  broke 
within  a  few  hours.  In  Xo.  10  is  shown  the  fracture  in  natural 
size,  and  the  photograph  was  made  from  the  broken  specimen  with- 
out any  polishing  or  other  treatment.  It  is  a  striking  illustration 
of  intergranular  weakness,  the  lines  of  rupture  following  almost 
entirely  the  ferrite  envelope  and  leaving  the  individual  grains  in- 
tact. Xo.  12  shows  the  micro-structure  of  this  broken  roll  after 
one  annealing  at  800°,  and  notwithstanding  the  exceedingly  coarse 
structure  of  the  original  casting  the  annealed  micro-structure  is 
quite  fine  and  shows  a  grain  outline  very  much  broken  up.  It  is 
probable  that  a  second  annealing  would  have  almost  obliterated  the 
crystallization,  and  it  would  have  been  interesting  to  carry  this  on 
for  several  more  heat  treatments^  [but  as  this  was  impracticable  a 
piece  was  cut  off  and  heated  successively  to  850°,  800°  and  750° 
Centigrade  and  allowed  to  cool  slowly  with  a  complete  destruction 
of  crystallization  as  shown  in  Xo.  13. 

It  should  be  noted  that  Xo.  11  and  Xo.  12  are  results  obtained 
with  full  size  pieces,  and  not  with  small  tests,  as  is  too  often  the 
case,  under  which  circumstances  the  results  are  not  always  com- 
parable with  the  effect  on  a  large  piece.  The  two  pieces  were  taken 
from  the  same  relative  positions  and  represent,  it  is  believed,  the 
structure  of  the  roll.  The  casting  conditions,  so  far  as  could  be 
determined,  were  normal.  The  annealing  was  effected  at  800°  C. 
as  registered  by  the  pyrometer,  it  being  necessary  to  consider  that 


416  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

this  does  not  always  represent  the  temperature  exactly  unless  the 
"invisible"  condition  is  obtained. 

No.  16  represents  the  micro-structure  of  a  steel  casting  unan- 
nealed,  magnified  20  diameters.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  give 
an  idea  of  the  structure  in  a  small  photograph,  but  the  illustration 
shows  parts  of  three  grains,  and  like  all  the  other  reproductions,  is 
typical.  No.  17  shows  the  same  casting  after  annealing.  The 
picture  is  not  all  it  should  be,  but  by  careful  examination  a  re- 
markably small  grain  may  be  distinguished;  the  areas  of  pearlite 
and  ferrite  are  indicative  of  an  insufficient  breaking  up  of  the 
microscopic  forms.  No.  18  represents  the  casting  after  a  second 
annealing.  No.  14  and  No.  15  show  the  structure  before  and  after 
annealing  of  a  special  high  carbon  casting  used  in  railroad  work 
where  ability  to  withstand  shock  is  of  prime  importance. 
**  As  stated  in  Section  XVi,  the  second  critical  point  is  character- 
ized by  a  loss  of  the  magnetic  properties  in  heating;  this  point  is 
very  easily  determined  by  using  an  electro  magnet,  the  wires  of 
which  are  connected  with  a  sensitive  galvanometer.  The  act  of 
moving  the  magnet  into  and  away  from  contact  with  the  metal 
moves  the  needle  of  the  galvanometer  as  long  as  the  metal  is  mag- 
netic. It  would  seem  as  if  this  should  be  a  good  point  to  agree 
upon  as  the  temperature  to  which  castings  shall  be  heated  for  an- 
nealing. Sufficient  data  are  not  available  to  state  positively  that 
such  treatment  would  give  the  best  results  possible,  but  it  seems 
quite  certain  that  treatment  on  this  line  would  give  good  structure 
and  be  a  great  improvement  on  most  of  the  haphazard  methods  now 
in  use. 

SEC.  XVn. — Effect  of  heat  treatment  on  the  structure  of  rolled 
material. — In  order  to  determine  the  effect  of  heat  treatment  on 
the  structure  of  rolled  material,  tests  were  taken  from  finished 
angles,  the  general  method  of  procedure  being  as  follows : 

A  piece  five  feet  long  was  sheared  from  the  angle  and  cut  into 
five  equal  lengths.  An  ordinary  test  bar  was  taken  from  one  of 
the  legs  of  each  piece  in  the  same  relative  place  and  numbered  from 
1  to  5.  From  each  of  the  extremes  1  and  5  a  section  was  cut  for 
the  microscope  and  the  bars  pulled  in  the  testing  machine  to  prove 
that  the  piece  was  homogeneous.  The  bars,  2,  3  and  4,  were  treated 
in  a  muffle  heated  by  an  electric  coil  at  temperatures  varying  from 
625°  C.  to  890°  C.,  the  temperature  in  all  experiments  being  taken 
by  a  Le  Chatelier  pyrometer.  No  attempt  was  made  to  heat 


HEAT   TREATMENT.  417 

the  pieces  quickly,  as  it  was  intended  to  work  under  normal  con- 
ditions, the  operation  usually  occupying  from  one  to  three  hours. 
The  bars  were  held  at  the  high  temperature  only  long  enough  to 
insure  uniform  heating  and  then  cooled  for  several  hours  to  about 
350°  C.  A  longer  annealing  would  probably  have  given  slightly 
different  physical  results  on  account  of  the  more  nearly  perfect 
elimination  of  strains  and  transformation  to  cement  carbon,  but 
the  difference  would  have  been  slight,  and  as  the  object  was  to 
determine  the  effect  of  heat  on  the  structure  it  was  unnecessary  to 
consider  this  phase  of  the  problem. 

Small  sections  were  cut  from  the  treated  pieces,  as  well  as  from 
the  untreated,  and  were  polished  and  etched.  They  were  invari- 
ably taken  from  the  same  relative  position  and  etched  on  the  surface 
representing  the  cross  section  of  the  angle.  A  great  majority  of 
these  specimens  when  examined  under  the  microscope  showed  well 
denned  structures  similar  to  those  exhibited  in  Nos.  8  and  43.  The 
orientation  was  apparently  the  same  in  both  the  treated  and  the 
untreated  bars,  and  the  size  of  the  grains  did  not  appear  to  be 
affected  by  the  treatment,  although  bars  from  different  heats  showed 
considerable  variation.  It  would  therefore  seem  probable  that  as 
finely  divided  a  grain  can  be  produced  by  rolling  as  by  any  of  the 
usual  annealing  processes,  although  there  is  room  for  further  in- 
vestigation on  this  point. 

SEC.  XVo. — Theories  regarding  the  structure  of  steel. — There 
are  several  theories  now  before  the  scientific  world  to  account  for 
the  hardening  and  the  magnetic  transformations  in  steel  and  the 
phenomena  of  the  so-called  critical  points.  It  would  be  better  per- 
haps to  call  them  hypotheses,  as  they  are  in  each  case  offered  tenta- 
tively and  as  lines  of  thought  on  which  to  base  experimental  re- 
search. It  is  beyond  the  province  of  this  book  to  enter  into  a  full 
discussion  of  these  various  conceptions,  but  it  may  be  well  to  give 
a  brief  summary  of  the  most  prominent. 

The  carbon  theory  considers  that  the  effect  of  hardening  is  due 
entirely  to  a  change  in  the  carbon  contained  in  the  steel.  In  com- 
mon with  the  other  theories,  it  supposes  that  at  temperatures  below 
the  critical  point  the  carbon  is  in  the  state  of  cement  carbon,  com- 
bined with  iron  in  the  proportion  Fe3C.  At  the  lower  critical  point 
a  change  in  carbon  is  supposed  to  occur,  and  since  from  tempera- 
tures above  this  point  carbon  steels  are  hardened  by  sudden  cool- 
ing, the  advocates  of  this  theory  have  devised  the  name  "hardening 


418  METALLURGY   01    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

carbon/'  The  cause  of  evolution  of  heat  at  this  point  in  cooling 
is  considered  to  be  the  change  from  hardening  to  cement  carbon, 
but  no  satisfactory  explanation  is  given  by  this  theory  for  the 
changes  at  the  second  and  third  critical  points. 

The  allotropic  theory  holds  that  the  iron  of  the  steel  is  in  differ- 
ent allotropic  forms  between  the  different  critical  points,  and  that 
below  the  second  critical  point  the  iron  exists  as  alpha  iron,  but 
at  this  point  I  eta  iron  is  formed,  and  at  the  upper  gamma,  the 
carbon  being  diffused  in  the  iron.  The  cause  of  the  evolution  of 
heat  is  explained  by  the  change  from  gamma  to  beta  iron  at  Ar3, 
from  beta  to  alpha  at  Ar2,  while  at.Arx  the  carbon  combines  with 
alpha  iron  to  form  Fe3C.  The  retention  of  a  hard  allotropic  state 
of  iron,  this  retention  being  helped  by  the  presence  of  carbon,  is 
considered  to  be  the  cause  of  hardening. 

The  carbo-allotropic  theory  is  similar  to  the  allotropic  theory, 
except  that  hardening  is  supposed  to  be  due  to  the  retention  by  sud- 
den cooling  of  a  hard  carbide  of  iron. 

The  Phase  Doctrine.  Prof.  Bakhuis-Koozeboom  explains*  the 
detail  of  the  Phase  Doctrine,  a  phase  being  denned  as  a  mass  chem- 
ically or  physically  homogeneous,  or  as  a  mass  of  uniform  concen- 
tration. Thus  he  states  that  a  phase  may  be  liquid  or  solid,  may 
be  an  element  or  a  compound,  or  a  homogeneous  mixture  of  vari- 
able concentration.  Carbon,  alpha,  beta  and  gamma  iron,  liquid 
solutions,  solid  solutions  of  carbon  in  gamma  iron  or  martensite, 
cementite  and  ferrite  are  all  phases,  while  pearlite  is  a  conglomer- 
ate of  phases.  He  gives  a  diagram  shown  in  Fig.  XV-H,  which  is 
intended  to  show  the  critical  changes  of  alloys  of  iron  and  carbon 
containing  different  percentages  of  carbon  at  different  temperatures. 

From  this  it  may  be  seen  that  the  area,  PSTX,  represents  the 
structure  of  slowly  cooled  steels  containing  less  than  .89  per  cent, 
of  carbon,  and  SKLT  the  structure  of  high  carbon  steels  cooled 
slowly.  MOSP  is  the  region  between  Ax  and  A2,  showing  alpha 
iron,  while  GOM  is  that  between  A2  and  A3,  beta  iron.  Above  GOS, 
which  is  the  line  A3  in  Fig.  XV- A,  the  iron  is  in  the  phase  gamma, 
the  micro-structure  being  100%  martensite.  As  shown  by  the 
curve,  SE,  the  higher  the  carbon  in  the  steel  the  higher  the  heat 
needed  to  prevent  the  separation  of  cementite.  Thus  m  in  a  1.00 
C  steel  is  the  temperature  necessary  to  hold  in  solution  the  excess 

*  Zeitschrift  fur  Physikalische  Chemie,  Vol.  XXXIV,  1900.  1.  and  S.  Inst., 
September,  1900. 


HEAT  TREATMENT. 


419 


of  cementite.  At  about  1050°  C.,  however,  cementite  as  such  dis- 
appears even  in  high  carbon  steels  and  the  carbon  is  considered  as 
being  in  solution  in  gamma  iron.  This  is  the  point  above  which 
it  is  necessary  to  heat  in  order  to  obtain  austenite,  from  which  it  is 
argued  that  austenite  is  carbon  dissolved  in  gamma  iron. 


1600° 
1500 
I400r 
1300 
1200° 

nooc 

1000° 
900C 
800° 

600° 

1                      2 

3456 

^s/1    1 

^xxj 

Ca 

rbon  I 

>er  Ce! 

it 

D 

\ 

\N 

N, 

q 

^ 

/ 

- 

\ 

"S 

. 

Liquid 

/ 

X 

> 

Liquid 

v^ 

,s 

^ 

U 

/ 

+  G 

liquid 
raphit 

e 

\^-  Martens! 

e 

7 

3 

{ 

^ 

*^B, 

/ 

V 

C 

\ 

^^*s 

_-1B-*. 

Martt 

nsite 

2 

>?. 

Martensite  + 

^ 

*&'' 

X'           ^/ 

F' 

Graphite 

G 

/ 

' 

Marte 

nsite^ 

Ceine 

ntite 

. 

? 

H 

o 

V 

/m 

0 

9 
d; 

pa 

V 

/ 

•J 

1 

, 

| 

<* 
Q 

FQI-T 

ite  + 

Pearl 

ite+C 

jment 

te 

o" 

Pearlite 

N 

7 

L 

It 

FIG.  XV-H. — GRAPHICAL  KEPRESENTATION  OF  THE  PHASE 
DOCTRINE. 

Martensite  is  considered  as  a  solution  of  Fe3C  in  allotropic  iron, 
being  a  saturated  solution  in  steel  containing  about  .89  per  cent, 
carbon. 

Prof.  Arnold  has  disputed  the  allotropic  theory  in  several  articles 
nnd  has  evolved  an  hypothesis  of  his  own  which  he  calls  the  "sub- 
carbide  theory/'  on  the  supposition  that  hardening  is  due  to  the, 
retention  of  a  hard  sub-carbide  of  iron  Fe24C. 

These  theories  will  be  found  thoroughly  considered  in  the  vol- 
umes of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  of  the  past  few  years.  Enough 
is  given  here  to  show  the  variety  of  ideas,  all  of  which  have  their 
strong  and  their  weak  points. 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 

SEC.  XVIa. — Differences  in  physical  properties  between  the  sur- 
face and  the  interior  of  worked  steel. — The  first  question  that 
arises  in  the  inspection  of  steel  is  the  manner  in  which  the  test- 
piece  shall  be  taken.  In  former  days  it  was  the  custom  to  care- 
fully plane  or  turn  a  piece  to  a  standard  size,  with  a  certain  length 
between  shoulders  and  a  certain  radius  for  the  terminal  fillets; 
but  this  method  is  both  tedious  and  expensive  with  no  correspond- 
ing advantages.  It  is  still  used  in  steel  castings,  for  it  is  im- 
possible to  cast  a  bar  of  sufficiently  accurate  section  to  be  fit  for  a 
tensile  test,  and  it  is  also  used  in  the  case  of  forgings  where  the 
piece  is  too  large  to  be  broken  in  full  section,  and  when  it  is  deemed 
advisable  to  carve  a  piece  from  the  finished  material.  In  all  other 
work  the  test  is  either  a  part  of  the  finished  bar,  as  in  the  case  of 
small  rounds  and  flats,  or  is  cut  from  the  member,  as  in  the  case 
of  angles,  channels,  etc.,  with  two  sides  of  the  piece  in  the  condi- 
tion in  which  they  left  the  rolls.  A  sufficient  length  is  taken  to 
allow  about  10  inches  between  jaws,  and  the  readings  are  made  on 
an  8-inch  length  which  is  defined  by  marks  of  a  center-punch. 

A  machined  piece  is  generally  inferior  to  a  bar  as  it  leaves  the 
rolls.  It  is  true  that  Table  XIV-J  shows  no  gain  in  ductility  from 
continued  stretching  or  polishing  of  the  skin,  but  this  is  an  entirely 
different  matter  from  the  full  compression  which  the  outer  surface 
of  a  bar  receives  in  the  last  pass.  In  a  series  of  tests  made  at 
Chester,  Pa,,  by  the  United  States  Government*  in  1885,  the  ma- 
chine was  not  powerful  enough  to"  pull  a  seven-eighth-inch  round,  so 
that  rods  of  this  size  were  turned  down  to  three-quarter-inch  in 
diameter.  The  comparative  results  are  given  in  Table  XVI-Ar 
the  figures  in  each  case  representing  the  average  of  14  heats  which 
were  tested  in  both  diameters. 

*  Report  of  the  Naval  Advisory  Board  on  the  Mild  Steel  used  In  the  Construc- 
tion of  the  Dolphin,  Atlanta,  Boston  and  Chicago;  1885,  pp.  81,  82. 

420 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 

TABLE  XVI-A. 


421 


Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  94-inch  Rolled  Rounds  in  their 
Natural  State,  and  %-inch  Rounds  of  the  Same  Heats  Turned 
Down  to  %-inch. 


Condition  of  bar. 

Ult.  strength  ; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation  in 
8  inches; 
percent. 

Reduction 
of  area; 
per  cent. 

|4  inch  natural,                    
J|  inch  turned  to  34  inch,    

65764 
66088 

27.53 
25.30 

42.7 
42.0 

The  pieces  cut  from  the  seven-eighth-inch  bar  are  evidently  in- 
ferior to  the  three-quarter-inch  tests,  although  it  will  be  shown  in 
Table  XVI-K  that  the  larger  bar  should  give  the  better  elongation. 
It  is  probable  that  the  inferiority  is  due  to  the  removal  of  the  best 
part  of  the  piece  in  the  operation  of  turning.  This  phenomenon 
is  more  marked  in  larger  sizes,  as  will  be  shown  by  Table  XVI-B, 
which  gives  the  results  on  bars  cut  from  forged  bridge-pins. 


TABLE  XVI-B. 

Physical  Properties  of  Test-Pieces  %-inch  in  Diameter,  cut 

Forged  Rounds. 

Size  of  Ingot,  18x20  inches.    Pennsylvania  Steel  Company,  1893. 


from 


•rt 

. 

-2 

2 

T 

«M 

ff 

.^ 

oe 

d 

! 

1 

S 

In 

Place  from  which  test  was  taken. 

to  p, 

11 

§J 

aj 

"3 

V    ' 

•^  »rt 

2  CH 

o  d 

«'a 

fi  &  ~ 

-1^ 

to 

i? 

•2*3 

fcs 

B    S"y 

IH 

S  tc 

"«  d 

S2 

S    §-^ 

5  ft5 

5  ft 

"»  ft 

5  o 

P 

K 

H 

03 

i 

Bin. 

At  a  depth  of  1  inch  from  outside. 
At  a  depth  of  2  inches  from  outside. 
The  central  axis. 

62720 
58100 
58100 

82870 
29170 
81490 

21.50 
22.25 
20.25 

40.4 
87.5 
84.1 

52.4 
50.2 
54.2 

10  in. 

At  a  depth  of  1  inch  from  outside. 
At  a  depth  of  2^  inches  from  outside. 
The  central  axis. 

66070 
62750 
60900 

87080 
85670 
82140 

19.50 
18.00 
19.50 

33.9 
82.7 

23.8 

56.1 
56.8 
52.8 

Preliminary  test  of  same  heat  from  6  in.  ingot 


I     42250  I     26.25   I     41.7     I    66.1 


SEC.  XVIb. — Physical  properties  of  strips  cut  from  eye-bar  flats. 
— Similar  differences  will  be  found  if  test-pieces  be  cut  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  rolled  bars  such  as  are  used  for  making  eye-bars. 
This  will  be  illustrated  by  Table  XVI-C. 

These  results  display  considerable  uniformity  in  the  higher 
strength  of  the  test  bars  which  were  rolled  from  the  large  ingot, 


422 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


but  the  number  of  specimens  is  not  sufficient  to  fully  establish  the 
fact.  Such  a  comparison  is  often  invalidated  by  certain  unknown 
factors,  for  if  the  test  bar  be  finished  hot  and  the  "flat"  cold,  the 
relation  may  be  reversed.  Table  XVI-D  shows  the  comparative 
results  on  nine  heats  of  steel  made  at  one  of  our  large  steel  works, 
and  will  illustrate  how  widely  the  preliminary  test  may  differ  from 
the  finished  bar  in  individual  cases,  while  the  average  of  the  two 
is  nearly  the  same.  In  the  light  of  such  facts  it  seems  absurd  to 
reject  a  heat  of  steel  because  the  preliminary  test  falls  a  few  hun- 
dred pounds  below  an  arbitrary  standard. 

TABLE  XVI-C. 

Physical  Properties  of  Test-Pieces  of  Different  Section  Cut  from 
Boiled  Flats,  together  with  the  Results  on  %-inch  Rounds 
of-the  Same  Heats  Rolled  from  a  14-inch  Square  Ingot. 


1.1  =  edge  of  bar;  2,  2=%-inch  rounds  cut  on  a  machine;  3  =  center  of  bar;  4— 
inch  round  rolled  from  an  ingot. 


p. 

5    '«1  •- 

91 

a.-& 

G 

* 

J3 

H        "^TJ"© 

o3 

•"•<    S'S 

oog 

fi 

«tH 

0 

ljfl|s| 

O 

A 

•OP, 

»H    3 

f^-2 

H* 

iii 

5S| 

fccftfl 

®«® 

||| 

o 

!«• 

~A 

<M 

0 

gl 

2 

111 

|2 

is 

C-S 

**,§ 
g^? 

in 

5e§ 

rcg§ 

^ai- 

III 

°s 

11 

M^ 

ofl 

ss 

3  ** 
^  <D 
tj;  ^ 

ft 

ft 

fit 

K 

H 

H 

n 

i 

57450 

&5085 

61.1 

28.50 

51.97 

55000 

2 

57095 

31575 

55.3 

27.87 

54.43 

3 

56990 

^3185- 

58.2 

25.13 

48.89 

60000 

4 

59463 

43489 

73.1 

27.90 

63.01 

II 

60000 
to 
65000 

6 

2 
3 

4 

61586 
60712 
60370 
64461 

36677 
34572 
34512 
43872 

59.6 
56.9 
57.2 
68.1 

26.78 
26.82 
26.66 
26.17 

48.60 
53.22 
44.36 
50.67 

III 

70000 
to 
75000 

3 

1 
2 
3 
4 

63816 
64430 
62955 
70541 

38938 
35940 
87892 
47045 

61.2 
55.8 
60.2 
66.7 

26.72 
27.37 
26.38 
24.51 

51.02 
54.43 
46.69 
49.96 

SEC.  XVIc. — Comparison  of  longitudinal  and  transverse  test- 
pieces  from  sheared  plates. — Striking  differences  may  also  be 
found  between  strips  cut  lengthwise  from  a  plate  and  those  cut 
crosswise.  In  steel  imperfectly  worked  the  variation  is  very 
marked.  Mr.  A.  E.  Hunt,  whose  opinion  is  .entitled  to  great 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 


423 


weight,  states  in  a  private  communication  that  "in  plates  up  to  30 
inches  wide  there  is  ordinarily  a  difference  of  10  per  cent,  in  tensile 
strength,  and  even  up  to  20  or  25  per  cent,  in  ductility  in  favor 
of  pieces  cut  with  the  grain.  In  wide  plates  the  difference  is  not 
as  marked  on  account  of  the  effect  of  the  cross-rolling." 

I  believe  that  these  differences  will  be  less  in  plates  rolled  from 
a  slab  than  in  those  made  directly  from  an  ingot.  In  any  event,  it 
is  quite  certain  that  plates  can  be  made  by  the  first  method  which 
exhibit  practically  the  same  properties  in  both  directions. 

TABLE  XVI-D. 

Comparison  of  Strips  Cut  from  Eye-Bar  Flats  with  the  Prelimi- 
nary Test. 


Preliminary  test;  %-inch  rolled 
round;  natural. 

Longitudinal  strip;  cut  near  edge 
of  eye-bar  ;  natural. 

,-G 

§a 

^Sf 

oci 

cS 

u 

a 

00® 

| 

1 

Ill 

Is 

aS, 

'o 

"2  . 

||| 

*s  Q 

d| 

<3 

I. 

1 

•^  02  "^ 

O>   M 

O 

*s 

%ti 

3«*i 

<D  as 

3  •- 

g-g 

23 

g 

49 

1 

•2*£ 

{d 

sl-g 

sal 

|| 

s  « 

o  o 

£§ 

i& 

III 
ill 

III 

S  A3 

bod 

a  o 

Oti 

II 

SS 

11 

n 

£ 

(3 

PS 

w 

H 

H 

PH 

s 

i 

42220 

71820 

26.25 

53.47 

58.8 

40710 

68830 

27.00 

47.18 

59.1 

2 

41900 

66440 

28.25 

58.96 

63.1 

41570 

71400 

26.25 

50.08 

58.2 

8 

41330 

69760 

25.00 

52.94 

59.3 

39780 

69460 

25.75 

44.31 

57.8 

4 

42440 

73640 

25.00 

55.86 

57.6 

40880 

69400 

25.00 

48.41 

58.9 

5 

41880 

74470 

26.25 

53.37 

56.2 

41480 

72320 

24.50 

46.78 

57.4 

6 

43570 

72720 

24.50 

54.48 

59.9 

41310 

73640 

23.75 

36.54 

56.1 

7 

43210 

70240 

27  .,50 

58.21 

61.5 

40370 

72060 

25.60 

40.00 

56.0 

8 

41890 

68640 

25.00 

56.09 

61.0 

41900 

76700 

25.75 

43.76 

54.6 

9 

42020 

69390 

28.75 

57.14 

60.6 

41070 

69680 

27.00 

44.33 

589 

Av. 

42273  1     70791 

26.28 

55.61 

59.7 

41008 

71499 

25.62  ; 

44.60 

57.4 

This  will  be  shown  by  Table  XVI-E,  which  gives  the  averages 
of  100  plates  which  were  rolled  from  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company 
slabs  by  the  Central  Iron  and  Steel  Company,  Harrisburg,  Pa.  The 
total  number  of  plates  rolled  on  the  order  was  104;  of  these,  one 
was  rejected  on  account  of  gauge,  and  three  on  account  of  tensile 
strength.  No  plate  was  thrown  out  for  deficient  ductility,  although 
an  elongation  of  25  per  cent,  in  8  inches  was  required  in  both 
longitudinal  and  transverse  strips,  both  these  tests  being  made  on 
each  separate  plate.  The  thickness  of  the  plates  varied  from  one- 
half-inch  to  three-quarter-inch,  and  the  width  from  52  inches  to 
87  inches.  The  steel  was  basic  open-hearth,  with  an  average  com- 


424 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


position  as  follows:    Carbon,  0.17  per  cent.;  phosphorus,  0.014  per 
cent.;  manganese,  0.37  per  cent.;  sulphur,  0.027  per  cent. 

TABLE  XVI-E. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Longitudinal  and  Transverse 
Strips  from  Sheared  Plates,  rolled  by  the  Central  Iron  and 
Steel  Company,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  from  Pennsylvania  Steel 
Company  Slabs. 

Composition,  per  cent. :  C,0.17;  P,  .014;  Mn,  u.37;  S,  .027. 


Average  of  100  plates. 

Longitudinal. 

Transverse, 

Ultimate  strength;  pounds  per  square  inch   .  . 
Elastic  limit;  pounds  per  square  inch  

66960 
33350 

54540 
82260 

Elongation  in  8  inches'  per  cent 

27.46 

27.90 

Reduction  of  area;  percent  

51.07 

50.87 

1  SEC.  XVId. — Comparative  physical  properties  of  parallel-sided 
and  grooved  test-pieces. — The  United  States  Treasury  Department 
prescribed  the  grooved  test  on  marine  boiler  steels  up  to  the  year 
1895,  but  it  is  well  known  to  be  entirely  misleading,  and  the  present 
regulations  call  for  a  piece  with  parallel  sides.  The  relation  exist- 
ing between  the  two  different  systems  is  shown  in  Table  XVI-F, 
which  gives  the  results  obtained  by  The  Lukens  Iron  and  Steel 
Company,  Coatesville,  Pa.,  from  duplicate  strips  cut  side  by  side 
from  the  same  plate.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  A.  F.  Huston,  first 
vice-president  of  the  company,  for  permission  to  use  these  records. 

TABLE  XVI-F. 

Comparative  Ultimate  Strength  of  the  Same  Steel  in  Parallel  and 
Grooved  (Marine)  Sections. 


ill 

III 

Average  ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per  square  inch. 

Reduction  of  area. 

g*S 

3  ft  ® 
fc 

Grooved. 

Parallel. 

Difference. 

Grooved. 

Parallel. 

1 

4 

65600 

53100 

12500 

52.0 

58.0 

} 

6 
5 
4 
8 

62700 
60900 
61300 
60600 

52800 
51400 
53500 
54100 

9900 
9500 
7800 
6500 

51.4 
und. 
61.7 
60.0 

64.5 
63.2 
65.2 
66.5 

SEC.  XVIe. — Effect  of  shoulders  at  the  ends  of  test-pieces  on  the 
physical  properties. — The  flow  of  force,  by  which  the  tensile  tests 
on  the  grooved  section  are  rendered  almost  worthless,  occurs  also 


THE    HISTORY    AND   SHAPE    OF   THE   TEST-PIECE. 


425 


in  2-inch  test-pieces  when  there  are  shoulders  at  each  end.  The 
difference  is  very  much  less,  but  I  believe  its  existence  will  be 
shown  by  the  following  records.  At  a  certain  works  it  was  the 
custom  to  cut  two  tests  from  one  plate  of  each  heat  and  pull  one 
piece  in  a  section  2  inches  long  and  1^  inches  wide,  with  shoulders 
on  each  end,  while  the  other  piece  was  pulled  in  a  parallel-sided 
section  8  inches  long  and  3  inches  wide.  Table  XVI-G  gives  the 
results  found  by  averaging  the  records  of  the  two  kinds  of  tests. 

TABLE  XVI-G. 

Comparison  of  the  Ultimate  Strength  of  2-inch  Tests  with  Should- 
ers, and  8-inch  Parallel-Sided  Tests,  the  Two  Pieces  being 
Almost  Always  Cut  Side  by  Side  from  the  Same  Plate. 

All  plates  were  rolled  direct  from  the  ingot  at  one  heat. 


Relation  of  ultimate 
strength  of  2-inch 
and  8-inch  test- 
pieces. 

Difference  in  ultimate 
strength  between 
2-inch  and  8-inch 
test-pieces;  pounds 
per  square  inch. 

Ultimate  strength; 
50000  to  58000  pounds 
per  square  inch; 
below  .04  per  cent, 
phosphorus. 

Ultimate  strength  ; 
58000  to  64000  pounds 
per  square  inch  ; 
below  .04  per  cent, 
phosphorus. 

Total  heats. 

** 

$2 
^ 

\ff»  . 
^J 

^1 

^ 

*J 

c  « 
^2 

*r 

*J 

sl 

^ 

** 

» 

*J 

0.2 

~3 

*r 

2  inch  gave 
less  strength 
than  the 
8  inch. 

less  than  1000 
bet.  1000  and  2000 
bet.  2000  and  3000 
bet.  3000  and  4000 
bet.  4000  and  5000 
over  5000 

6 
8 

1 
1 

10 
4 
3 

'2 

3 

'l    ' 

3 

I 

3 

:  ..  : 

34 
11 
10 
7 
3 
6 

3 

.... 

Total 

11 

19 

6 

14 

16 

5 

71 

2  inch  gave 
more  str'ngth 
than  the 
8  inch. 

less  than  1000 
bet.  1000  and  2000 
bet.  2000  and  3000 
bet.  8000  and  4000 
bet.  4000  and  5000 
over  5000 

23 
23 
15 
4 
5 
2 

28 
86 
15 
13 
5 
15 

4 

,     4 
3 
5 
2 
2 

2 

8 
8 
3 

'l 

7 
16 
8 
8 
2 
2 

4 

6 
4 

'  *2    ' 
1 

68 
93 
53 
28 
16 
23 

I    Total 

72 

112      |      20 

22 

38 

17      |281 

It  will  be  a  revelation  to  some  engineers  that  such  wide  vari- 
ations can  exist  in  plates,  but  it  will  be  evident  that  they  are  more 
apt  to  occur  in  plates  rolled  directly  from  an  ingot  than  in  those 
made  from  a  slab.  The  records  show  that  in  only  71  plates  did 
the  2-inch  test  show  less  tensile  strength  than  the  8-inch,  and  in 
half  of  these  cases  the  difference  was  less  than  1000  pounds;  on 
the  other  hand  there  were  281  cases  where  the  2-inch  test  showed 
greater  strength,  and  the  differences  are  more  marked,  the  largest 
group  showing  an  increase  of  from  1000  to  2000  pounds.  It  will 


426 


METALLURGY    OF    IROX    AND   STEEL. 


be  shown  by  Table  XVI-L  that  the  width  of  the  piece  has  very  little 
effect  upon  the  strength,  so  that  these  records  give  evidence  of  the 
reinforcement  of  the  2-inch  test  from  the  shoulders  at  the  ends. 

SEC.  XVIf. — Use  of  the  preliminary  test-piece  as  a  standard. — 
Granting  that  the  test  is  to  be  made  on  a  parallel-sided  piece,  and 
knowing  also,  as  proven  in  Section  XlVe,  that  the  results  on  differ- 
ent-sized bars  will  be  practically  uniform  as  long  as  they  are  made 
from  a  large  ingot  and  bloom,  it  has  been  proposed  that  the  steel 
be  tested  by  making  what  is  known  as  a  "preliminary  test,"  by 
which  is  meant  a  trial  bar,  either  round  or  flat,  rolled  from  a  small 
ingot.  Mr.  A.  E.  Hunt  formerly*  advocated  this  system,  but 
afterward  f  changed  his  opinion. 

TABLE  XVI-H. 

Comparison  of  Strips,  cut  from  Angles,  with  the  Preliminary 

Test. 


1 

,3  S 

d 

i 

a 

.,» 

C^ 

00 

d 

® 

• 

m 

«t*  a} 

-t  « 

•^ 

0 

History  of  test-piece. 

g® 

S  w 

x  p. 

•2n* 

•C  of 

s-2  . 

s  ® 

O  0> 

s  §•§ 

ss-g 

a  »- 

o  o 

^  ~ 

6  o3 

^  p^ 

£& 

aj  p, 

jj 

H 

t3 

H 

P3 

Cut  from  TVinch  and  f-inch  angles  .... 
Rolled  from  6-inch  test  ingot  .  . 

39 
39 

41J300 
42270 

60190 
60200 

28.89 
26.44 

68.0 
424 

Cut  from  T7B-inch  and  i-inch  angles  .... 
Rolled  from  6-inch  test  ingot  

46 

46 

40170 
43070 

60660 
61360 

29.05 
25.01 

56.4 
40.0 

Cut  from  ^g-inch  and  f-inch  angles  .... 
Rolled  from  6-inch  test  ingot  

37 
37 

39710 
42990 

61520 
62930 

28.96 
23.10 

53.6 
88.2 

It  is  the  custom  at  Steelton  to  make  such  a  preliminary  test  on 
every  charge,  but  this  is  done  merely  to  classify  the  metal.  If 
the  bar  is  rolled  under  proper  conditions,  its  ultimate  strength  rep- 
resents the  ultimate  strength  of  the  finished  material,  and  without 
regard  to  any  results  on  elongation  or  other  qualities,  the  steel  is 
used  or  laid  aside. 

We  are  perfectly  willing  that  the  inspectors  should  see  all  the 
results,  but  we  claim  that  these  records  have  nothing  to  do  with 

*  The  Inspection  of  Materials  of  Construction  in  the  United  States.  Journal 
I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1890,  p.  316. 

t  See  discussion  of  my  paper  on  Specifications  for  Structural  Steel.  Trans. 
Amer.  Soc.  Civil  Eng.,  April,  1895. 


THE   HISTORY   AND   SHAPE   OF   THE   TEST-PIECE.  427 

the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  material.  In  other  words,  this 
test  is  our  own  work,  while  the  business  of  the  inspector  is  to  test 
the  material  that  he  buys  as  fully  and  carefully  as  he  may  wish, 
\vithout  regard  to  whether  a  small  test  ingot  has  or  has  not  fulfilled 
certain  requirements,  or  whether  it  has  been  made  at  all. 

Our  experience  in  comparing  results  from  the  preliminary  test 
with  those  from  the  finished  material,  differs  radically  from  that 
recorded  by  Mr.  Hunt,*  although  we  agree  on  the  important  point 
that  the  ultimate  strength  remains  nearly  constant.  Table  XVI-H 
compares  the  data  obtained  from  a  large  number  of  charges  of  acid 
open-hearth  steel  having  a  tensile  strength  between  56,000  and 
64,000  pounds  per  square  inch.  They  were  all  rolled  into  angles 
and  the  charges  are  grouped  according  to  the  thickness  of  the  fin- 
ished material. 

The  great  inferiority  of  the  tests  from  the  6-inch  ingot  is  easily 
explained.  It  is  very  difficult  to  cast  small  ingots  so  that  they 
will  not  be  scrappy,  and  the  bars  rolled  from  them  will  oftentimes 
contain  flaws;  consequently  we  break  down  the  ingot  to  a  billet 
two  inches  square  and  chip  out  the  flaws,  after  which  the  piece 
is  reheated  and  gives  a  perfect  bar.  It  does  not  receive  sufficient 
work  to  ensure  good  elongation,  but  this  is  of  no  consequence,  for 
it  is  only  the  strength  of  the  material  which  is  under  investigation, 
and  in  this  respect  the  results  are  found  to  be  strictly  comparable 
with  the  finished  material. 

SEC.  XVIg. — Comparative  physical  properties  of  rounds  and 
ftats. — It  has  been  mentioned  that  the  properties  of  a  flat  bar  are 
different  from  those  of  a  round,  and  it  will  not  be  unprofitable  to 
investigate  the  relation. 

The  points  involved  are  three : 

(1)  The  percentage  of  work  on  the  piece. 

(2)  The  finishing  temperature. 

(3)  The  shape  of  the  piece. 

(1)  The  amount  of  reduction  from  the  bloom  or  ingot  should 
not  play  too  great  a  part  in  the  problem,  for  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
manufacturer  to  so  conduct  the  operation  that  every  piece,  no 
matter  how  large,  shall  have  sufficient  work.  But  it  must  be  con- 
sidered that  a  large  section,  a  9-inch  round  for  example,  cannot 
possibly  be  finished  under  the  same  thorough  and  permeative  com- 

*  Loc.  eft. 


428 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


pression  that  can  be  put  upon  a  bar  only  one  inch  in  diameter  or 
upon  a  thin  flat. 

(2)  It  is  the  business  of  the  rolling  mill  to  so  arrange  that  every 
piece  is  rolled  at  a  proper  temperature,  but  it  will  be  recognized  as 
ITP practicable  to  finish  bars  of  all  diameters  and  thicknesses  under 
identically  the  same  conditions. 

(3)  The  shape  of  the  test-piece  has  an  influence  upon  the  nature 
of  the  results,  but  it  is  often  difficult  to  isolate  this  relation  from 
the  effect  of  work  and  finishing  temperature. 


Same  bars  annealed. 


S3 


Natural  bars. 


Oa   Oa 
'®'a> 

WOO       MIX 
CC        —  X 


rrss 

ii 


oa 

"     CD 

WW 
oa 


oa 
•  ® 

WI 
• 


oa 
•  <t> 
—  / 
ns 


28 


oa 


85 


ss 


Limits  of 
ultimate 
strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch, 


Kind  of  steel. 


No.  of  heats 
in  average. 


II 


p  O  p 

ifiS 


»  XO 

gil 


ill 


Wp 

S£ 

o  5" 


I 


«» 


CD 


III' 

S  CD  tr1 


to 
H 

0*0 

i 

I 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 


429 


The  separation  of  these  three  intertwining  influences  is  a  com- 
plicated problem,  the  nature  of  which  will  be  illustrated  by  Table 
XVI-I,  which  gives  the  results  obtained  from  a  large  number  of 
heats  by  cutting  two  billets  from  the  same  ingot  and  rolling  one 
into  a  round  and  the  other  into  a  flat. 

All  the  lessons  of  this  table  are  not  written  on  its  face,  but  an 
examination  discloses  the  following  facts : 

(1)  Taking  into  consideration  both  natural  and  annealed  bars, 
there  are  18  comparisons  between  rounds  and  flats.  The  ultimate 
strength. is  less  in  the  flat  in  every  case.  The  elastic  limit  falls  in 
17  cases,  and  the  gain  in  the  exception  is  slight.  The  elongation  is 
raised  in  16  cases,  while  in  the  two  exceptions  the  loss  is  small. 
The  reduction  of  area  is  lowered  in  14  cases  and  raised  in  four. 
The  elastic  ratio  is  lowered  in  15  cases,  while  in  the  exceptions  the 
increase  is  small. 

TABLE  XVI-J. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Bound  and  Flat  Bars  in  the 
Natural  and  Annealed  States. 


Average  of  all  heats  given  in  Table  XVI-I 

Condition 
of  bar. 

Shape  of  bar. 

Gain=+ 

Round 

Flat 

in  flat. 

Ultimate  strength;  pounds  per  square 
inch, 

Natural 
Annealed 

66679 
62015 

65911 
59567 

—768 
—2448 

Elastic  limit  ;  pounds  per  square  inch, 

Natural 
Annealed 

46588 
39633 

45268 
87106 

—1320 

—2527 

Elastic  ratio;  percent., 

Natural 
Annealed 

69.87 
63.91 

68.68 
62.29 

—1.19 
—1.62 

Elongation  in  8  inches  ;   per  cent., 

Natural 
Annealed 

26.48 
27.16 

28.22 
28.78 

+  1.74 
+  1.57 

Reduction  of  area  ;  percent., 

Natural 
Annealed 

54.98 
61.98 

54.05 

58.12 

-O.93 
—3.86 

(2)  Comparing  the  loss  of  strength  in  passing  from  round  to 
flat,  as  shown  in  Table  XVI-J,  there  are  nine  possible  comparisons 
between  the  loss  in  the  natural  bar  and  the  loss  in  the  annealed 
piece.  The  ultimate  strength  falls  more  in  every  case  in  the  an- 
nealed than  it  does  in  the  natural  bar.  The  elastic  limit  falls  in 
six  cases  and  rises  to  a  much  less  extent  in  three.  The  elongation 
rises  in  five  cases  and  falls  in  four.  The  reduction  of  area  falls 
in  all  cases.  The  elastic  ratio  falls  in  five  cases  and  rises  in  four. 

It  will  be  found  also  that  the  exceptions  and  irregularities  are 


430  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

not  confined  to  any  one  kind  of  steel,  so  that  it  would  seem  proper 
to  average  the  losses  and  gains  in  order  to  eliminate  the  errors  due 
to  the  small  number  of  heats  in  some  of  the  groups.  The  results 
of  such  condensation  are  given  in  Table  XVI-J,  which  shows  the 
true  average  of  all  the  heats  and  not  the  average  of  the  groups. 

It  is  shown  that  the  loss  of  ultimate  strength  from  the  round  to 
the  flat  is  very  much  greater  in  the  annealed  than  in  the  natural  bars 
and  that  the  elastic  limit  more  than  keeps  pace  with  it,  as  shown 
by  the  elastic  ratio.  The  difference  can  hardly  be  due  to  the  effect 
of  varying  work,  for  the  round  was  reduced  to  2.6  per  cent,  of  the 
area  of  the  billet  and  the  flat  to  4.7  per  cent.,  the  reduction  in  both 
cases  being  so  heavy  that  the  results  should  be  uniform  as  far  as 
this  factor  is  concerned.  The  effect  of  the  finishing  temperature 
may  be  ignored  in  the  case  of  the  annealed  pieces,  and  yet  there 
is  a  difference  of  2448  pounds  per  square  inch  in  ultimate  strength 
between  the  flat  and  round. 

The  natural  bars  show  less  difference,  which  would  indicate  that 
the  effect  of  the  finishing  temperature  has  raised  the  strength  of  the 
flat  more  than  the  round.  This  is  contrary  to  the  condition  just 
noted  that  the  reduction  in  rolling  was  less  in  the  case  of  the  flat, 
but  it  is  in  accord  with  the  evident  fact  that  a  thin  bar  would  cool 
faster  than  a  round  bar  of  somewhat  less  sectional  area.  The  effect 
of  the  finishing  temperature,  therefore,  was  to  raise  the  tensile 
strength  of  the  flat  more  than  it  did  the  round,  but  not  enough  to 
overcome  the  difference  in  physical  properties  caused  by  the  shape 
of  the  bars. 

The  reduction  of  area  is  less  in  the  case  of  the  flat,  and  the 
difference  is  more  marked  in  the  annealed  than  in  the  natural  bars. 
The  elongation  is  higher  in  both  kinds  of  flats  than  in  the  corre- 
sponding rounds,  but  the  difference  is  greater  in  the  natural  bars. 
This  appears  at  first  sight  to  be  an  exception,  but  on  further  con- 
sideration it  will  be  seen  that  a  decrease  in  gain  is  equivalent  to  a 
loss,  and  this  brings  it  in  accord  with  the  decrease  in  the  ductility, 
as  shown  by  the  lessened  reduction  of  area.  The  net  result  may  be 
summarized  as  follows : 

(1)  Flat  bars  differ  from  rounds  in  having  less  tensile  strength, 
lower  elastic  limit,  lower  elastic  ratio,  greater  elongation,  and  a 
slightly  lower  reduction  of  area. 

(2)  This  difference  is  caused  not  by  reason  of  a  different  finish- 
ing temperature,  but  in  spite  of  it. 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF   THE    TEST-PIECE. 


431 


SEC.  XVIh. — Comparative  physical  properties  of  rounds  of  dif- 
ferent diameter. — The  variation  in  strength  of  bars  of  the  same 
steel  is  not  by  any  means  confined  to  pieces  of  different  shape,  for 
it  will  exist  in  rounds  of  different  diameters.  In  Table  XVI-K  are 
given  the  results  on  a  large  number  of  rivet  rods  where  several  tests 
were  made  from  the  same  heat.  All  the  charges  were  of  the  same 
quality  of  steel,  ranging  from  .11  to  .15  per  cent,  in  carbon,  .02  to 
.04  per  cent,  in  phosphorus,  and  .022  to  .038  per  cent,  in  sulphur. 

TABLE  XVI-K. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Bounds  of  Different  Diameters,. 
Eolled  from  the  Same  Heats,  Made  by  The  Pennsylvania 
Steel  Company. 

Each  figure  is  an  average  of  from  4  to  16  determinations. 


Heat 
No. 

Ult.  strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation 
in  8  inches; 
per  cent. 

Reduction 
of  area;  percent. 

%  in. 

%in. 

«tn. 

%in. 

^in. 

%in. 

%in. 

%in. 

11478 
11489 
11550 
11694 
11796 
11945 
12006 
12007 
12519 
2032 
2073 

60028 
59170 
58223 
57833 
57980 
57456 
57550 
57943 
58774 
59670 
59772 

58215 
57671 
57707 
58078 
57517 
56753 
55878 
57408 
56106 
56963 
56425 

40023 
87333 
39219 
89373 
88830 
38498 
38205 
38752 
89015 
89050 
39941 

39433 
37079 
87482 
38210 
38288 
37268 
86485 
37498 
37485 
86810 
37007 

29.52 
29.81 
29.73 
32.45 
30.14 
29.81 
29.58 
30.38 
29.80 
29.67 
30.25 

30.63 
81.96 
30.40 
30.75 
31.04 
30.59 
80.58 
81.44 
'    81.34 
80.50 
32.79 

60.56 
63.45 
62.70 
66.50 
60.45 
61.60 
60.81 
64.18 
62.40 
64.50 
64.90 

60.80 
62.81 
64.10 
62.60 
68.50 
59.60 
65.05 
61.10 
59.45 
57.90 
68.70 

Av. 

58582 

57156 

38931 

37550 

80.10 

81.09 

62.91 

61.83 

%  in. 

%in. 

%in. 

%in. 

%in. 

%in. 

%in. 

%in. 

11478 
12007 
1523 
2200 

60423 
58120 
59633 
59421 

60028 
57943 
55735 
59435 

41373 

38200 
42360 
41276 

40023 
88752 
88756 
39860 

29.44 
30.16 
30.06 
30.00 

29.52 
30.38 
31.66 
30.31 

65.40 
64.55 
64.22 
64.86 

60.56 
64.18 
65.40 
64.65 

Av. 

59399 

58285 

40802 

89348 

29.92 

30.47 

64.76 

63.69 

%  in. 

l^in. 

%in. 

Wn. 

%in. 

l^in. 

%in. 

l^in. 

12334 

57820 

59813 

37770 

37298 

30.85 

82.25 

63.15 

61.55 

%in. 

IT'S  in. 

%in. 

1T%  in. 

%,  in. 

ITBB  in. 

%in. 

l&in. 

12368 

62683 

60480 

89985 

88576 

30.69 

31.97 

62.23 

53.80 



l^in. 



VA  in. 

l^in. 

114  in. 

11517 

60633 

'     86770 

82.02 

54.8 

The  number  of  heats  given  in  the  table  would  not  be  sufficient  to 
justify  SL  general  conclusion  if  there  were  only  a  single  bar  of  each 
heat,  but  it  will  be  noted  that  each  figure  is  the  average  of  from 
4  to  16  determinations.  In  the  comparison  of  the  three-quarter 


432  METALLURGY    OF    IKON    AND   STEEL. 

and  seven-eighth-inch  rounds  there  were  112  tests  of  the  smaller 
size  and  94  of  the  larger,  while  in  the  comparison  of  the  five- 
eighth  and  three-quarter-inch  there  were  32  tests  of  the  former  and 
34  of  the  latter.  No  average  is  given  where  less  than  four  tests 
were  taken  of  the  same  size  from  the  same  heat. 

Comparing  the  seven-eighth-inch  with  the  three-quarter-inch 
bars,  it  will  be  found  that  in  the  larger  size  the  following  changes 
occurred : 

(1)  The  ultimate  strength  was  lowered  in  ten  heats  and  raised 
in  one,  the  average  showing  a  decrease  of  1426  pounds  per  square 
inch. 

(2)  The  elastic  limit  was  lowered  in  all  cases,  the  average  show- 
ing a  decrease  of  1381  pounds  per  square  inch;  the  elastic  ratio  was 
reduced  from  66.5  per  cent,  to  65.7  per  cent. 

(3)  The  elongation  was  raised  in  ten  cases  and  lowered  in  one, 
the  average  showing  an  increase  of  0.99  per  cent. 

(4)  The  reduction  of  area  was  lowered  in  seven  heats  and  raised 
in  four,  the  average  showing  a  decrease  of  1.08  per  cent. 

Comparing  the  five-eighth  and  three-quarter-inch,  it  will  be 
found  that  in  the  larger  size  the  following  alterations  have  taken 
place : 

( 1 )  The  ultimate  strength  was  lowered  in  three  heats  and  raised 
a  trifling  amount  in- one,  the  average  showing  a  decrease  of  1114 
pounds  per  square  inch. 

(2)  The  elastic  limit  was  lowered  in  three  cases  and  raised  in 
one,  the  average  showing  a  decrease  of  1454  pounds  per  square 
inch ;  the  elastic  ratio  was  reduced  from  68.7  per  cent,  to  67.5  per 
cent. 

(3)  The  elongation  was  raised  in  every  case,  the  average  show- 
ing an  increase  of  0.55  per  cent. 

(4)  The  reduction  of  area  was  lowered  in  three  heats  and  raised 
in  one,  the  average  showing  a  decrease  of  1.07  per  cent. 

The  consistent  testimony  of  these  records  is  corroborated  by  the 
data  on  the  larger  diameters.  It  is  true  that  only  one  heat  is  given 
on  each  of  these  sizes,  but  it  so  happens  that  there  were  from  twelve 
to  sixteen  bars  in  each  case,  and  as  the  steel  was  of  the  same  manu- 
facture in  all  particulars  the  results  may  be  accepted  as  fairly 
comparable.  It  seems  quite  certain  that  larger  bars  will  give  a 
lower  ultimate  strength,  a  lower  elastic  limit,  a  lower  elastic  ratio, 
a  better  elongation,  and  a  lower  reduction  of  area.  Some  of  these 


THE    HISTORY    AND   SHAPE    OF   THE   TEST-PIECE. 


433 


characteristics  may  be  due  to  differences  in  finishing  temperature, 
but  the  data  on  elastic  limits  show  that  the  pieces  were  all  rolled 
at  nearly  the  same  degree  of  heat,  and  such  small  variations,  even 
if  due  entirely  to  rolling  conditions,  are  not  sufficient  to  account 
for  the  increase  in  the  elongation. 

TABLE  XVI-L. 

Effect  of  Changes  in  the  Width  of  the  Test-Piece  upon  the  Physical 

Properties. 


Thickness 
in  inches. 

No.  of  heats 
in  av. 

Width  of  test-piece  inNinches. 

3 

2 

IK 

1 

% 

% 

Ultimate 
strength; 
pounds  per 
square  in. 

| 

2 
8 
8 
2 
10 

72510 
72020 
67945 
73840 
68111 

73480 

72220 
68500 
73550 

G8224 

73840 
72420 
68710 
74530 
67950 

73250 
72643 

68220 
73370 
67890 

74420 
71563 
68050 
73520 
68338 

75440 
73531 
68940 
76130 
67442 

True  av. 

30 

69784 

70059 

70176 

69968 

69872 

70578 

.s.  .Is 

*i."S  GO  <D 

3|SS 

«-§£ 
p,* 

| 

2 

8 
8 
2 
10 

41685 
42485 
41600 
45840 
45939 

42185 
42353 
42190 
46740 
45346 

41965 
42711 
41620 
46085 
45664 

42975 

42798 
41630 
46285 
46676 

46655 
46058 
45820 
51820 
45659 

'.'.'.'.'. 

True  av. 

30 



43571 

43588 

43379 

44023 

46285 

Elongation 
in  8  inches; 
per  cent. 

f 

2 
8 
8 
2 
10 

29.87 
29.78 
30.75 
28.37 
28.50 

28.87 
27.88 
28.69 
27.50 
27.23 

28.37 
27.66 
27.72 
25.62 
26.65 

25.00 
26.06 
27.34 
25.87 
25.85 

23.75 

24.78 
26.31 
25.12 
24.98 

24.25 
24.88 
24.03 
23.50 
22.93 

True  av. 

30 

29.52 

27.92 

27.25 

26.25 

25.21 

23.87 

Reduction 
of  area; 
percent. 

t     ' 

2 

8 
8 
2 
10 

52.7 
53.7 
56.8 
52.1 
55.0 

56.1 
54.2 
58.9 
53.9 
56.2 

56.3 
57.3 

59.9 
56.8 
57.9 

53.6 
57.2 
59.6 
60.0 

58.8 

62.3 
57.6 
59.7 

58.2 
59.5 

56.0 
58.9 
61.0 
56.1 
60.0 

True  av. 

30 

54.79 

66.23 

58.09 

58.32 

68.48 

59.45 

This  subject  of  variation  in  physical  qualities,  as  produced  by 
differences  in  diameter,  has  been  discussed  by  Appleby.*  In  com- 
mon with  many  others,  he  makes  the  vital  and  fundamental  mis- 
take of  rolling  all  the  bars  to  one  size,  viz.,  1^2  inches  in  diameter, 
and  turning  the  test  specimens  from  these  bars.  It  will  be  evident 
that  a  test-piece  of  one-half  inch  in  diameter  thus  obtained  will  be 
merely  the  core  or  center  of  the  original  bar,  and  will  be  inferior 
both  chemically  and  physically.  On  the  one  hand  it  embraces  the 
area  of  maximum  segregation,  while  on  the  other  it  has  not  under-1 

*  Proc.  Inst.  Civil  Eng.     (England),  Vol.  CXVIII,  pp.  395-417. 


434  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND  STEEL. 

gone  the  thorough  compression  that  the  exterior  of  the  bar  has 
received  in  the  rolls  or  under  the  hammer,  and  a  comparison  of  the 
bars  is  therefore  invalid. 

The  method,  which  I  have  employed  in  this  section,  of  compar- 
ing rolled  bars  of  different  sizes  in  the  form  in  which  they  left  the 
rolls,  also  presents  some  complicating  conditions,  inasmuch  as  the 
effect  of  work  is  not  the  same  on  large  and  on  small  sections,  but  it 
has  the  overwhelming  advantage  that  it  represents  actual  condi- 
tions, and  portrays  the  exact  results  that  may  be  expected  in  prac- 
tice. 

SEC.  XVIi. — Influence  of  the  width  of  the  test-piece  upon  tho 
physical  properties. — Conclusive  testimony  that  variations  in  the 
elongation  may  be  due  solely  to  the  cross-section  of  the  test-piece  is 
furnished  by  Table  XVI-L,  which  gives  the  results  obtained  in 
breaking  strips  of  different  width  when  the  pieces  were  cut  side 
by  side  from  the  same  plate. 

It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  no  comparison  can  be  made  between 
the  different  thicknesses,  since  the  individual  heats  were  not  the 
same.  In  the  matter  of  widths,  however,  the  case  is  otherwise,, 
for  every  heat  in  the  group  was  tested  in  all  the  widths,  the  bars 
from  each  heat  being  cut  from  the  same  small  strip  of  plate,  and 
this  should  give  a  perfectly  valid  basis  of  comparison. 

The  conclusions  which  must  be  drawn  from  the  table  are  as 
follows : 

(1)  Variations  in  the  width  of  the  test-piece  have  very  little 
effect  upon  the  ultimate  strength  per  square  inch. 

(2)  They  probably  have  little  influence  upon  the  elastic  limit. 
The  narrowest  pieces  show  a  decided  increase,  but  this  needs  cor- 
roboration.     The  three-inch  pieces  were  pulled  at  the  works  of  the 
Pottstown  Iron  Company,  being  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  machine 
at  Steelton,  and  the  determinations  of  elastic  limit  are  therefore 
not  comparable. 

(3)  The  elongation  increases  regularly  as  the  width  increases. 

(4)  The  reduction  of  area  decreases  regularly  as  the  width  in- 
creases. 

The  same  subject  was  investigated  by  Barba,*  his  results  bein,^ 
given  in  Table  XVI-M. 

The  figures  seem  to  show  a  continual  increase  in  elongation  until 

*  Resistance  des  Mat£riaux;  Memoires  de  la  Soctete  des  Ing6nieurs  Civils.     Vol. 
I,  1880,  p.  682. 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 


435 


the  width  is  six  times  the  thickness,  after  which  the  stretch  grows 
less.  The  latter  point  is  not  an  important  matter  in  practice  since 
there  is  no  occasion  to  use  such  a  wide  section,  and  in  the  case  of 
plates  of  ordinary  thickness  the  strength  of  such  pieces  is  beyond 
the  capacity  of  most  machines. 

TABLE  XVI-M. 

Influence  upon  the  Elongation  of  Changes  in  the  Width  of  the 
Test-Piece  (Barba). 


Number  of 
sample. 

Dimensions  in  inches. 

Ratio  of 
width  to 
thickness. 

Elongation; 
per  cent. 

Length. 

Width. 

Thick- 
ness. 

1 
2 
3 

4 
5 
6 

7 
8 

3.94 
3.94 
3.94 
3.94 
8.94 
3.94 
3.94 
3.94 

0.394 
0.787 
1.181 
1.575 
1.964 
2.352 
2.756 
3.150 

0.394 
0.394 
0.394 
0.394 
0.394 
0.394 
0.394 
0.394 

1 
2 
3 
4 

5 
6 

7 
8 

81.0 
34.0 
35.0 
37.2 
39.0 
40.8 
88.5 
34.5 

The  increase  in  elongation  in  greater  widths  has  also  been  shown 
by  E.  A.  Ouster,  of  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  who  has  given  me  in  a  private  communication  the  results  ob- 
tained by  him  in  testing  strips  from  boiler  plate.  The  steel  ranged 
in  ultimate  strength  from  55,400  to  61,300  pounds  per  square  inch, 
and  was  of  nearly  uniform  chemical  composition.  The  records  are 
given  in  Table  XVI-N. 

TABLE  XYI-N. 
Effect  of  an  Increase  of  Width  upon  the  Elongation.* 


Thickne 
in  in. 

Width  of  piece  in  inches. 

1 

VA 

1% 

®A 

3 

X 

Number  of  pieces 

180 
57950 

26.27 

120 

57878 
26.98 

80 
58102 
28.01 

80 

57800 
29.49 

18 
57676 

30.82 

Average  ultimate  strength;  Ibs.  per  sq.  inch  .  . 
Elongation  in  8  inches;  percent.    

% 

Number  of  pieces                                    

20 
56680 
26.92 

25 
57001 
26.96 

20 
56720 
27.91 

20 
56860 
80.17 

20 
55870 
81.02 

Average  ultimate  strength;  Ibs.  per  sq.  inch  .  . 
Elongation  in  8  inches;  percent  

SEC.  XVIj. — Influence  of  a  change  in  length  upon  the  physical 

*  E.  A.  Custer,  private  communication. 


436 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


properties. — In  order  to  determine  the  relative  elongation  with 
varying  length,  I  have  carried  out  the  following  investigation: 
Twenty  rods,  three-quarter-inch  in  diameter,  were  selected  from 
one  heat  of  acid  open-hearth  steel.  From  each  rod  seven  bars  were 
cut,  one  of  which  was  tested  in  a  length  of  2  inches,  and  one  each 
in  4,  6,  8,  10,  12  and  14  inches.  The  results  are  given  in  Table 
XVI-0.  The  individual  records  of  elongation  are  shown  to  prove 
that  the  averages  are  not  formed  by  the  combination  of  unlike 
members.  These  data  are  plotted  in  Curve  AA,  Fig.  XVI-A. 

TABLE  XVI-0. 

Influence  upon  the  Physical  Properties  of  Changes  in  the  Length 
of  the  Test-Piece. 

3i-inch  rounds ;  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  acid  open-hearth  rivet  steel. 


•M^. 

Length  of  test-piece  in  inches. 

fc"0 

2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 

Ult.  strength;  Ibs.  per  square  inch. 

Av. 

60685 

60343 

60099 

60123 

60068 

60059 

60066 

Elastic  limit;  Ibs.  per  square  inch. 

Av. 

42548 

48134 

42951 

43159 

43161 

48024 

43284 

Elastic  ratio  ;  per  cent. 

Av. 

70.11 

71.48 

71.47 

71.78 

71.85 

71.64 

71.98 

Reduction  of  area  ;  per  cent. 

Av. 

66.7 

66.9 

67.1 

66.8 

67.3 

67.2 

67.1 

1 

47.50 

35.00 

80.67 

80.50 

28.20 

27.17 

26.48 

2 

46.00 

85.50 

30.67 

30.50 

29.80 

27.67 

26.43 

8 

47.00 

84.50 

32.33 

28.25 

27.80 

27.50 

26.48 

4 

48.50 

85.50 

82.00 

30.25 

28.20 

25.00 

27.00 

6 

47.00 

85.50 

83.00 

28.75 

29.00 

27.17 

28.14 

6 

46.50 

39.00 

32.67 

28.75 

81.60 

29.33 

28.21 

7 

47.50 

37.50 

81.83 

80.50 

29.40 

27.33 

25.71 

8 

46.00 

83.00 

30.00 

30.00 

26.60 

28.00 

24.48 

9 

47.50 

85.50 

84.33 

81.75 

80.40 

29.83 

28.21 

10 

47.50 

36.00 

80.33 

29.50 

28.80 

28.50 

25.29 

Elongation;  per  cent. 

11 

49.00 

84.75 

30.00 

31.00 

80.20 

27.75 

27.57 

12 

49.00 

86.50 

81.33 

29.50 

27.80 

29.83 

28.71 

18 

47.00 

85.50 

82.83 

29.00 

26.60 

27.00 

26.48 

V 

14 

47.50 

88.00 

81.67 

82.75 

81.00 

80.50 

26.79 

15 

48.50 

87.00 

33.33 

30.75 

29.00 

28.33 

27.64 

16 

47.50 

87.00 

83.00 

81.25 

31.00 

27.75 

29.29 

17 

48.50 

37.00 

82.50 

29.00 

28.20 

27.33 

27.21 

18 

46.00 

85.00 

84.67 

28.75 

28.00 

28.75 

25.86 

19 

47.00 

87.00 

33.00 

80.00 

27.50 

27.00 

26.29 

20 

47.50 

37.50 

34.33 

82.50 

80.00 

26.25 

28.14 

Av. 

47.48 

86.11 

82.17 

3016 

28.96 

27.87 

26.76 

A  similar  series  of  tests  was  made  by  Barba,*  the  results  being 
given  in  Table  XVI-P,  and  plotted  in  Curve  BB,  Fig.  XVI-A. 

The  linear  elongation  of  a  fractured  bar  is  made  up  of  two  fac- 
tors. First,  the  excessive  stretch  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 


*  Resistance  des  MaUriaux;  Memoires  de  la  Societe  des  Ingenieurs  Civils.     Vol. 
I,  1880,  p.  682. 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 


437 


of  the  break,  due  to  the  deformation  known  as  "necking."  Sec- 
ond, the  "permanent  set"  which  occurs  throughout  the  rest  of  the 
bar.  It  will  be  plain  that  the  first  factor  will  bear  a  greater  ratio 
to  the  sum  total  as  the  length  grows  less,  while  it  will  bear  a  less 
ratio  as  the  length  increases.  It  will  therefore  follow  that  if  the 
length  of  the  piece  is  reduced  so  that  it  is  all  included  in  the  region 


50.— =TTI 


45.- 


40.- 


35.- 


30.- 


26.- 


20.- 


Abscissai 
Ordinate 


-Length,  in  Inchet 
itage  of 
Elongation 


— Perce 


10 


H 


1C 


2C 


Construction  points. 

No. 

Curve  AA. 

Curve 

BB. 

1 
2 
8 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

x  =  2 
x=  4 
x  =  6 
x=  8 

x  =  10 
x  =  12 

y  =  47.43 
y  =  36.11 
y  =  32.17 
y  —  30.16 
y  =  28.96 
y  =  27.87 
y=  26.76 

x  =   1.97 
x=  3.94 
X=  5.91 

x=  7.87 
x=  9.84 
x  =  11.81 
x  =  18.78 
x  =  15.75 
x  =  17.72 

y  --=  42.0 
y  =  32.0 
y  =  29.3 
y  =  27.2 
y  =  26.6 
y  =  26.0 
y  =  25.1 
y  =  25.0 
y  =  24.9 

FIG.   XVI-A. — CURVES   SHOWING  LAW  or  ELONGATION   WITH 
VARYING  LENGTH. 

of  necking,  as,  for  instance,  when  the  piece  is  only  2  inches  long, 
the  percentage  of  elongation  will  increase  rapidly.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  the  length  is  increased  beyond  14  inches,  the  ratio  of 
the  first  factor  to  the  second  is  not  great  and  consequently  the 
change  in  total  percentage  with  each  linear  increment  is  not 
marked. 


438 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


If  the  length  were  zero  the  percentage  of  elongation  would  be 
infinite,  while  if  the  length  were  infinite  the  percentage  of  exten- 
sion would  be  represented  by  the  permanent  set  of  those  portions 
of  the  bar  where  no  necking  occurs.  The  true  curve  therefore  ex- 
pressing the  law  of  relative  elongation  is  undoubtedly  an  hyperbola, 
one  asymptote  of  which  will  correspond  to  a  length  of  zero,  while 
the  other  will  be  the  percentage  due  to  the  permanent  set,  which  will 
vary  with  every  kind  of  steel. 

TABLE  XYI-P. 

Influence  upon  the  Elongation  of  Changes  in  the  Length  of  the 

Test-Piece.* 


No.  of 
bar. 

Dimensions;  inches. 

Ratio  of 
length  to 
diameter. 

Elonga- 
tion; per 
cent. 

Length. 

Diameter. 

1 

1.97 

0.677 

2.91 

42.0 

2 

3.94 

0.677 

5.81 

82.0 

8 

5.91 

0.677 

8.72 

29.3 

4 

7.87 

0.677 

11.60 

27.2 

5 

9.84 

0.677 

14.50 

26.6 

6 

11.81 

0.677 

17.40 

26.0 

7 

13.78 

0.677 

20.30 

25.1 

8 

15.75 

0.677 

23.30 

25.0 

9 

17.72 

0.677 

26.20 

24.9 

I  had  thought  it  possible  to  deduce  the  law  of  elongation  for  all 
lengths  by  expanding  the  data  in  Fig.  XVI- A  by  the  methods  of 
analytic  geometry.  It  is  well  known  that  any  five  points,  no  mat- 
ter how  situated,  may  be  included  in  the  line  of  a  conic  section, 
and  it  would  seem  possible,  therefore,  to  select  five  points  in  either 
curve  and  deduce  their  equation,  which  could  then  be  expanded 
indefinitely. 

The  application  of  this  method  to  points  1,  2,  3,  5  and  7  in  Curve 
A  A,  in  Fig.  XVI-A,  derived  from  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company 
steels,  gives  Curve  AA,  in  Fig.  XVI-B.  The  line  is  very  far  from 
the  truth,  for  it  indicates  only  65  per  cent,  elongation  for  a  length 
of  zero,  and  an  elongation  of  zero  for  a  length  of  73  inches. 

Curve  BB,  in  Fig.  XVI-B,  represents  the  result  of  expanding 
points  1,  3,  5,  7  and  9  in  Curve  BB,  Fig.  XVI-A,  derived  from 
Barba's  work.  It  will  be  noted  that  point  1  of  this  curve,  where 
x=1.97  and  y=42.0,  as  shown  in  Table  XVI-P,  is  on  the  upper 
and  return  side  of  the  ellipse,  and  this  fact  may  be  taken  as  proof 


*  Barba,  Proc.  French  8oc.  Civil  Eng.,  Vol.  I,  J880,  p.  682. 


THE    HISTORY    AND   SHAPE    OF   THE    TEST-PIECE. 


439 


by  reductio  ad  absurdum  that  the  method  is  inapplicable  to  the 
expanding  of  such  functions  into  extra-experimental  territory.  It 
is  deemed  pertinent,  however,  to  place  this  investigation  on  record 
to  show  that  the  determinative  errors  in  the  most  carefully  con- 
structed records  are  sufficient  to  destroy  the  value  of  this  mathe- 
matical calculation,  which  seems  at  first  sight  to  be  logically  cor- 
rect. 


Curve  BB  Expansion  of.  Curve  from  Barba's  Tests. 

lEquitton;  65,889  y«  f  110, 702  x<y  -{-196,925V  ^5,120,635  y--»-6,012,133.xii  —  100,000,000, 


•su 


•40 


•SO 


i  =  0.98;  7 =40.6  and  36.3 

x  =  1.97;  y= 

x=5.91;  y=43.4   «•   29.3 

x=-9.84;  y=42.7  ••    26.6 


x=  13.78;  y  =40.9  and  25.1 
x=  17.72;  y  =  37.7  is  34.9 
x  =19.68;  T  =  36.3 


-2 


Curve  A  A  Expansion  of  Curve  from  P.  S.  Co,  Steels, 

Equation ;  5,125,778  y'4-108,821.700  x  y  •*•  92.882,000  r1  -  487,765.700  y  -8.650,544.000  x  =*  -10.000.000.0D* 


Abscissas  =  Length,  inches. 
Ordiaates  -=  Elongation,  per  cent. 


CONSTRUCTION  POINTS. 

x—  -2;   7=  +84.75 
x=.    0;   y  =.-(-65.27 
x  =  4-2;   y  =  +  47.43 
x«=-4-4;    y  =  +  36.11 
x=-l-6;  ,=  4-82.17 

x  =  +10;  y=  -1-28:96 
x=_-H4~;  y-=  +  26.76 
x=  +  20  ;7=._4-  23.83 
x=+  40;  y^_4:  14.66 
j—^80;  y=  ^  3.2T 

FIG.  XVI-B.— EXPANSION  or  CURVES  IN  FIG.  XVI-A. 

The  percentage  of  elongation  in  the  portion  of  the  piece  which 
does  not  undergo  "necking"  may  be  calculated  from  the  records  in 
Table  XVI-0.  As  a  matter  of  experience  it  is  found  that  a  length 
of  about  two  inches  includes  the  region  wherein  necking  occurs, 
and  this  length  is  a  constant,  no  matter  what  the  total  length  of 
the  test-piece  may  be.  In  other  words,  a  test-piece  two  inches  long 
is  practically  all  "neck,"  while  in  one  four  inches  long  there  will  be 
one  length  of  two  inches  which  is  all  neck,  and  another  length  of 
two  inches  which  will  remain  nearly  a  true  cylinder  after  fracture. 

In  the  case  of  the  2-inch  test-pieces,  given  in  Table  XVI-0,  the 
average  elongation  was  47.43  per  cent.,  representing  a  linear  elon- 


440  METALLURGY    OF    IKON    AND   STEEL. 

gation  of  0.9486  inches.  In  the  case  of  the  4-inch  test-pieces  the 
stretch,  by  the  above  assumption,  was  the  same  in  the  necked  re- 
gion, while  the  total  elongation  was  36.11  per  cent.,  representing  a 
linear  elongation  of  1.4444  inches.  Hence  the  elongation  in  tho 
two  inches  of  the  cylindrical  portion  was  1.4444 — 0.9486=0.4958 
inches,  or  24.79  per  cent. 

In  the  same  manner  the  elongation  in  the  cylindrical  portion 
may  be  calculated  for  all  the  different  lengths  given  in  Table 
XVI-0.  The  results  are  as  follows,  in  per  cent. : 

4"=24.79;  6"=24.54  ;  8"— 24.40 ;   10"=:24.34;    12"=23.96;   14"=23.32. 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  a  decrease  in  elongation  with  an 
increase  in  length,  and  the  relation  is  so  regular  that  it  is  probably 
due  to  something  besides  experimental  error.  If  the  necking  be 
assumed  to  take  place  within  a  length  of  only  one  inch,  instead  of 
two  inches,  the  calculated  percentage  of  elongation  will  be  a  little 
more  uniform,  but  the  improvement  is  so  slight,  even  with  this 
extreme  hypothesis,  that  some  other  cause  is  shown  to  be  at  work. 

I  believe  that  the  true  explanation  is  in  the  fact,  which  was 
called  to  my  attention  by  Mr.  W.  E.  Webster,  that  the  breaking 
speed  varies  with  each  length.  The  speed  of  the  machine  was  the 
same  in  every  case,  but  a  moment's  consideration  will  show  that  a 
constant  speed  of  the  grips  does  not  mean  a  constant  rate  of  dis- 
tortion in  the  bar.  In  the  case  of  the  2-inch  piece  the  stretch  was 
47.43  per  cent.,  indicating  a  linear  extension  of  0.95  inches;  in  the 
case  of  the  14-inch  piece  the  stretch  was  26.76  per  cent.,  indicating 
an  extension  of  3.75  inches.  The  rate  of  distortion,  therefore,  was 
nearly  four  times  as  great  in  the  2-inch  test  as  in  the  14-inch  bar, 
and  this  condition  would  give  a  slightly  higher  elongation  with  each 
decrease  in  length,  as  shown  in  Section  XVIm. 

Owing  to  this  complication  it  is  impossible  to  deduce  a  theo- 
retically accurate  answer  from  the  foregoing  data,  but  it  may  be 
considered  as  practically  demonstrated  that  in  a  three-quarter-inch 
round  bar  of  infinite  length,  of  the  same  steel  as  shown  in  Table 
XVI-0,  the  elongation  would  be  about  24  per  cent. 

SEC.  XVIk. — Tests  on  eye-bars. — Through  the  courtesy  of  The 
Union  Bridge  Company,  of  Athens,  Pa.,  I  have  had  access  to  its 
records  of  eye-bar  tests,  and  have  classified  them  in  various  ways 
to  determine  the  influence  of  width,  thickness  and  length  upon  the 
physical  properties.  The  steel  was  made  by  different  manufactur- 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF   THE    TEST-PIECE. 


441 


TABLE  XVI-Q. 

Physical  Properties  of  Eye-Bars,  Classified  According  to  Method  of 
Manufacture,  Name  of  Maker,  Thickness,  Width  and  Tensile 
Strength. 

NOTES.— The  bar  was  broken  in  full-sized  section,  but  the  elongation  here  given 
is  the  percentage  in  the  12  inches  which  included  the  fracture.  "Narrow" 
signifies  not  over  6  inches  wide,  the  average  being  about  5  inches;  "Wide" 
signifies  over  6  inches  wide,  the  average  being  about  7  inches.  "  Thin  "  signifies 
under  1^  inches  thick,  the  average  being  about  1  inch.  "Thick  "  signifies  not 
less  than  \%  inches  thick,  the  average  being  about  1%  inches. 


Name  of  maker.  ' 

Method  of 
manufacture. 

Limits  of  ultimate 
strength  in 
group;  pounds 
per  square  inch. 

Relative  thickness 
of  piece. 

Relative  width  cf 
piece. 

Number  of  heats 
in  average. 

Average  ultimate 
strength  ; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Average  elastic 
limit;  pounds 
per  square  inch. 

Average  elastic 
ratio;  percent. 

Elongation  in  12 
inches;  percent. 

Reduction  of  area  ; 
per  cent. 

x 

54000 
to 

Thin 

Narrow 
Wide 

109 

18 

61528 
59950 

89017 
37937 

63.4 
63.3 

84.72 
88.72 

49.6 

48.6 

1 

64000 

Thick 

Narrow 
Wide 

33 
11 

60838 
60307 

37470 

86688 

61.9 
60.8 

87.43 
89.61 

50.0 
46.3 

d 

64000 
to 

Thin 

Narrow 

72 

6G702 

41967 

62.9 

32.58 

47.5 

0 

74000 

Thick 

Narrow 

19 

66570 

41853 

62.9 

34.22 

47.5 

A 

54000 
to 

Thin 

Narrow 
Wide 

102 
5 

59557 

61988 

36086 
88706 

60.6 
62.4 

84.43 
86.20 

50.3 
44.2 

6 
I 

64000 

Thick 

Narrow 
Wide 

19 
26 

60855 
60932 

36166 
87019 

59.4 

60.8 

34.16 
87.96 

47.8 
48.1 

1 

64000 
to 

Thin 

Narrow 
Wide 

22 
6 

66441 
66947 

41665 
39330 

62.7 

58.7 

81.93 
82.43 

47.3. 
45.0 

74000 

Thick 

Narrow 
Wide 

3 

8 

67370 
67263 

87103 
87290 

55.1 
55.4 

80.90 
83.00 

42.6 
41.8 

54000 
to 

Thin 

Narrow 
Wide 

47 
19 

59379 

58582 

85395 
35141 

59.6 

eo.o 

84.08 
37.47 

49.2 
47.8 

§ 
S 

64000 

Thick 

Narrow 
Wide 

18 
61 

59355 
59536 

84162 
84403 

57.6 

57.8 

34.83 
86.63 

46.4 
46.4 

1 

64000 
to 

Thin 

Narrow 
Wide 

21 
5 

66231 
67184 

40756 
40766 

61.5 
60.7 

80.19 

47.7 
49.3 

B 

74000 

Thick 

Wide 

22 

66874 

87880 

56.6 

33.02 

45.0 

54000 
to 

Thin 

Narrow 
Wide 

1C3 
23 

59018 
59950 

83901 
82650 

57.4 
54.5 

33.79 
3H.65 

48.3 
44.8 

z 
| 

64000 

Thick 

Narrow 
Wide 

24 
55 

58985 
58454 

33460 
81971 

50.7 
54.7 

39.'22 

46.6 
48.0 

64000 
to 

Thin 

Narrow 
Wide 

23 
3 

66230 
693oO 

40332 
89506 

60.9 
57.0 

30.13 

80.80 

44.7 
86.3 

74000 

Thick 

Narrow 

3 

65690 

88427 

58.5 

83.50 

44.7 

tj 

54000 

Thin 

Narrow 
Wide 

121 
18 

60553 
59366 

85592 
34053 

68.8 
57.4 

33.57 
36.53 

48.7 
46.1 

C 

64000 

Thick 

Narrow 

Wide 

20 
21 

60870 
60240 

84440 
83245 

56.6 
55.2 

85.20 
89.07 

48.2 
46.2 

o 

64000  to 
74000 

Thin 

Narrow 

.    81 

6C515 

89206 

58.9 

82.06 

46.2 

442  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

ers,  and  it  was  necessary  to  divide  the  bars  on  that  basis.  Some 
works  were  represented  by  such  a  small  number  of  bars  that  it  was 
thought  best  to  omit  them  from  the  list  as  well  as  the  bars  from 
a  foreign  works  which  gave  results  quite  inferior  to  those  of 
domestic  manufacture.  There  were  also  cancelled  all  bars  which 
showed  100  per  cent,  crystalline  fracture,  and  pieces  of  miscellan- 
eous lengths  when  there  were  less  than  three  bars  of  the  same  steel 
in  the  group.  A  few  pieces  were  discarded  when  the  percentage  of 
elongation  in  12  inches  was  the  same  as  in  the  full  length,  for  this 
indicates  either  a  clerical  error  or  that  fracture  took  place  in  the 
eye. 

After  these  eliminations  it  was  found  that  only  three  works  were 
represented,  two  of  them  by  both  open-hearth  and  Bessemer  steel. 
The  records  are  given  in  Table  XVI-Q,  and  they  show  that  there  is 
no  radical  difference  in  the  character  of  the  metal  furnished  by  the 
three  makers,  or  between  the  two  methods  of  manufacture.  This 
does  not  disprove  the  statement  already  emphasized  that  Bessemer 
metal  is  more  treacherous  in  service  under  continued  shock,  and  that 
therefore  it  should  never  be  used  in  bridge  eye-bars,  but  it  does 
serve  the  purpose  of  this  investigation  in  allowing  the  averaging  of 
all  the  records  in  order  to  increase  the  number  of  members  in  each 
group  and  thereby  eliminate  determinative  errors. 

The  result  of  such  combination  will  be  found  in  Table  XVI-K, 
wherein  all  pieces  of  the  same  length  and  section  are  added  together 
without  regard  to  method  of  manufacture  or  name  of  maker. 
The  number  of  bars  given  does  not  agree  in  each  case  with  the 
number  given  in  the  previous  list.  Thus  Table  XYI-Q  shows  83 
bars  that  are  classed  as  "wide  and  thin"  and  as  having  a  tensile 
strength  between  54,000  and  64,000  pounds,  while  Table  XVI-R 
gives  only  72  bars.  This  arises  from  the  fact  that  some  of  the  83 
bars  were  shorter  than  13  feet  or  longer  than  30  feet,  and  that 
there  was  not  a  sufficient  number  of  any  one  size  to  warrant  com- 
bining them  to  make  an  average.  It  is  evident  that  the  elongation 
in  12  inches  and  the  reduction  of  area  will  be  quite  independent  of 
the  length  of  the  bar,  so  that  each  of  the  divisions  is  again  sum- 
marized in  the  true  averages,  A,  B,  C  and  D.  The  influence  of 
width  will  be  found  by  comparing  A  with  B,  and  C  with  D,  and  the 
influence  of  thickness  by  comparing  A  with  C.  and  B  with  D. 

It  is  shown  that  the  average  elongation  in  12  inches  of  the  wider 
bars  is  about  3  per  cent,  better  than  the  narrow  pieces,  while  the 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 


443 


narrow  bars  are  superior  in  reduction  of  area.  It  is  also  indicated 
that  the  thick  bars  give  about  one  per  cent,  more  elongation,  but 
that  the  difference  in  thickness  does  not  seem  to  have  a  marked  or 
regular  effect  upon  the  reduction  of  area. 

TABLE  XVI-R. 

Physical  Properties  of  Eye-Bars,  Classified  According  to  Length, 
Width  and  Thickness.* 


d 

V-i 

h 

-H           •*"* 

d 

1 

"08 

££ 
£2 

0 

a 

"5  3  o 

slri 

H 

ff! 

1 

be 

gS 

C.  0 

5  --2 

*  o  § 

a  cL 

flT3  .. 

O 

Kind  of  bar. 

0 

0 

<~  5 

~£ 

3-3  si 

"3  ft-2 

0    .. 

O  3  <£ 

0*3 

05 

«-  • 

So, 

8>f| 

§o^*2 

«S 

^§3 

33  § 

a 

as 

-1$ 

0>  •— 

*£^ 

q^  rj  & 

S'fl  3 

be  be 

c  a 

Sr^ 

3£ 

fl 

3  M 

._  PiVi 

>  be 

>  <K  P. 

l^  «—  *  cc 

«  .—  C^ 

Q  Pi 

ft 

M 

•< 

•"* 

^ 

W 

m 

05 

1 

65 

13  to  16 

14.8 

60070 

35890 

18.56 

34.55 

4897 

Narrow  and 

2 

132 

17  to  20 

18.6 

59950 

36160 

16.17 

88.08 

49.40 

thin;  54000  to 
f  4000  pounds 

3 

4 

118 

82 

21  to  25 
26  to  30 

22.7 
28.1 

60280 
60140 

35940 
36530 

15.56 
15.26 

34.38 
84.25 

48.81 
49.95 

per  square 

5 

71 

31  to  35 

33.2 

60120 

35990 

13.81 

83.81 

50.11 

True  av.  A 

468 

all  lengths 

601  10 

36100    ... 

34.17 

49.40 

6 

15 

13  to  16 

14.8 

593HO 

35730 

17.53 

37.58 

46.75 

Wide  and  thin; 

7 

21 

17  to  20 

19.0 

59050 

34070 

17.18 

86.79 

45.12 

54000  to  64000 

8 

22 

21  to  25 

22.8 

60860 

35540 

15.92 

36.00 

45.81 

pounds  per 

9 

14 

26  to  30 

28.1 

58390 

33930 

14.94 

39.61 

47.89 

square  inch. 

True  av.  B 

72 

all  lengths 

59540 

34840 

37.26 

46.21 

Narrow  and 

10 

88 

17  to  20 

17.9 

60050 

35770 

17.36 

8594 

48.17 

thick  ;  54000  to 

11 

38 

21  to  25 

22.8 

61080 

36040 

15.87 

84.46 

46.79 

64000  pounds 

12 

17 

.  26  to  30 

28.0 

57730 

32380 

15.38 

86.83 

49.28 

inch. 

True  av.  C 

93 

all  lengths 

60050 

35260 

35.50 

4780 

13 

18 

10  to  13 

12.0 

59708 

35130 

19.30 

35.90 

46,10 

Wide  and 
thick  ;  54000  to 
64000  pounds 

14 
15 
16 

17 

22 
24 

67 
82 

13  to  16 
17  to  20 
21  to  25 
26  to  W 

14.8 

18.9 
23.2 
27.8 

59460 
58930 
59990 
59360 

33990 
33080 
34270 
34330 

16.90 
17,09 
15.98 
15.84 

88.02 
88.26 
37.42 

89.98 

47.97 
45.92 
46.94 
48.05 

inch. 

18 

11 

81  to  <*5 

33.1 

58480 

32090 

16.50 

40.61 

48.15 

True  av.  D 

174 

all  lengths 

59540 

34030 

88.13 

47.12 

39 

25 

13  to  16 

14.7 

66590 

40830 

16.06 

31.68 

47.12 

Narrow  and 

20 

58 

17  to  20 

18.5 

66620 

40420 

15.32 

81.57 

46.19 

thin;  64000  to 

21 

64 

21  to  25 

22.9 

66230 

40730 

14.91 

32.38 

46.84 

74000  pounds 

22 

33 

26  to  30 

28.7 

66150 

40590 

14.09 

82.37 

46.86 

per  square 

23 

34 

81  to  35 

83.1 

66560 

40620 

14.50    30.78 

47,55 

True  av.  E 

214 

all  lengths 

66420 

40620    .    .    .'  31.82 

46.74 

The  differences  are  not  extreme  in  any  case,  and  it  is  always 
unsafe  in  such  investigations  to  formulate  general  laws  from  an 
average  which  may  be  the  combination  of  positive  and  negative 
values,  but  by  analyzing  the  individual  records  of  the  table  it  will 


*  See  notes  to  Table  XVI-Q. 


444 


METALLURGY    OF    IKON    AND    STEEL. 


be  seen  that  corroborative  evidence  is  at  hand  of  the  correctness  of 
the  averages.  Eef  erring  to  the  groups  by  the  numbers  in  the -first 
column,  there  are  seven  comparisons  for  width,  viz.,  1  to  6,  2  to  7, 
3  to  8,  4  to  9,  10  to  15,  11  to  16,  12  to  17;  there  are  seyen  compari- 
sons for  thickness,  viz.,  2  to  10,  3  to  11,  4  to  12,  6  to  14,  7  to  15, 
8  to  16,  9  to  17. 

Inspection  shows  that  in  every  case  the  wider  and  the  thicker 
pieces  gave  the  greater  elongation  in  12  inches.  The  narrow  pieces 
gave  the  better  reduction  of  area  in  every  case  except  one,  and  in 
this  instance  the  difference  was  trifling.  In  thickness  the  results 
on  reduction  of  area  are  contradictory,  there  being  three  cases 
where  the  thin  bars  were  superior  and  four  cases  where  the  thick 
were  better.  It  seems  quite  certain  that  either  an  increase  in  width 
or  an  increase  in  thickness  improves  the  elongation  in  the  12  inches 
that  includes  the  fracture,  but  that  the  reduction  of  area  is  im- 
proved in  much  less  measure  or  not  at  all. 


TABLE  XVI-S. 

Physical  Properties  of  Eye-Bars,  Classified  According  to  Length 
being  the  Same  Bars  Referred  to  in  Tables  XVI-Q  and  XVI-R 


82 

1! 


41 
102 
215 
245 
145 

82 


I! 


10  to  12 
13  to  1ft 
17  to  20 
21  to  25 
26  to  80 
81  to  35 


.    P, 


11.8 
14.8 
18.6 

28'0 
83.1 


* 


59880 
59830 
69770 
60380 
69520 
69900 


85240 
35460 
85540 
8546C 
85810 
85470 


a.. 


18.07 
18.05 
16.58 
15.75 
15.37 
14.17 


O  d  C3  0) 


84.68 
35.75 
85.04 
85.37 
36.36 
34.73 


46.95 
48.43 
48.3T 
47.72 
49.25 
49.85 


830      i  all  lengths 


59930 


85440 


85,41 


48.42 


Applying  the  same  method  of  inspection  to  the  records  of  elonga- 
tion in  full  length,  it  will  be  found  that  the  wide  bars  were  superior 
in  four  cases  and  inferior  in  three  cases,  while  the  thick  bars  were 
superior  in  five  cases  and  inferior  in  two  cases.  Thus  there  seems 
to  be  quite  a  difference  between  the  records  of  full-length  tests  and 
those  from  12-inch  lengths,  so  that  it  is  justifiable  to  conclude  that 
while  wider  and  thicker  bars  do  give  greater  elongation  after  frac- 
ture, the  advantage  is  confined  to  the  region  of  the  "necking,"  and 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 


445 


the  percentage  of  stretch  throughout  the  body  of  the  bar  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  section.  If  this  is  true,  it  is  a  most  important  fact 
and  has  a  wide  application  in  structural  engineering. 


XV 
19 
18 
17 
16 
15 
14 
13 

FIG.  XV 

Curves  si 

Abscissas, 

lowing  Law 
-length  in 

of  Elongat 
feet. 

ion  of  Eye- 

Jars. 

Ordinutes 
Curve  A. 
Curve  B] 

-percent 
L-  54,000  to 
-64,000  to! 

Elongation 
54,000  pound 
4,000  pound 

iifuillengt 
Steel;  see  T 
Steel;  see  T 

h. 
ible  XVI-S 
ibleXvi  R 

\ 

BN 

\ 

\ 

V 

V 

^^ 

-^ 

X 

X, 

V 
^SL 

5               10             15              SO              25              30             35 

I-C.  —  CURVES  SHOWING  LAW  OF  ELONGATION  o 
BARS. 

EYE- 


Since  it  has  been  thus  shown  that  there  is  very  little,  if  any,  dif- 
ference in  the  percentage  of  elongation  in  pieces  of  the  same  length, 
although  they  be  of  different  section,  it  becomes  possible  to  further 
combine  the  records  by  putting  together  all  widths  and  thicknesses 
and  classifying  by  length  alone.  This  is  done  in  Table  XYI-S. 
It  may  be  noticed  that  there  are  41  bars  running  between  10  and  12 
feet  in  length,  while  in  Table  XVI-E  there  are  only  18  of  this  size. 
This  arises  from  the  fact  that  there  were  a  few  of  this  length  in 
each  of  the  groups  as  classified  by  section,  but  they  were  not  in 
sufficient  number  to  be  of  value  for  comparison  except  in  the  case 
of  Group  13  (see  Table  XYI-E).  In  Table  XVI-S  these  scatter- 
ing bars  are  combined  with  those  of  Group  13  in  order  to  have  a 
larger  number  in  the  average.  The  results  are  plotted  in  Fig. 
XYI-C,  which  thus  shows  the  law  of  elongation  in  long  bars.  A 


446 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


further  point  to  be  considered  is  the  proportion  of  bars  that  fall 
below  a  given  standard,  since  an  average  may  be  made  up  of  widely 
different  kinds  of  metal  or  it  may  be  made  from  a  uniform  product. 


g 

1 

o 

s 


1 

O2 

I? 


a-  2 

hH        C 

M    S 


,3  J 

« ^§ 


63  »-3      « 

Id  ? 

w   a    S 


•2   o 


PH 


F3 

6 

CG 

O 


I 


1 


H°fil 


•saBq  jo  - 


Aiojaq  -30  aa<i 


-cio  aa<j 


•SJBq  jo  ' 


Mojaq  -50  aa,j 


•saBq  jo  - 


I! 


Aioiaq -c)o  jaj 
Moiaq  -OK 


•SJBq  jo  -ON 


•pJBpUB^S 

Aioiaq  -30  aaj 


Avoiaq  -ON 


•SJBq  jo  -OR 


•^Tiao  aad 


t>       0^00 


IS 

M-i-s^ 

cl.5* 

Ilii 

5&9  o 

ec  j3  era) 

D.-S  fetf 
02  «S"« 

.§§3 


ssa 

sill 

ls-gl 

sfp 

S  §  *  " 

I!li" 


I  a5 


THE   HISTORY   AND   SHAPE   OF   THE   TEST-PIECE. 


447 


xu  xable  XVI-T  is  given  an  analysis  of  the  records  showing  the 
number  and  percentage  of  bars  in  each  division  which  give  less 
than  a  certain  percentage  of  elongation. 

TABLE  XVI-U. 

Alteration  in  the  Physical  Properties  of  Steel  by. Best  after 

Boiling.* 


1 

Number  of  group. 

Limits  of  ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per  square  inch. 

Hand  rounds. 

Guide  Rounds. 

No.  of  Bars 
tested. 

Alteration.  Gain=  + 
Loss=— 

Ij 

Alteration.    Gala  =  + 

'r. 

£ 

X 

(- 

00 

£ 

"S 

d 

d 

•I 

i 

Less  than  24  hrs.  rest. 

More  than  24  hrs.  rest. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per  square 
inch. 

Ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per  square 

Elongation  in  8 
inches;  percent. 

Reduction  of  ares; 
per  cent. 

Less  than  24 

More  than  2 

Elastic  limi 
pounds  pei 
square  inc 

Ultimate  st 
pounds  pei 
square  inc 

11 

d  o 
3  a 

3*" 

Reduction  o 
per  cent. 

I 
II 
III 
IV 
V 
VI 
VII 

55000  to  60000 
60000  to  65000 
65000  to  70000 
70000  to  75000 
75000  to  80000 
80000  to  85000 
85000  to  90000 

6 
10 
22 
24 
85 
16 
8 

10 

86 
86 
47 
80 
16 

+  719 
—453 
—170 
—166 
—314 
—165 
+  92 

+437 
+596 

+382 
+688 
+201 
+767 

+525 

+.65 
+  .73 
+.33 
+.44 
—.81 
+.42 
+.46 

+  .32 

+  .99 
+1.13 
+1.45 
+1.14 
+2.33 
+1.24 
+  .62 

10 
32 

21 
10 

7 

80 

12 

20 
8 
8 

—1207 
—  471 
+  302 
—  809 
+  213 

+  885 
—180 
+  197 
+  107 
+  36 

+1.11 

—  .25 
+  .66 
+  1.06 
+  .29 

+  2.14 
+  2.07 
+  2.95 
+  6.76 
+  .44 

Av. 

of  all  tests. 

48 

—  894 

+  109 

+  .56 

+  2.87 

121 

197 

—270 

+507 

+  .99 

The  standards  assumed  are  those  which  are  specified  for  differ- 
ent grades  of  structural  steel  in  Chapter  XVIII.  A  study  of  the 
table  will  show  that  the  number  of  rejections  on  longer  lengths  is 
fully  as  great  as  with  the  shorter  bars,,  and  this  proves  that  the  de- 
crease in  the  specified  elongation  for  an  increase  in  length  is  not 
greater  than  should  justly  be  allowed.  In  the  bars  made  by  "A" 
the  rejections  under  Specification  I  amount  to  4  per  cent,  in  Bes- 
semer metal,  and  10  per  cent,  in  open-hearth;  in  those  made  by 
"B"  they  are  10  per  cent,  in  the  Bessemer  and  20  per  cent,  in  the 
open-hearth,  while  with  "C"  they  are  23  per  cent.  Taking  into 
consideration  that  the  records  cover  only  the  products  of  large  and 
well  known  works,  and  that  all  bars  having  a  crystalline  fracture 


*  Notes  on  Results  Obtained  from  Steel  Tested  Shortly  after  Rolling.    Amer. 
Soc.  Mech.  Eng.,  Vol.  IX,  p.  38. 


448  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

and  those  breaking  in  the  eye  were  discarded,  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged that  the  standard  calls  for  good  material. 

SEC.  XVII. — Alterations  in  the  physical  properties  of  steel  by 
rest  after  rolling. — In  addition  to  the  variations  which  may  be 
caused  by  differences  in  the  working  of  the  test-piece  and  in  its 
shape,  there  is  probably  another  factor  in  the  length  of  time  which 
elapses  between  rolling  and  testing.  This  subject  was  investigated 
at  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Works  by  E.  C.  Felton,  now  President 
of  the  Company,  a  condensation  of  whose  work  is  given  in  Table 
XVI-U.  The  changes  are  not  very  strongly  marked,  but  there 
seems  to  be  consistent  testimony  of  a  molecular  rearrangement, 
progressing  for  several  hours  after  the  bar  is  thoroughly  cold, 
whereby  there  is  a  lowering  of  the  elastic  limit,  and  an  increase  in 
the  ultimate  strength,  the  elongation,  and  the  reduction  of  area. 

SEC.  XVIm. — Probable  error  in  current  practice  in  determining 
the  physical  properties. — It  is  the  rule  in  most  practical  work  that 
at  least  two  sides  of  the  test-piece  are  not  machined,  and  hence  it  is 
impossible  to  make  a  perfectly  accurate  measurement.  In  order 
to  find  how  great  an  effect  may  be  caused  by  such  errors  and  by 
differences  in  machines  and  the  method  of  operating  them,  the 
experiment  was  tried  of  sending  a  bar  from  six  different  acid  open- 
hearth  heats  to  six  different  testing  laboratories.  The  pieces  were 
rolled  flats,  2"x%",  and  each  series  was  made  up  of  one  piece  from 
each  of  the  six  bars,  so  that  the  only  possible  difference  between  the 
steel  sent  to  the  various  places  would  be  the  difference  between 
parts  of  the  same  bar. 

All  pieces  were  tested  in  the  shape  in  which  they  left  the  rolls 
without  any  machining,  and  although  the  edges  were  not  perfectly 
smooth,  they  were  so  nearly  true  that  only  one  operator  referred  to 
any  difficulty  in  making  a  true  measurement.  Table  XVI -V  ex- 
hibits the  results  reported.  The  bars  were  tested  by  The  Central 
Iron  and  Steel  Works,  Harrisburg,  Pa.;  The  Baldwin  Locomotive 
Works,  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  The  Pottstown  Iron  Company,  Potts- 
town,  Pa. ;  The  Carnegie  Steel  Company,  Pittsburg,  Pa. ;  The  Car- 
bon Steel  Company,  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  and  The  Pennsylvania  Steel 
Company,  Steelton,  Pa.,  but  the  identity  of  the  different  works  is 
purposely  concealed  in  the  table  under  the  letters  A,  B,  (7,  etc.,  to 
avoid  invidious  comparisons. 

An  examination  will  show  that  there  are  quite  important  vari- 
ations in  every  one  of  the  factors.  Moreover,  th&  divergence  is  not 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 


449 


the  result  of  averaging  erratic  individuals,  for  whenever  one  average 
is  higher  than  another,  it  is  because  the  majority  of  the  bars  are 
higher  when  taken  separately. 

TABLE  XVI-V. 

Physical  Properties  of  the  Same  Bars  of  Steel,  as  Determined  by 
Different  Laboratories. 

NOTE.— All  bars  were  rolled  flats,  2"x%",  and  were  not  machined. 


Tested  by 

Number  of 

heat. 

A. 

B. 

C. 

D. 

E. 

F. 

10027 

58130 

57880 

58560 

57710 

57980 

59230 

10028 

60790 

60140 

61740 

60080 

60660 

61830 

Ultimate  strength; 
t          pounds  per 
square  incti. 

10030 
10065 
10066 
10072 

63560 
60840 
62840 
61160 

63330 

euro 

62700 
62190 

64530 
62180 
63480 
61730 

63180 
60440 
61970 
61390 

63450 
61290 
62630 
61640 

64280 
62200 
64170 
62110 

Average, 

61220 

61233 

62037 

60795 

61275 

62303 

10027 

42400 

37350 

88900 

87490 

39020 

89730 

10028 

42200 

37940 

41400 

88720 

89730 

41320 

10030 

43620 

40780 

42540 

88940 

40740 

42770 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

10065 
10066 
10072 

41540 
42610 
41400 

38150 
40350 
37650 

42250 
42110 
41770 

88710 
88905 
88710 

40210 
40180 
40950 

41250 
43140 

89860 

Average, 

42295 

38703 

41495 

38579 

40138 

41345 

Elastic  ratio, 

69.1 

63.2 

66.9 

63.5 

65.5 

66.4 

10027 

29.25 

29.00 

30.50 

30.37 

30.75 

29-75 

10028 

30.75 

30.00 

32.00 

29.75 

81.00 

29.50 

Elongation  in 
8  inches; 
per  cent. 

10030 
10065 
10066 
10072 

29.00 
29.25 
29.25 
30.00 

29.00 
28.75 
32.25 
33.75 

31.00 
30.50 
30.50 
34.25 

28.12 
80.25 
29.12 
29.37 

29.00 
29.50 
33.25 
80.75 

28.50 
82.50 
29.50 
29.00 

Average, 

29.58 

30.46 

31.46 

29.50 

30.71 

29.79 

10027 

61.3 

61.3 

60.6 

56.2 

54.1 

61.2 

10028 

63.1 

59.7 

62.9 

58.9 

53.3 

62.3 

10080 

60.1 

57.0 

60.0 

55.9 

52.7 

57.8 

Reduction  of  area; 

10065 

61.8 

58.4 

60.6 

56.7 

55.9 

61.6 

per  cent. 

10066 

61.5 

59.9 

60.9 

54.0 

52.5 

60.0 

10072 

61.8 

57.6 

61.2 

57.4 

54.1 

61.3 

Average, 

61.6 

59.0 

61.0     1     56.5 

53.8 

60.7 

The  variations  in  contraction  of  area  may  easily  be  explained, 
for  the  determination  rests  upon  the  most  accurate  measurements 
of  an  irregular  broken  body.  In  a  bar  having  an  original  section 
of  2"x%",  the  fractured  end  will  have  a  thickness  of  about  0.20 
inch,  and  almost  invariably  will  be  of  irregular  form,  the  sides 
being  concave  rather  than  flat.  A  true  estimation  of  the  broken 
area  could  be  made  only  by  the  most  careful  duplicate  readings 
and  by  the  aid  of  the  calculus.  These  refinements  are  out  of  the 
question  in  practice,  but  the  chances  of  error  must  always  be  con- 
sidered when  a  test-bar  falls  a  little  short  of  the  requirements. 


450  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

The  variations  in  elongation  may  be  partially  accounted  for  by 
unlike  methods  of  measurement,  for  if  the  original  punch-marks 
be  put  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  bar,  they  will  give  a  different  read- 
ing after  fracture  than  if  they  were  put  in  the  center  line,  owing 
to  the  unequal  distortion  of  the  bar.  This  complication  would  not 
occur  in  the  case  of  a  round  test-piece. 

The  differences  in  ultimate  strength  and  elastic  limit  are  due  in 
some  measure  to  slight  variations  in  the  original  measurements  of 
the  bar.  The  elastic  limit  was  found  by  noting  the  "drop  of  the 
beam/'  this  being  the  universal  practice  in  American  steel  works 
and  rolling  mills.  This  method  has  been  criticized  by  some  investi- 
gators, who  advocate  an  autographic  device  for  registering  the  point 
where  the  elongation  ceases  to  be  exactly  proportionate  to  the  load. 
The  introduction  of  such  a  system  would  result  in  endless  con- 
fusion, since  all  specifications  and  contracts  of  the  present  day  are 
based  upon  the  elastic  limit  as  now  determined  by  the  fall  of  the 
beam. 

The  statement  that  the  current  method  is  especially  inaccurate  i& 
open  to  debate.  In  the  series  of  tests  given  in  Table  XVI-V,  it 
will  be  found  that  the  elongation,  as  determined  by  different  observ- 
ers, varies  from  29.50  to  31.46  per  cent.,  these  figures  being  in  the 
ratio  of  100  to  106.6,  or  range  of  error  of  6.6  per  cent.  The  reduc- 
tion of  area  varies  from  53.8  to  61.6  per  cent.,  a  ratio  of  100  to 
114.5,  or  a  range  of  error  of  14.5  per  cent.  The  elastic  ratio  varies 
from  63.2  to  69.1  per  cent.,  a  ratio  of  100  to  109.3,  or  a  range  of 
error  of  9.3  per  cent. 

Thus  the  determination  of  the  elastic  ratio  is  much  more  accu- 
rate than  the  results  on  contraction  of  area,  and  nearly  as  accurate 
as  the  results  on  elongation,  both  of  which  are  determined  by  exact 
measurements  made  on  the  piece  when  at  rest.  It  would  be  quite 
in  order  for  reformers  to  apply  their  energies  to  the  accurate  deter- 
mination of  the  reduction  of  area  and  the  elongation,  instead  of  try- 
ing to  substitute  a  new  method  for  determining  the  elastic  limit, 
especially  when  this  method  has  been  publicly  branded  as  inaccu- 
rate.* 

As  a  rule  the  autographic  device  gives  a  slightly  lower  reading 
than  is  found  by  the  drop  of  the  beam ;  thus  in  a  paper  by  Gus.  C. 
Henningf  there  are  given  the  determinations  of  the  elastic  limit 

*  Lewis.     Trans.  Am.  Soc.  Civil  Eng.,  Vol.  XXXIII,  p.  351. 
t  Trans.  Am.  Soc.  Alech.  Eng.,  Vol.  XIII,  p.  572.     - 


THE    HISTORY   AND   SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 


451 


on  a  series  of  tests,  as  found  by  the  two  methods.  I  have  averaged 
the  list  of  heats  where  both  readings  are  given,  and  find  that  in 
thirty-eight  cases  the  autographic  record  was  46.6  per  cent,  of  the 
ultimate  strength,  while  the  beam  dropped  at  52.9  per  cent. ;  in  the 
annealed  bar  the  first  method  gave  51.6  per  cent.,  and  the  second 
56.9  per  cent. 

Such  a  marked  difference  is  not  found  in  all  cases,  as  shown  by 
Table  XVI-W,  which  gives  the  results  obtained  by  E.  A.  Ouster, 
who  at  the  time  was  connected  with  The  Baldwin  Locomotive 
Works,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

In  the  case  of  the  slow  speed  there  is  less  difference  between  the 
two  determinations  of  the  elastic  limit  than  is  shown  by  Henning, 
while  with  the  fast  speed  there  is  more.  This  matter  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  pulling  speed  upon  the  recorded  physical  properties  is 
considered  in  the  next  section. 

TABLE  XVI-W. 

Parallel  Determinations  of  the  Elastic  Limit  by  the  Autographic 
Device  and  by  the  Drop  of  the  Beam.* 


No.  of  tests. 

Pulling  speed. 

Ultimate 
strength  ; 
pounds 
per  sq.  in. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per  square 
in.  as  determined  by 

Elastic  ratio; 
per  ce.nt.,  as 
determined  by 

Auto- 
graphic 
device. 

Fall  of 
beam. 

Auto- 
graphic 
device. 

Fall  of 
beam. 

6 
3 

1  inch  in  8  minutes. 
4  inches  in  1  minute. 

56820 

58870 

36120 
35890 

37510 
40530 

63.6 
61.0 

66.0 

68.8 

The  whole  subject  of  the  determination  of  the  elastic  limit  was 
discussed  in  The  Engineering  News,  of  July  25,  1895.  After  re- 
viewing at  great  length  the  arguments  presented  by  several  engi- 
neers in  previous  issues,  and  after  quoting  from  many  authorities, 
the  following  conclusions  were  reached : 

"Having  thus  shown  the  impossibility  of  determining  by  micro- 
metric  measurement  the  elastic  limit,  when  it  is  defined  as  the  point 
at  which  the  rate  of  stretch  begins  to  change,  and  the  extreme 
variability  of  the  position  of  the  so-called'  'yield-point'  with  the 
method  of  running  the  machine  and  with  the  method  of  measur- 
ing and  recording  results,  had  we  not  better  drop  these  new  defi- 
nitions and  methods  of  attempting  to  locate  points  whose  position 


*  From  E.  A.  Custer,  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


452  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

is  so  extremely  variable,  and  whose  determination  depends  so 
largely  upon  the  personal  equation  of  the  observer,  and  return  to 
the  good,  old-fashioned  definitions  and  methods?  If  for  scientific 
purposes  there  is  any  need  for  determining  microscopically  that 
point  at  which  the  rate  of  stretch  begins  microscopically  to  change, 
let  us  call  that  point  the  'limit  of  proportionality/  as  Bauschinger 
did,  and  leave  its  determination  to  the  college  professors. 

"Let  us  keep  the  old  term  elastic  limit  with  its  old  significance 
as  that  point  at  which  a  permanent  set  visible  to  the  naked  eye 
takes  place,  at  which  the  rate  of  stretch  increases  so  that  the  in- 
crease may  be  (albeit  with  some  difficulty)  distinguishable  by  the 
use  of  a  pair  of  dividers  and  a  magnifying  glass,  or  more  easily  and 
certainly  by  the  drop  of  the  beam,  or  by  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  turns  of  the  crank  needed  to  produce  a  given  increase  in  stretch. 

"For  the  purpose  of  determining  this  elastic  limit  let  the  testing 
machine  be  run  by  hand  until  the  limit  is  passed  and  the  record 
taken  (or  run  by  hand  between  the  load  of  30,000  pounds  and  the 
elastic  limit),  and  then  let  the  power  gear  be  thrown  in  and  the 
test  completed  in  the  present  rapid  fashion.  Since  the  term  'yield 
point,  is  quite  recent,  and  has  no  meaning  essentially  different 
from  the  words  'elastic  limit'  in  time-honored  practice,  why  need  it 
be  used  at  all?" 

These  conclusions  represent  common  sense  in  their  summary 
dealing  with  the  petty  theories  of  enthusiasts,  who  are  so  wrapped 
up  in  the  accurate  determination  of  a  micrometrical  measurement 
that  they  ignore  the  more  important  variations  inherent  in  the 
method  itself,  not  to  mention  the  still  more  overwhelming  differences 
caused  by  changes  in  the  history  and  shape  of  the  material.  I  do 
not  see,  however,  why  it  is  necessary  to  revert  to  the  primitiye  and 
laborious  method  of  driving  a  machine  by  hand  when  there  is  a 
power  attachment  with  different  pulleys.  The  speed  should  be 
lower  during  the  determination  of  the  elastic  limit  than  can  be 
used  for  breaking  the  piece,  but  a  specification  that  this  work  must 
be  done  by  hand  is  a  confession  of  lack  of  ingenuity  which  is 
neither  creditable  to  engineering  science,  nor  justified  by  facts. 

SEC.  XVIn. — Effect  of  variations  in  the  pulling  speed  of  the  test' 
ing  machine  upon  the  recorded  physical  properties. — To  find  the 
effect  of  variations  in  pulling  speed,  ten  different  rivet  rods  were 
taken  from  an  acid  open-hearth  heat.  From  each  rod  five  bars 


THE    HISTORY    AND    SHAPE    OF    THE    TEST-PIECE. 


453 


were  cut,  and  each  one  of  these  was  broken  at  a  different  speed. 
The  results  are  given  in  Table  XVI-X. 

TABLE  XVI-X. 

Effect  of  Variations  in  the  Pulling  Speed  of  Testing  Machine  upon 
the  Kecorded  Results. 

NOTE.— Tests  were  made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company. 


Number 
of  bars. 

Pulling  speed;  inches  per  minute. 

4.50 

8.CO 

0.67 

0.88 

0.07 

Ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

1 
2 
8 

4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 

61060 
61140 
61610 
61500 
61870 
60200 
60620 
60520 
61200 
61030 

C1860 
60760 
61230 
61150 
61580 
59720 
60140 
59580 
61100 
60100 

60640 
59200 
59910 
58950 
59960 
59040 
59290 
58760 
60000 
59480 

60240 
59440 
59680 
59620 
59910 
58240 
59380 
58400 
59620 
59340 

59660 
59100 
59100 
59220 
59760 
59100 
58200 
58160 
58870 
59100 

Av. 

61075 

60672 

59523 

59387 

59027 

Elastic  limit  ;  pounds 
per  square  inch. 

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 

46640 
44070 
46920 
46730 
45080 
44360 
47500 
44680 
45000 
46100 

44930 
43500 
44680 
45560 
46300 
43400 
43670 
44680 
43440 
43940 

43240 
44810 
42220 
42720 
43120 
41690 
43090 
42650 
42380 
43120 

42650 
41980 
41270 
41830 
43430 
40810 
41880 
41370 
40860 
41600 

89610 
89480 
89250 
40300 
40480 
89240 
88950 
89720 
39720 
89720 

Av. 

45708 

44410 

42904 

417G3 

89647 

Elastic  ratio;  per  ct. 

Av. 

74.84 

73.20 

72.08 

70.32 

67.17 

Elongation  in  8 
inches  ;  per  cent. 

1 
2 
8 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 

29.50 
82.00 
81.75 
27.75 
81.50 
80.50 
29.50 
31.00 
80.00 
29.65 

28.25 
30.50 
82.00 
27.00 
80.50 
80.75 
30.50 
28.50 
82.00 
81.75 

31.00 
80.75 
27.50 
28.50 
80.00 
29.00 
81.00 
29.25 
28.00 
29.50 

28.00 
29.50 
29.25 
28.00 
29.50 
80.00 
81.00 
28.00 
80.00 
30.00 

84.00 
81.25 
81.25 
82.25 
80.25 
82.00 
82.75 
82.75 
80.75 
8200 

Av. 

80.32 

80.18 

29.45 

29.33 

81.93 

Reduction  of  area  ; 
per  cent. 

1 
2 
8 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 

66.1 
67.1 
62.3 
64.9 
63.3 
66.0 
66.8 
62.4 
64.5 
66.2 

65.9 
66.0 
62.4 
65.0 
64.4 
66.2 
66.3 
62.6 
63.5 
66.0 

66.7 
66.0 
63.9 
64.9 
64.2 
66.7 
67.4 
68.0 
64.3 
66.1 

67.0 
66.7 
63.2 
65.9 
63.7 
67.3 
67.1 
63.1 
65.8 
67.1 

68.4 
67.1 
68.4 
67.7 
65.0 
66.0 
67.9 
64.8 
66.9 
67.6 

Av.          64.96 

64.83 

65.82 

65.69 

66.48 

It  will  be  seen  that  a  decrease  in  pulling  speed  is  accompanied 
by  a  decrease  in  the  ultimate  strength,  elastic  limit,  elastic  ratio, 


454  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

and  elongation.  The  differences  are  not  extreme,  but  their  regu- 
larity, when  viewed  in  connection  with  the  uniform  conditions  of 
the  experiment  and  the  evident  homogeneity  of  the  material,  makes 
the  testimony  almost  conclusive.  In  the  case  of  the  slowest  speed 
there  is  an  exception  to  this  rule  in  a  marked'  increase  of  extension, 
and  an  inspection  will  show  that  this  does  not  arise  from  an  aver- 
age of  erratic  members,  but  from  an  increase  in  every  bar.  This 
point  is  not  of  great  practical  importance,  since  it  requires  nearly 
an  hour  to  break  a  single  bar  of  ductile  steel  at  this  speed.  The 
reduction  of  area  seems  to  remain  practically  constant  throughout 
the  series. 

The  natural  result  of  this  investigation  would  be  a  tendency 
toward  higher  breaking  speeds.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  this 
may  be  carried  too  far,  since  with  fast  work  it  is  more  difficult  to 
take  accurate  readings. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE   INFLUENCE   OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS   ON    THE   PHYSICAL   PROP- 
ERTIES OF  STEEL. 

SECTION  XVIIa. — Difficulties  attending  the  quantitative  valua- 
tion of  alloyed  elements. — Numerous  investigations  have  been  con- 
ducted to  discover  the  influence  of  different  elements  on  the 
strength  and  ductility  of  steel,  a  common  method  being  to  melt 
definite  combinations  in  crucibles  and  ascribe  the  physical  result  to 
the  known  variables,  under  the  assumption  that  all  other  things  are 
equal.  This  system  of  experiment  will  answer  in  noting  the  effect 
of  large  proportions  of  certain  elements,  or  in  showing  the  qualita- 
tive influence  of  unusual  ingredients;  but  it  is  worthless  in  the 
accurate  quantitative  valuation  of  minute  proportions  of  the  metal- 
loids, since  small  variations  in  the  chemical  equation  are  masked  by 
irregularities  in  the  detail  of  casting  and  working.  The  problem 
is  also  complicated  by  numberless  combinations  of  different  percent- 
ages of  the  various  elements,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  groups 
of  charges  where  there  is  only  one  variable. 

It  has,  therefore,  not  infrequently  happened  that  inconclusive 
data  have  been  joined  to  bad  logic,  and  the  conclusions  of  special 
investigators  have  been  at  variance  with  all  the  teachings  of  experi- 
ence. It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enumerate  all  the  theories  or  deduc- 
tions of  experimenters,  but  I  shall  aim  to  give  a  general  survey  of 
the  situation  and  to  review  the  opinions  and  work  of  different  lead- 
ing authorities.  In  Part  I  each  element  is  considered  separately, 
and  I  believe  that  the  views  therein  advanced  are  in  accord  with  the 
general  consensus  of  opinion  among  metallurgists.  Parts  II  and 
III  give  the  result  of  special  investigations  into  the  effect  of  carbon, 
silicon,  manganese,  phosphorus  and  sulphur  upon  the  tensile 
strength  of  steel,  and  a  determination  of  the  strength  of  pure  iron. 
The  results  of  this  work  are  condensed  into  empirical  formulae  from 
which  may  be  calculated  with  reasonable  accuracy  the  ultimate 
strength  of  any  ordinary  structural  steel  whose  composition  is 
known. 

455 


456  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


PART  I. 

EFFECT  OF  CERTAIN  ELEMENTS  AS  DETERMINED  BY  GENERAL  EXPERI- 
ENCE AND  BY  THE  USUAL  METHODS  OF  INVESTIGATION. 

SEC.  XVIIb. — Influence  of  carbon. — The  ordinary  steel  of  com- 
merce is  carbon-steel;  in  other  words,  the  distinctive  features  of 
two  different  grades  are  due  for  the  most  part  to  variations  in  car- 
bon rather  than  to  differences  in  other  elements.  There  are  often 
wide  variations  in  manganese,  phosphorus,  silicon,  etc.,  but  it  is 
rarely  that  the  carbon  content  does  not  determine  the  class  in  which 
the  material  belongs.  This  selection  of  carbon  as  the  one  impor- 
tant variable  arose  primarily  from  the  fact  that  primitive  Tubal 
Cains  could  produce  a  hard  cutting  instrument  with  no  apparatus 
save  a  wrought-iron  bar  and  a  pile  of  charcoal;  and  the  natural 
developments  in  manufacture  have  led  to  the  conclusion  that  a 
given  content  of  carbon  will  confer  greater  hardness  and  strength, 
with  less  accompanying  brittleness,  than  any  other  element. 

There  are  certain  exceptions  to  be  taken  to  this  statement  in  the 
case  of  hard  steels  made  by  manganese,  chromium,  or  tungsten, 
but  it  may  be  accepted  as  true  in  soft  steel.  It  follows,  therefore, 
that  no  limit  should  ever  be  placed  to  the  carbon  allowed  in  any 
structural  material  if  a  given  tensile  strength  is  specified.  It  is, 
of  course,  true  that  every  increment  of  carbon  increases  the  hard- 
ness, the  brittleness  under  shock,  and  the  susceptibility  to  crack 
under  sudden  cooling  and  heating,  while  it  reduces  the  elongation 
and  reduction  of  area,  but  the  strength  must  be  bought  at  a  certain 
cost,  and  this  cost  is  less  in  the  case  of  carbon  than  with  any  other 
element. 

SEC.  XVIIc. — Influence  of  silicon. — The  contradictory  testimony 
concerning  the  effect  of  silicon  on  steel  has  been  well  summarized 
by  Prof.  Howe,*  who  records  many  examples  of  exceptional  steels 
with  abnormal  contents  of  silicon,  and  who  fully  discusses  the 
theories  advanced  by  different  writers.  He  finds  no  proof  that 
silicon  has  any  bad  effect  upon  the  ductility  or  toughness  of  steel, 
and  he  concludes  that  the  bad  quality  of  certain  specimens  is  not 
necessarily  due  to  the  silicon  content,  but  to  other  unknown  con- 
ditions. A  Bessemer  steel  with  high  silicon  is  sometimes  produced 
by  hot  blowing,  but  it  will  be  entirely  wrong  to  compare  such  metal 

*  TTie  MctaJlurr>y  cf  Steel,  p.  36.  , 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


457 


with  the  common  product  and  ascribe  all  differences  to  the  chemi- 
cal formula,  rather  than  to  the  circumstances  which  created  that 
formula. 

Since  the  appearance  of  The  Metallurgy,  an  able  paper  has  been 
written  by  Hadfield,*  who  produced  alloys  with  different  contents 
of  silicon  by  melting  wrought-iron  and  ferro-silicon  in  crucibles. 
The  metal  was  cast  in  ingots  2%  inches  square,  and  these  were 
reduced  by  forging  to  1%  inches  square  and  then  rolled  into  bars 
1%  inches  in  diameter.  In  the  list  of  analyses  in  the  paper  re- 
ferred to,  there  are  slight  differences  in  the  composition  of  drillings 
from  different  bars  of  the  same  ingot,  but  in  Table  XYII-A  I 
have  averaged  the  results  of  each  cast  so  as  to  show  the  nature  of 
the  material  under  investigation,  and  have  given  the  physical  results 
on  the  rolled  bars  in  their  natural  state. 

TABLE  XVII-A. 
Physical  Properties  of  Silicon  Steels,  f 


r  cent. 

! 

I 

er  cent. 

1 

QQ 

:rength  ; 
?r  square 

j 

•£   - 

3 

J 

d 
£^ 

c8 

Q 

f|| 

P< 

1 

w 

- 

3 

CQ  ft 

"s  & 

- 

o  ft 

«  fl  0< 

t 

H" 

o 

I 

IN 

0 

H, 

0 
8-3 

ll     . 
.§§S 

i|^ 

S 

2   GQ 

c8  Hi 

bJDXS 
C  o 

2« 

is 

d  — 

|||j 

I 

1 

£ 

c8  & 

.Q  O 

^a.a 

3S^ 

JH  S 

^.s 

rrt  1? 
<P   — 

2*3  E«2 

si 

0 

53 

^ 

CO 

p 

H 

H 

W 

M 

^ 

A 

.14 

.21 

.14 

.08 

05 

7J3920 

49280 

66.7 

80.05 

54.54 

56000 

B 

.18 

.77 

.21 

7616D 

56000 

73.5 

29.50 

54.54 

64960 

C 

.19 

1.57 

.28 

84000 

62720 

74.7 

81.10 

50.58 

73920 

D 

.20 

2.14 

.25 

06 

04 

88480 

69440 

78.5 

18.48 

28.02 

76160 

E 

.20 

2.67 

.25 

95200 

71680 

75.3 

17.60 

24.36 

71680 

F 

.21 

3.40 

.29 

106400 

78400 

73.7 

11.10 

14.22 

87360 

G 

.25 

4.30 

.36 

109760 

100800 

91.8 

0.004 

0.20 

85120 

H 

.26 

5.08 

.29 

06 

.04 

107520 

not  visible 

0.30 

0.70 

56000 

Bars  A,  B,  C  and  D  showed  a  silky  fracture  after  breaking,  but 
with  higher  silicon  the  crystallization  was  very  coarse.  They  also 
showed  no  great  hardening  or  brittleness  after  being  quenched  in 
water  from  a  yellow  heat,  while  even  the  higher  alloys,  although 
made  quite  stiff  by  the  chilling,  were  not  rendered  very  hard,  and 
preserved  a  good  degree  of  ductility.  With  the  exception  of  A 
the  ingots  forged  well  even  up  to  5.5  per  cent,  of  silicon,  but  all 
attempts  at  welding  were  unsatisfactory. 

These  results  are  of  the  highest  value  in  showing  that  silicon 


*  On  Alloys  of  Iron  and  Silicon.     Journal  I   and  8.  I.,  Vol.  11,  1889,  p.  222. 
t  Condensed  from  Hadfield.     Journal  I.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  II.  1889,  p.  222. 


458 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


cannot  be  classed  among  the  highly  injurious  elements,  for  in  simi- 
lar proportion  phosphorus  and  sulphur  would  be  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, manganese  would  give  a  worthless  metal,  and  carbon  would 
change  the  bar  to  pig-iron.  It  will,  therefore,  be  only  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  small  quantities  cannot  exert  a  very  deleterious 
influence. 

The  only  bar  in  the  table  which  contains  a  moderate  content  of 
silicon  is  A  with  .21  per  cent.,  and  it  is  recorded  that  this  ingot  did 
not  forge  well  and  did  not  weld,  but  it  must  be  considered  that  the 
manganese  was  only  .14  per  cent,  while  the  sulphur  was  .08  per 
cent,  and  the  phosphorus  .05  per  cent.  Assuredly,  it  would  hardly 
be  expected  that  such  metal  would  forge  very  well,  and  it  is  not 
singular  that  it  gave  trouble,  while  other  experimenters  have  forged 
and  welded  steel  with  similar  contents  of  silicon  when  the  associated 
elements  were  in  proper  proportion. 

TABLE  XYII-B. 

Influence  of  Silicon  on  the  Tensile  Strength  as  Shown  by 
Data  in  Table  XVII-A. 


i 

g 

J 

I 

o 

1 

I 

03 
O 

4* 

d 

o> 
o 

! 

1 

53 

Manganese; 
per  cent. 

Ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Difference  in 
strength  between 
each  test  and  the 
barB. 

Difference  in 
strength  due  to 
difference  in 
carbon. 

Difference  bet.  the 
last  two  columns 
showing  increase 
in  strength  due 
to  silicon. 

Increase  in  percent- 
age of  silicon  com- 
pared with  bar  B. 

Increase  in  strength 
due  to  .01  per  cent. 
of  silicon. 

B 

18 

77 

21 

76160 

C 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 

.19 
.20 
.20 
.21 
.25 
.26 

1.57 
2.14 
2.67 
3.40 
4.30 
5.08 

.28 
.25 
.25 
.29 
.36 
.29 

84000 
88480 
95200 
106400 
109760 
107520 

7840 
12320 
19040 
80240 
33600 
31360 

1210 
2420 
2420 
8630 

8470 
9680 

6630 
9900 
16620 
26610 
25130 
21680 

.80 
1.37 
1.90 
2.63 
3.53 
4.31 

83 
72 
87 
101 
71 
50 

In  the  whole  series  it  must  be  considered  that  the  amount  of 
work  done  upon  the  ingot  in  reducing  it  from  2%  inches  square 
to  1%  inches  in  diameter  was  wholly  insufficient  to  give  a  proper 
structure,  so  that  little  weight  can  be  attached  to  the  determination 
on  any  one  bar.  This  renders  it  difficult  to  calculate  the  exact 
effect  of  silicon,  especially  since  the  bars  A  and  B  present  some 
contradictions.  Thus  B  contains  .04  per  cent,  more  carbon  than 
A,  .07  per  cent,  more  manganese,  and  .56  per  cent,  more  silicon,  and 
yet  has  only  2240  pounds  more  tensile  strength  per  square  inch. 

Inspection  shows  that  A  is  probably  the  erratic  member,  for  its 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


459 


strength  is  altogether  too  high  for  its  composition.  Moreover,  the 
annealed  bars  show  a  loss  in  strength  of  24  per  cent,  from  the  nat- 
ural in  A}  while  ,bars  B,  C  and  D  gives  15,  12  and  14  per  cent.,  re- 
spectively, so  that  it  is  likely  that  A  is  finished  at  too  low  a  tem- 
perature and  has  a  higher  strength  than  really  belongs  to  it.  For 
this  reason  it  will  be  set  aside  as  abnormal,  and  in  Table  XVII-B 
the  bar  B  is  taken  as  a  basis  from  which  to  investigate  the  differ- 
ences in  tensile  strength.  Xo  allowance  is  made  for  manganese, 
since  this  element  is  fairly  constant  in  all  the  specimens,  but  a 
value  of  1210  pounds  per  square  inch  is  given  to  carbon  in  accord- 
ance with  the  formula  given  in  Table  XVII-U.  After  this  allow- 
ance the  remaining  variations  are  ascribed  to  silicon,  but  this  is 
not  strictly  correct  as  no  data  are  at  hand  concerning  the  content 
of  phosphorus,  so  that  the  answer  is  open  to  question. 

TABLE  XYII-C. 

Physical  Properties  of  Steels  Containing  from  .01  to  .50  Per  Cent. 

Silicon.* 

NOTE.— All  bars  rolled  well;  they  bent  well  both  hot  and  cold  except  No.  11,  which 
broke  cold  at  an  angle  of  50°;  they  all  welded  perfectly;  the  differences  in  hard- 
ness were  scarcely  perceptible. 


o> 

43* 

d 

8 

1 

1 

h 
I 

1 

|i 

(H 
ft 

J 

1 

o 

o 

h 

ft 

•«**" 

o>  ^ 

»M 

c  *. 

<M 

O 

S 

ft 

1 

ft 

3 

i" 

11 

tap, 

0 

9 

c3 

gft 

O 

1 

i 

ff 

IT 

,|j 

0 

ftl 

OP 

1 

S  °° 

I|j 

^1^ 

E 

4J   M" 

&J 

t>  o 

g 

0 

i 

1 

§g 

,C  o 

ll 

III 

ill 

11 

II 

II 

» 

n 

O 

02 

PH 

s 

w 

P 

H 

N 

H 

1 

.010 

.16 

.050 

.WO 

.550 

49280 

66394 

74.3 

23.1 

48.8 

2 

.061 

.16 

.028 

.058 

.619 

49750 

70806 

70.3 

20.4 

40.7 

8 

.070 

.15 

.084 

.051 

.500 

47152 

66102 

71.3 

22.9 

61.5 

4 

.092 

.21 

.084 

.064 

.634 

60243 

75398 

66.6 

19.4 

44.1 

5 

.102 

.18 

.028 

.066 

.662 

47622 

75197 

63.4 

20.6 

61.4 

6 

.121 

.19 

.064 

.068 

.576 

60848 

71367 

71.2 

21.9 

43.7 

7 

.815 

.13 

.028 

.057 

.480 

47690 

65901 

72.4 

24.8 

66.6 

8 

.247 

.19 

.028 

.074 

.642 

49795 

77728 

64.0 

17.6 

49.6 

9 

.320 

.15 

.040 

.081 

.490 

49997 

74435 

67.1 

16.7 

86.1 

13 

.882 

.16 

.042 

.087 

.583 

55373 

79901 

69.3 

18.0 

80.7 

11 

•504 

.18 

.094 

.121 

.455 

f9024 

822S) 

71.7 

19.4 

84.8 

This  table  cannot  be  called  a  conclusive  equation  of  the  effect  of 
silicon,  for  the  carbon  was  determined  by  color  instead  of  com- 
bustion, the  number  of  tests  is  altogether  too  limited,  and  no  ac- 
count is  taken  of  phosphorus,  but  there  seems  to  be  a  strengthening 
effect  of  about  80  pounds  for  every  .01  per  cent,  of  silicon  up  to  a 
content  of  4  per  cent.,  while  be3rond  this  there  is  a  deterioration 

*  Report  of  British  Association,  1888. 


460 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


of  the  metal,  as  shown  in  Table  XVII-A.  This  would  mean  an 
increase  of  only  1600  pounds  for  .20  per  cent,  silicon,  being  one- 
third  more  than  that  produced  by  .01  per  cent,  of  carbon.  (See 
Table  XVII-U.)  It  has  already  been  noted  that  A,  which  was  the 
only  bar  containing  an  ordinary  percentage  of  silicon,  gave  abnor- 
mal results  in  tensile  strength,  but  this  cannot  be  due  to  silicon, 
for  the  elastic  ratio  is  quite  normal,  the  elongation  fair,  and  the 
reduction  of  area  very  good. 

An  investigation  into  the  effect  of  ordinary  proportions  of  silicon 
was  conducted  by  Turner  under  the  auspices  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation. Table  XVII-C  gives  the  results  as  published  in  Journal 
I.  and  S.  L,  Vol.  II,  1888,  p.  302.  There  are  considerable  varia- 
ations  in  the  elements  other  than  silicon,  and  the  bad  character  of 
No.  11  may  well  be  explained  by  its  high  content  of  phosphorus. 
Tor  better  comparison  Table  XVII-D  gives  the  averages  of  the 
first  four  tests,  all  of  which  are  below  .10  per  cent,  in, silicon,  and 
the  last  three,  which  are  above  .30  per  cent. 

TABLE  XVII-D. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Low-Silicon  and  High-Silicon 
Steels ;  from  Data  in  Table  XVII-C. 


d   ' 

Composition;  percent. 

2 

a 

. 

OB 

rj 

u 

°s 

I 

c3 

..£ 

a 

d° 

* 

^ 

-^    t* 

£  *•"§ 

cT 

0 

*O 

£& 

3J  05  "^ 

«« 

8| 

ft* 

ID'S 

Sf 

+J  03 

S  Q 

d 

f  S 

•^  ~  rj 

ri  ^  c3 

b£-C3 

o  ^ 

£2 

s|§ 

si.o1 

ll 

c  rt 

-§OJ 

0 

fc 

SI.         C.        F 

,.          P. 

Mn. 

H 

P 

H 

S 

tf 

1 

4 

.056        .170      .0 

61        .0-33 

.576 

49106 

69">75 

70.5 

21.5 

46.3 

2 

3 

.402        .160      .0 

59        ,096 

.493 

54798 

78863 

69.5 

18.0 

33.9 

The  effect  of  the  difference  caused  by  elements  other  than  silicon 
may  be  calculated  from  the  formula  given  in  Table  XVII-U,  car- 
bon being  taken  at  +121  pounds  for  .001  per  cent.,  and  phosphorus 
at  +89.  The  result  is  as  follows : 

Lbs.  per  sq.  In. 
Group  II  should  be  stronger  than  Group  I. 

On  account  of  phosphorus,  38  X  89 3382 

Group  II  should  bo  weaker  than  Group  I. 

On  account  of  carbon,  10  x  121 1210 

Net  strengthening  from  constituents  other  than  silicon  .  2172 
Strengthening  from  all  constituents  including  silicon  .  .  9188 

Strengthening  due  to  .35  per  cent,  of  silicon .7016 

Strengthening  due  to  each  .01  per  cent,  of  silicon  r  .   200 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN   ELEMENTS   QN    STEEL.  461 

This  signifies  that  .20  per  cent,  of  silicon  would  give  an  increase 
in  ultimate  strength  of  4000  pounds  per  square  inch,  which  is  only 
a  little  more  than  would  be  given  by  .03  per  cent,  of  carbon.  (See 
Table  XVII-U.) 

The  influence  of  silicon  upon  the  tensile  strength  is  often  con- 
founded with  that  of  carbon.  It  is  well  known  that  the  addition 
of  high-silicon  pig-iron  to  a  charge  of  low  steel  strengthens  the 
metal  more  than  a  similar  addition  of  ordinary  pig-iron.  But  the 
fact  is  lost  sight  of  that  this  silicon  prevents  the  burning  of  carbon, 
both  by  the  absorption  of  oxygen  and  by  the  deadening  of  the  bath, 
so  that  the  resultant  metal  is  of  higher  carbon. 

If  the  ordinary  color  method  were  reliable,  this  would  be  de- 
tected and  proper  credit  given  to  it,  but  it  often  happens  that  an 
increment  of  .03  per  cent,  of  carbon  is  not  shown  by  analysis,  so 
that  its  effect  upon  the  ultimate  strength,  which  will  amount  to 
about  3500  pounds  per  square  inch,  will  be  incorrectly  ascribed  to 
whatever  small  percentage  of  silicon  has  survived  the  reactions 
during  recarburization.  This  criticism  on  the  determination  of 
carbon  applies  to  the  data  given  in  Tables  XVII-A  and  XYII-C, 
and  renders  the  calculations  thereon  of  limited  value. 
.  These  conclusions  are  corroborated  by  the  testimony  of  Groups 
49,  52,  54,  55,  56,  57,  GO  and  61  in  Table  XVII-N,  as  shown  in 
Pig.  XVII-A.  All  of  these  groups  contain  high  silicon,  but  they 
do  not  seem  to  differ  materially  from  the  normal  steels.  Between 
the  limits  of  82,000  and  100,000  pounds  ultimate  strength  there 
are  seven  groups  in  Table  XVII-N",  Nos.  48,  49,  50,  51,  52,  53  and 
54,  some  containing  high  silicon  and  some  with  a  low  percentage, 
but  the  great  variations  do  not  seem  to  have  any  decided  effect  in 
altering  the  trend  of  the  curve,  although  the  contents  of  sulphur, 
phosphorus  and  manganese  are  fairly  constant.  (This  question  is 
discussed  more  fully  in  Section  XVIIp.) 

It  is  well  known  that  many  continental  works  have  habitually 
made  their  rails  with  from  .30  to  .60  per  cent,  of  silicon,  and  that 
all  requirements  of  strength  and  ductility  have  been  met.  All  the 
authorities  do  not  approve  this  practice,  and  it  is  stated  by  Ehren- 
werth,*  that  the  latest  results  are  rather  in  the  opposite  direction 
in  the  case  of  low  steels,  f  but  I  was  told  some  years  ago,  by  the 
manager  of  one  of  the  French  establishments,  that  the  only  way 

*  Dos  Berg-  und  Htittenwesen  auf  der  Weltausstellung  tn  Chicago,  1895. 
t  See  page  78,  ante. 


462  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

in  which  he  was  able  to  fill  one  contract  with  particularly  severe 
specifications,  was  by  making  the  rails  contain  from  .30  to  .40  per 
cent,  of  silicon,  since  a  less  proportion  would  not  stand  the  drop- 
tests.  It  is  not  necessary  to  question  whether  this  conclusion  was 
warranted  or  not;  it  is  enough  to  know  that  the  steel  was  of  the 
best  quality,  whether  on  account  of  the  silicon  or  in  spite  of  it. 

The  fact  that  silicon  may  be  allowed  in  rails  has  been  acknowl- 
edged by  Sandberg,  who  writes  as  follows:*  "Silicon  up  to  .30 
per  cent.,  with  carbon  .30  to  .40  per  cent.,  does  not  harden  steel 
or  make  it  brittle,  and  diminishes  .its  strength  in  such  small  degree 
as  not  to  imperil  the  safety  of  the  rail."  The  italics  in  the  quota- 
tion are  my  own,  and  are  to  call  attention  to  the  implication  that 
silicon  lowers  the  strength  rather  than  raises  it. 

Exceptional  cases  have  been  recorded  of  soft  steels  with  high 
silicon,  like  the  very  tough  rail  mentioned  by  Snelus,f  with  carbon 
below  .10  per  cent,  and  silicon  .83  per  cent.  It  must  be  considered, 
however,  that  although  this  might  have  been  very  tough  for  a  rail, 
it  does  not  follow  that  it  was  very  tough  for  soft  steel,  but  it  is  quite 
certain  that  it  could  not  have  been  bad  or  brittle. 

With  the  knowledge  possessed  concerning  the  relative  effect  of 
impurities  upon  hard  and  soft  steels,  the  assumption  would  almost 
be  justified  that  low-carbon  metal  might  be  allowed  to  contain  a 
larger  percentage  of  silicon  than  higher  steel.  There  is  no  need, 
however,  of  such  an  admission,  for  structural  steels  do  not  often 
contain  over  .05  per  cent,  of  silicon,  while  usually  they  hold  less 
than  .03  per  cent. 

Tool  steel  is  subjected  to  the  most  severe  of  all  tests  in  the  ex- 
posure of  a  hardened  edge  to  the  blows  of  a  hammer  or  the  shocks 
of  a  planer.  It  was  not  the  laboratory  but  the  requirements  of 
general  practice  from  which  was  unconsciously  evolved  the  formula 
for  such  metal,  requiring  low  phosphorus,  low  sulphur  and  low 
manganese.  In  this  process  of  natural  selection  no  mention  was 
made  of  silicon.  It  is  true  that  some  makers  try  to  keep  it  as  low 
as  possible,  but  a  large  part  of  the  best  steel  has  regularly  contained, 
year  after  year,  from  .20  to  .80  per  cent,  of  this  element. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  testimony  as  to  the  harmlessness  of  sili- 
con, it  is  firmly  believed  by  many  practical  metallurgists  that  the 

*  Proc.  English  Inst.  Mech.  Eng.,  1890,  p.  301. 

t  On  the  Chemical  Composition  and  Testing  of  Steel  Rails.  Journal  I.  and  S.  /.> 
Vol.  II,  1882,  p  .583. 


INFLUENCE   OF    CERTAIN   ELEMENTS   ON    STEEL.  463 

presence  of  even  .03  per  cent,  materially  injures  the  quality  of  soft 
steel,  such  as  is  used  for  fire-boxes.  I  cannot  positively  assert  the 
contrary,  but  I  believe  that  the  effects  ascribed  to  silicon  may  be 
due  to  the  conditions  of  manufacture  which  gave  rise  to  it,  or  to 
the  conditions  of  casting  which  it  produces.  These  conditions 
might  be  fatal  under  one  practice,  as,  for  instance,  when  ingots  are 
rolled  directly  into  plates,  while  they  might  be  harmless,  or  even 
beneficent,  when  an  ingot  is  roughed  down-  and  reheated.  The 
opinions  of  practical  men  are  sometimes  of  more  value  than  the 
learned  conclusions  of  theorists,  and  must  never  be  ignored,  but 
they  are  not  always  inerrant. 

SEC.  XVIId. — Influence  of  manganese. — Spiegel-iron  or  ferro- 
manganese  is  added  to  a  heat  of  steel  at  the  time  of  tapping  in 
order  that  it  may  seize  the  oxygen,  which  is  dissolved  in  the  bath, 
and  transfer  it  to  the  slag  as  oxide  of  manganese ;  but  this  reaction 
is  not  perfect,  as  shown  in  Section  Xj,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  all  common  steels  contain  a  certain  percentage  of  oxygen.* 
Steel  low  in  phosphorus  and  sulphur  requires  less  manganese  than 
impure  metal,  although  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  there  should  be 
less  oxygen  to  counteract,  and  this  indicates  that  the  function  of 
the  manganese  is  to  prevent  the  coarse  crystallization  which  the 
impurities  would  otherwise  induce. 

Besides  conferring  the  quality  of  hot  ductility,  manganese  also 
raises  the  critical  temperature  to  which  it  is  safe  to  heat  the  steel, 
for  just  as  it  resists  the  separation  of  the  crystals  in  cooling  from 
a  liquid,  so  it  opposes  their  formation  when  a  high  thermal  altitude 
augments  the  molecular  mobility.  These  two  manifestations  of 
the  same  general  force  render  manganese  one  of  the  most  valuable 
and  essential  factors  in  the  making  of  steel,  although  there  is  no 
doubt  that  it  has  been  used  too  freely  in  some  cases. 

Years  ago  some  of  the  railmakers  of  the  country  looked  upon  it 
as  a  panacea  for  all  bad  practices  in  the  Bessemer  and  the  rolling 
mill,  and  steel  often  contained  from  1.25  to  2.00  per  cent,  of 
manganese,  but  it  was  soon  discovered  that  such  rails  were  brittle 
under  shock,  so  that  the  permissible  maximum  has  been  gradually 
lowered,  and  the  standard  product  of  the  present  day  contains 
from  .70  to  1.00  per  cent.  In  higher  steels  the  same  lesson  has 
been  learned,  but  in  this  case  the  necessity  of  a  low  content  is  far 

*  See  Section  XVIIk  for  a  further  discussion  on  this  point. 


464  METALLURGY   OF   IEON   AND   STEEL. 

more  marked,  since  a  percentage  which  is  perfectly  harmless  in 
unhardened  steel  will  cause  cracking  if  the  metal  be  quenched  in 
water.  For  this  reason  it  is  advisable  to  reduce  the  proportion  of 
this  element  in  hard  steel  to  the  lowest  possible  point. 

In  structural  metal  there  is  no  quenching  to  be  done  and  the  line 
of  maximum  manganese  need  not  be  drawn  too  low.  It  is  much 
more  convenient  for  manufacturers  to  produce  a  higher  tensile 
strength  by  the  use  of  spiegel-iron,  which  contains  manganese, 
than  with  ordinary  pig-iron,  since  the  presence  of  manganese  dead- 
ens the  metal  and  prevents  the  oxidation  of  the  carbon. 

Thus  it  happens  that  an  increased  tensile  strength  resulting 
from  the  addition  of  more  recarburizer  is  usually  accompanied  by 
an  increase  in  the  content  of  manganese,  and  it  is  currently  as- 
sumed that  a  considerable  part  of  the  extra  strength  is  due  to  the 
higher  percentage  of  this  element.  In  great  measure  this  is  an 
error,  for  the  increase  in  carbon  is  often  sufficient  to  account  for 
the  change. 

Ferro-manganese  containing  80  per  cent,  of  manganese  holds 
about  5  per  cent,  of  carbon,  and  since  about  one-third  of  the  man- 
ganese is  lost  during  the  reaction  while  very  little  carbon  is  burned, 
it  follows  that  about  2/VX  80=53  points  of  manganese  will  be 
added  to  the  steel  for  every  5  points  of  carbon.  Thus,  if  the  con- 
tent of  manganese  in  any  heat  be  raised  .20  per  cent,  by  an  in- 
.crease  in  the  amount  of  the  recarburizer,  there  will  at  the  same 
time  be  an  increment  of  .02  per  cent,  of  carbon. 

This  slight  change  in  carbon  will  not  always  be  detected  by  the 
color  method,  particularly  as  an  increase  in  manganese  interferes 
with  the  accuracy  of  the  comparison  by  altering  the  tint  of  the 
solution,  and  so  the  effect  of  this  carbon,  representing  an  increase 
in  tensile  strength  of  about  2400  pounds  per  square  inch,  is  often 
ascribed  to  the  increment  of  manganese.  It  is  necessary,  there- 
fore, to  carefully  compare  steels  where  the  composition  is  thor- 
oughly known  to  find  the  effect  of  this  element,  and  this  is  done 
in  Parts  II  and  III  of  this  chapter. 

It  is  also  currently  believed  that  manganese  reduces  the  ductility 
of  steel  to  a  great  extent,  but  Table  XVII-E  will  show  that  the 
effect  is  not  well  marked.  This  table  is  made  by  grouping  together 
heats  of  the  same  general  character  and  of  about  the  same  tensile 
strength,  and  separating  them  into  two  classes  according  to  their 
manganese  content.  Xo  arbitrary  line  is  drawn  between  a  high 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.   ' 


465 


and  low  percentage,  but  each  group  is  divided  so  that  the  number  is 
as  nearly  equal  as  possible  on  each  side.  An  unequal  number  is 
due  solely  to  the  fact  that  several  heats  may  have  exactly  the  same 
content,  and  these  must  all  be  placed  either  on  one  or  the  other  side 
of  the  line. 

TABLE  XVII-E. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Open-Hearth  Steel  with  Dif- 
ferent Contents  of  Manganese. 

Made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company. 


3  |I 

o3 

• 

g 

rt 

I 

rt 

Ei  &€  ^ 

bo 

c8 

£5 

00  ® 

3 

•tH 

*© 

i~| 

33 

rt 

03 

s 

1 

ij 

*J  33  O 

Sft§ 

fi 

is 

3 

1 

03 

0 

05  aj^ 

•2  ••* 

O  r^ 

2  t-i 

d 

'o 

o&c-a 
.Srtrt^ 

38 

t>  . 

8 

P 

°rt§ 

«s 

&£ 

"o  o 

So 

a 

g 

73 

1 

I*  El 

•ji  - 

O  <D 
A  — 

3s 

o>rt 

g 

|| 

III 

HI 

rt  o 

o  a 

rt  tn 

rQ  0) 

11 

•tl 

o 

M 

3 

i, 

P5 

& 

p 

K 

P5 

QQ 

i 

Acid 

55000  to 
60000 

.08 

Low 
High 

7 
6 

.30 
.37 

57922 

58881 

38692 
38598 

29.91 

28.08 

59.02 
57.07 

66.8 
65.6 

%  diam. 

ii 

Basic 

55000  to 
63000 

.03 

Low 
High 

11 
11 

.44 
.57 

58005 
59563 

38547 
40133 

30.16 
30.36 

60.21 
58.55 

66.5 
67.4 

2*% 

in 

Acid 

60000  to 
65000 

.08 

Low 
High 

16 
14 

.35 

.51 

62180 
62605 

41308 
41169 

28.00 
27.65 

50.89 
54.66 

66.4 
65.8 

%  diam. 

IV 

Acid 

65000  to 
70000 

.08 

Low 
High 

26 
32 

.51 

.78 

67421 
68192 

43923 
45854 

25.96 
25.82 

51.29 
51.50 

65.1 
67.2 

X  diam. 

V 

Acid 

70000  to 
75000 

.08 

Low 
High 

18 
25 

.60 
.91 

72353 
72115 

46836 
48359 

24.23 
24.63 

47.79 
47.73 

64.7 
67.1 

%  diam. 

VI 

Acid 

75000  to 
80000 

.08 

Low 
High 

11 
11 

.65 

.84 

77520 

78083 

49411 
50226 

22.34 
23.63 

44.42 
48.49 

63.7 
64.3 

%  diam. 

VII 

Acid 

80000  to 
85000 

.08 

Low 
High 

9 
9 

.68 

.82 

81747 
81860 

51219 
52231 

20.63 
22.67 

41.04 
47.75 

62.7 
63.8 

%  diam. 

VIII 

Acid 

85000  to 
90000 

.08 

Low 
High 

5 

5 

.75 

.83 

86460 
88034 

54517 
55409 

20.41 
20.66 

40.56 
41.92 

63.1 

%  diam. 

It  will  be  evident  that  there  is  no  marked  difference  between  the 
steels  of  high  and  low  manganese,  and  the  results  of  the  eight  dif*- 
ferent  groups  are  so  uniform  in  their  testimony  that  the  work  of 
chance  must  be  almost  absent.  These  records  of  ductility,,  how- 
ever, do  not  take  into  account  the  very  important  quality  of  resist- 
ance to  shock.  It  has  always  been  a  problem  to  devise  some  way 
of  applying  a  satisfactory  test  in  this  direction,  but  the  method  is 
yet  to  be  found.  A  few  crude  experiments  which  I  performed  on 
steel  of  high  manganese,  to  see  how  it  would  act  under  shock,  are 
given  in  Table  XVII-F. 

The  bar  was  struck  while  in  tension  with  a  copper  hammer,  each 


466 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


blow  being  powerful  enough  to  have  permanently  bent  the  bar  if  it 
had  not  been  continually  straightened  by  the  action  of  the  machine.. 
One  of  the  effects  of  this  hammering  is  to  momentarily  loosen  the 
bar  in  the  grips  and  make  a  sudden  jar  upon  the  piece.  This  action 
coupled  with  the  stress  upon  the  outside  fibres  and  the  direct  vibra- 
tion, make  the  test  quite  exhaustive,  although  from  the  difficulty 

TABLE  XVII-F. 

Resistance  to  Shock  of  Steel  Containing  about  1.00  Per  Cent, 
of  Manganese. 

All  tests  %-inch  rolled  rounds,  made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company. 


g 

J 

d 

s 

jf 

0*1 

u 

Q)        Cl 

*^*         P 

£    «H 

t. 

t  numbe 

iganese; 
r  cent. 

Conditions  under  which  test  was  made. 

®5® 

Its 

**  o> 

K 

£   CO 

^ 
C  o 

uction  o 
r  cent. 

8 

*A 

is  A* 

,3  AST 

CC! 

w 

\ 

P 

H 

H 

P5 

6960 

1.00 

Average  of  two  tests,  pulled  quietly  
Average  of  two,  hammered  from  start  to 

71040 

47055 

25.87 

55.05 

finish 

70770 

46380 

2612 

61.40 

Average  of  two  tests,  pulled  quietly 

72175 

48075 

27.00 

54.98 

6961 

1.03 

Average  of  two,  hammered  from  start  to 

finish                    .  .          

71120 

47330 

26.00 

59.20 

6962 

0.94 

Average  of  two  tests,  pulled  quietly  
Average  of  two,  hammered  from  start  to 

74020 

48165 

25.62 

52.60 

finish 

74490 

48340 

23.50 

55.70 

One  bar,  pulled  quietly  
One  bar,  hammered  from  elastic  limit  to 

81070 

52880 

22.50 

43.60 

fracture 

80460 

52760 

23.50 

48.30 

6963 

1.18 

One  bar,  hammered  from  failure  to  fracture, 
One  bar,  began  hammering  at  72000  pounds, 
and  moved  scale  weight  back  as  the 
bar  weakened  

78050 
69040 

51800 
52760 

19.25 
21.00 

55.30 
47.80 

6981 

0.82 

One  bar,  pulled  quietly  
One  bar,  hammered  from  failure  to  fracture, 

67340 
65940 

46030 
44430 

28.12 
28.00 

55.00 
57.90 

6982 

0.91 

One  bar,  pulled  quietly  
One  bar,  hammered  from  failure  to  fracture, 

66700 
67240 

46310 
46090 

26.00 
31.25 

55.98 
55.60 

One  bar,  pulled  quietly  .  .         ........ 

69700 

47650 

26.00 

51.70 

1.03 

One  bar,  hammered  from  failure  to  fracture, 

70080 

46360 

27.12 

53.70 

of  measuring  the  force  of  impact  it  can  hardly  be  called  practical. 
Some  of  the  bars  were  not  struck  until  "failure,"  or  until  the 
maximum  stress  had  been  reached.  This  was  on  account  of  the 
trouble  from  slipping  or  jumping  above  noted  which  followed  the 
hammering  at  earlier  periods,  and  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  if  a 
bar  would  break  at  all  from  shock,  the  fracture  would  be  likely  to 
occur  about  the  time  when  the  piece  was  under  destructive  tension. 


INFLUENCE  OF  CERTAIN  ELEMENTS  ON  STEEL.        467 

It  will  be  evident  that  the  hammering  did  not  in  any  case  deter- 
mine the  time  of  breakage,  for  each  piece  gave  as  good  an  elongation 
and  reduction  of  area  as  a  part  of  the  same  rod  which  was  pulled 
in  the  usual  manner. 

It  is  not  the  intention  to  advocate  the  use  of  such  a  high  content 
of  manganese  as  is  shown  in  Table  XVII-F.  The  general  conclu- 
sion of  metallurgists,,  evolved  from  experience,  seems  to  point  to  as 
low  a  proportion  as  will  ensure  good  working  in  the  rolls.  In  the 
case  of  such  ingots  as  are  rolled  directly  into  plates,  the  allowable 
content  is  limited  by  the  requirement  that  the  steel  shall  boil  in  the 
molds,  but  it  does  not  follow  because  bad  results  accompany  higher 
manganese  in  such  practice,  that  the  quality  of  the  product  is  pro- 
portionally deteriorated  when  the  ingot  is  roughed  down  and  re- 
heated. 

The  effect  of  large  proportions  of  manganese  upon  steel  is  one  of 
the  most  curious  phenomena  in  metallurgy.  As  the  content  rises 
over  1.5  or  2.0  per  cent,  the  metal  becomes  brittle  and  almost  worth- 
less, and  further  additions  do  not  better  the  matter  until  an  alloy  is 
reached  with  about  6  or  7  per  cent,  manganese.  From  this  point 
the  metal  is  not  only  extremely  hard,  but  possesses  the  rather  pecu- 
liar property  of  becoming  very  much  tougher  after  quenching  in 
water,  without  any  great  change  in  hardness. 

The  physical  properties  of  manganese  steel  are  shown  in  Table 
XVII-G,  which  is  taken  from  an  article  by  Hadneld.*  This 
alloy  is  used  in  the  making  of  car  wheels,  dredger  links  and  pins, 
and  other  articles  where  the  maximum  of  hardness  must  be  com- 
bined with  toughness.  Its  great  disadvantage  is  the  difficulty  of 
doing  machine  work  upon  it,  for  the  best  of  hardened  tools  will 
rapidly  crumble  and  wear  out.  In  cases  where  finishing  is  essen- 
tial it  is  necessary  to  grind  by  emery  wheels. 

SEC.  XVIIe. — Influence  of  sulphur. — Nothing  is  better  estab- 
lished than  the  fact  that  sulphur  injures  the  rolling  qualities  of 
steel,  causing  it  to  crack  and  tear,  and  lessening  its  capacity  to 
weld.  This  tendency  can  be  overcome  in  some  measure  by  the  use 
of  manganese  and  by  care  in  heating,  but  this  does  not  in  the  least 
disprove  that  the  sulphur  is  at  work,  but  simply  shows  that  it  is 
overpowered.  The  critical  content  at  which  the  metal  ceases  to  be 
malleable  and  weldable  varies  with  every  steel.  It  is  lower  with 

*  See  also  The  Mineral  Industry,  Vol.  IV,  for  an  essay  on  Alloys  of  Iron,  by 
R.  A.  Hadfleld. 


468 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


each  associated  increment  of  copper,  it  is  higher  with  each  unit  of 
manganese,  and  it  is  lower  in  steel  which  has  been  cast  too  hot. 

TABLE  XVII-G. 

Physical  Properties  of  Forged  Steel  Containing  from  .83  to  19.00 
Per  Cent.  Manganese.* 


Composition; 
per  cent. 

Natural. 

Quenched  in 
water. 

Annealed. 

"ft 

9 

s 

...»  o 

ss|i 

gJL 

...»  o 

sJL 

,  *.  ®  o 

• 

= 

Q 

d 

1 

| 

1 

jffl 

02  §, 

jfjl 

M 

III 

3  o  rt 

fl  °°  ** 

HI 

fc 

3 

03 

s 

P 

H 

P 

H 

p 

, 

.20 

.03 

.83 

73920 

31 

2 

40 

15 

230 

125440 

6 

g 

40 

09 

8  89 

85120 

1 

4 

.52 

.87 

6.95 

56000 

2 

51520 

2 

47040 

2 

5 

.47 

.44 

7.22 

60480 

2 

56000 

2 

60480 

5 

6 

.61 

.30 

9.87 

73920 

5 

87360 

15 

85120 

16 

7 

.85 

.28 

10.60 

76160 

4 

89600 

17 

•    91840 

17 

8 

1.10 

.16 

12.60 

87860 

2 

120960 

27 

82880 

11 

9 

.92 

.42 

12.81 

87860 

5 

136640 

37 

107520 

20 

10 

.85 

.28 

14.01 

80640 

2 

150080 

44 

107520 

14 

11 

1.10 

.82 

14.48 

87360 

1 

141120 

87 

109760 

5 

12 

1.24 

.16 

15.06 

109760 

2 

136640 

81 

105280 

2 

13 

1.54 

.16 

18.40 

114240 

1 

118720 

10 

87360 

1 

14 

1.83 

.26 

18.55 

96320 

1 

123200 

5 

-15 

1.60 

.26 

19.10 

116480 

1 

13?1SO 

4 

91840 

1 

In  the  making  of  common  steel  for  simple  shapes,  a  content  of 
.10  per  cent,  is  possible,  and  may  even  be  exceeded  if  great  care 
be  taken  in  the  heating,  but  for  rails  and  other  shapes  having  thin 
flanges  it  is  advantageous  to  have  less  than  .08  per  cent.,  while 
every  decrease  below  this  point  is  seen  in  a  reduced  number  of 
defective  bars.  It  is  impossible  to  pick  out  two  steels  with  differ- 
ent contents  of  sulphur  and  say  that  the  influence  of  a  certain  mi- 
nute quantity  can  be  detected,  but  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  the 
effect  of  an  increase  or  decrease  of  .01  per  cent,  will  show  itself  in 
the  long  run,  while  each  .03  per  cent,  will  write  its  history  so  that 
he  who  runs  may  read. 

The  effect  of  sulphur  upon  the  cold  properties  of  steel  has  not 
been  accurately  determined,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  it  is  unim- 
portant. In  common  practice  the  content  varies  from  .02  to  .10 
per  cent.,  and  within  these  limits  it  seems  to  have  no  appreciable 
influence  upon  the  elastic  ratio,  the  elongation,  or  the  reduction  of 
area.  It  is  more  difficult  to  say  that  it  does  not  alter  the  tensile 


Condensed  from  Hadfleld,  Journal  I.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  IT;  1888,  p,  70. 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  469 

strength,  for  a  change  of  one  thousand  pounds  per  square  inch  can 
be  caused  by  so  many  things  that  it  is  a  hold  venture  to  ascribe  it  to 
one  variable.  Webster*  has  stated  that  sulphur  probably  increases 
the  ultimate  strength  at  the  rate  of  500  pounds  per  square  inch  for 
every  .01  per  cent.  I  am  inclined  to  think  his  conclusion  is  not 
founded  on  sufficient  premises,  and  shall  try  to  prove  this  in  Sec- 
tions XVIIs  and  XVIIu. 

In  rivets,  eye-bars  and  fire-box  steel,  the  presence  of  sulphur  is 
objectionable,  for  it  will  tend  to  create  a  coarse  crystallization 
when  the  metal  is  heated  to  a  high  temperature,  and  reduce  the 
strength  and  toughness  of  the  steel.  In  other  forms  of  structural 
material  the  effect  of  this  element  is  probably  of  little  importance. 

SEC.  XVIIf. — Influence  of  phosphorus. — Of  all  the  elements  that 
are  commonly  found  in  steel,  phosphorus  stands  preeminent  as  the 
most  undesirable.  It  is  objectionable  in  the  rolling  mill,  for  it 
tends  to  produce  coarse  crystallization  and  hence  lowers  the  tem- 
perature to  which  it  is  safe  to  heat  the  steel,  and  for  this  reason 
phosphoric  metal  should  be  finished  at  a  lower  temperature  than 
pure  steel  in  order  to  prevent  the  formation  of  a  crystalline  struc- 
ture during  the  cooling.  Aside  from  these  considerations  its  influ- 
ence is  not  felt  in  a  marked  degree  in  the  rolling  mill,  for  it  has 
no  disastrous  effect  upon  the  toughness  of  red-hot  metal  when  the 
content  does  not  exceed  .15  per  cent.  ^ 

The  action  of  phosphorus  upon  the  finished  material  may  not  be 
dismissed  in  so  few  words.  Prof.  Howef  has  gathered  together  the 
observations  of  different  investigators,  and  the  evidence  seems  to 
prove  that  the  tensile  strength  is  increased  by  each  increment  of 
phosphorus  up  to  a  content  of  .12  per  cent.,  but  that  beyond  this 
point  the  metal  is  weakened.  Whether  this  last  observation  be  cor- 
rect or  not  is  of  little  practical  importance,  for  it  would  be  criminal 
to  use  a  metal  for  structural  purposes  that  contained  as  much  as 
an  average  of  .12  per  cent,  phosphorus.  Below  this  point  it  is  abso- 
lutely certain  that  phosphorus  strengthens  low  steels,  both  acid  and 
basic,  and  a  quantitative  valuation  of  its  effect  will  be  found  in 
Parts  II  and  III  of  this  chapter. 

The  same*  certainty  does  not  pertain  to  any  other  effect  of  this 
metalloid.  Prof.  Howet  has  ably  discussed  the  whole  matter,  and 

*  Further  Observations   on  the  Relations  "between  the  Chemical  Constitution 
and  Physical  Character  of  Steel.     Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.t  Vol.  XXIII,  p.   113. 
t  The  Metallurgy  of  Steel,  p.  67,  et  seq. 
I  Loc.  cit. 


470  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

I  herewith  make  quotations  from  The  Metallurgy  of  Steel,  and 
place  them  in  the  form  of  a  'summary. 

(1)  The  effect  of  phosphorus  on  the  elastic  ratio,  as  on  elonga- 
tion and  contraction,  is  very  capricious. 

(2)  Phosphoric  steels  are  liable  to  break  under  very  slight  tensile 
stress  if  suddenly  or  vibratorily  applied. 

(3)  Phosphorus  diminishes  the  ductility  of  steel  under  a  gradu- 
ally applied  load  as  measured  by  its  elongation,  contraction  and 
elastic  ratio  when  ruptured  in  an  ordinary  testing  machine,  but  it 
diminishes  its  toughness  under  shock  to  a  still  greater  degree,  and 
this  it  is  that  unfits  phosphoric  steels  for  most  purposes. 

(4)  The  effect  of  phosphorus  on  static  ductility  appears  to  be 
very  capricious,  for  we  find  many  cases  of  highly  phosphoric  steel 
which  show  excellent  elongation,  contraction  and  even  fair  elastic 
ratio,  while  side  by  side  with  them  are  others  produced  under 
apparently  identical  conditions  but  statically  brittle. 

(5)  If  any  relation  between  composition  and  physical  properties 
'is  established  by  experience,  it  is  that  of  phosphorus  in  making 
steel  brittle  under  shock;  and  it  appears  reasonably  certain,  though 
exact  data  sufficing  to  demonstrate  it  are  not  at  hand,  that  phos- 
phoric steels  are  liable  to  be  very  brittle  under  shock,  even  though 
they  may  be  tolerably  ductile  statically.     The  effects  of  phosphorus 
•on  shock-resisting  power,  though  probably  more  constant  than  its 
effects  on  static  ductility,  are  still  decidedly  capricious.. 

The  difficulty  of  detecting  a  high  content  of  phosphorus  by 
the  ordinary  system  of  physical  tests,  will  be  shown  by  Table 
XVII-H,  which  is  constructed  by  comparing  the  acid  open-hearth 
angles  in  Table  XIV-H,  which  are  of  the  same  ultimate  strength 
and  of  the  same  thickness,  but  which  contain  different  percentages 
of  phosphorus. 

Analyzing  this  record,  it  will  be  found  that  the  higher  phos- 
phorus gives  a  higher  elastic  ratio  in  all  six  groups,  the  difference 
ranging  from  0.45  per  cent,  to  1.59  per  cent.,  but  the  elongation 
and  the  reduction  of  area  are  almost  exactly  the  same  in  the  two 
kinds  of  steel.  It  is  the  difference  between  static  and  shock  duc- 
tility that  makes  phosphoric  steel  so  dangerous.  In  the  ordinary 
testing  machine  there  is  no  important  difference  between  a  pure 
steel  containing  less  than  .04  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  and  a  com- 
mon steel  with  .08  per  cent.,  or  a  bad  steel  with  .10  per  cent. 

Not   only  constructive   engineers,  but  men   calling  themselves 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


471 


metallurgists,  have  staked  and  have  lost  their  reputations  in  pro- 
moting new  processes  designed  to  make  good  finished  material  out 
of  steel  containing  high  phosphorus.  Many  a  time  the  metallurgical 
world  has  been  stirred  by  some  new  discovery  whereby  such  metal 
was  induced  to  show  a  high  ductility  in  the  testing  machine,  and 
each  time  the  new  process  has  passed  away  unwept,  unhonored 
and  unsung  as  it  was  rediscovered  that  static  and  shock  ductility 
were  totally  different  properties,  and  that  the  high  phosphorus 
metal  gave  lamentable  failures  as  soon  as  it  went  beyond  the  watch- 
ful care  of  its  parents  and  its  nurses. 

TABLE  XVII-H. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Low-Phosphorus  and  High- 
Phosphorus  Steels;  being  a  Comparison  of  the  Acid  Open- 
Hearth  Angles  given  in  Table  XIV-H,  that  are  of  the  Same 
Ultimate  Strength  and  of  the  Same  Thickness,  but  with  Dif- 
ferent Contents  of  Phosphorus.  \ 


*£ 

w 

i"  . 

o  S 

0"S 

L 

i 

imits  of  ulti- 
mate strengt 
Ibs  per  squa 
inch. 

o.  of  group. 

<D  --01 

C  c  o 

111 

hosphorus; 
x>er  cent. 

umber  of  hca 

verage  ulti- 
mate strong! 
Ibs.  per  sq.  ii 

verage  elasti 
limit;  Ibs.  p 
sq.  inch. 

verage  elast: 
ratio;  perce 

fc! 

OP  ^  O 

>"£  ft 

verage  rcduc 
tion  of  area; 
per  cent. 

« 

EH 

PH 

K 

^ 

< 

2 

2 

<5 

I 

T5U    tO   i 

.05  to  .07 
.07  to  .10 

212 
50 

60845 
60064 

40891 
41143 

67.21 
68.50 

29.35 

28.82 

07.4 
58.4 

• 

.05  to  .07 

126 

C0695 

39415 

64.94 

29.23 

55.6 

56000 
to 

.07  to  .10 

50 

60583 

40170 

66.30 

29.05 

56.3 

64000 

III 

I9*  to  | 

.05  to  .07 
.07  to  .10 

81 
50 

0,0558 
61049 

38645 
39656 

63.81 
64.96 

28.95 
28.98 

53.8 
54.8 

IV 

H  to  2 

.05  to  .07 
.07  to  .10 

121 
50 

59906 
59763 

37478 
3833S 

62.56 
64.15 

29.32 
29.CO 

51.3 
55.3 

.05  to  .07 

40 

65656 

43713 

66.58 

27.90 

.55.0 

64000 
to 

Tre  to  i 

.07  to  .10 

25 

66365 

44486 

67.03 

27.19 

55.4 

72000 

.05  to  .07 

29 

65631 

42191 

64.28 

27.83 

53.7 

TS  to  i 

.07  to  .10 

33 

65777 

42817 

65.09 

27.49 

53.2 

It  is  true  that  numerous  cases  can  be  cited  of  rails,  plates,  etc., 
containing  from  .10  to  .35  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  which  have 
withstood  a  long  lifetime  of  wear  and  adversity ;  but  in  the  general 
use  of  such  metal  there  has  been  sucji  a  large  percentage  of  mys- 
terious breakages  that  it  seems  quite  well  proven  that  the  phos- 
phorus and  the  mystery  are  the  same. 

Much  information  on  the  effect  of  phosphorus  may  be  gathered 


472  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

from  a  study  of  high  steels.  A  very  severe  trial  is  put  upon  a  cokl- 
chisel  or  similar  tool  in  the  resisting  of  the  continued  shock  on  the 
sharpened  edge,  and  it  is  undeniable  that  each  increment  of  phos- 
phorus has  its  effect  in  rendering  such  a  tool  brittle.  It  is  true  that 
in  this  case  the  steel  is  quenched  and  also  that  it  contains  a  con- 
siderable proportion  of  carbon,  but  there  is  no  evidence  to  show 
that  the  effect  of  phosphorus  is  different  when  the  carbon  is  high, 
even  though  it  be  true  that  it  is  more  marked.  Neither  is  there 
any  reason  to  suppose  that  the  quenching  changes  its  nature,  for 
experiments  with  high  phosphorus  steel  of  low  carbon  indicate  that 
sudden  cooling  would  rather  counteract  the  influence  of  phosphorus 
than  enhance  it,  since  it  tends  to  prevent  the  formation  of  coarse 
crystals. 

It  would  seem  therefore  that  the  regularly  increasing  baneful- 
ness  of  phosphorus  as  the  carbon  is  raised  does  not  portray  any 
change  in  nature,  but  that  although  the  effect  of  the  metalloid  in 
lower  steels  is  obscured,  its  character  is  the  same.  ISTo  line  can  be 
drawn  that  can  be  called  the  limit  of  safety,  since  no  practical  test 
has  ever  been  devised  which  completely  represents  the  effect  of  in- 
cessant tremor.  For  common  structural  material  the  critical  con- 
tent has  been  placed  at  .10  per  cent,  by  general  consent,  but  this 
is  altogether  too  high  for  railroad  bridge  work.  All  that  can  be 
said  is  that  when  all  other  things  are  equal  safety  increases  as  phos- 
phorus decreases,  and  the  engineer  may  calculate  just  how  much  he 
is  willing  to  pay  for  greater  protection  from  accident. 

SEC.  XVIIg. — Influence  of  copper.  The  iron  made  from  the 
ores  of  Cornwall,  Pa.,  contains  from  .75  to  1.00  per  cent,  of  copper, 
and  large  quantities  of  rails  have  been  made  from  this  iron  alone, 
but  it  has  oftener  been  the  custom  at  eastern  steel  works  to  use 
from  25  to  50  per  cent,  of  this  iron  in  the  mixture.  Other  deposits 
contain  considerable  quantities  of  this  element,  notably  some  beds 
in  Virginia,  while  the  ores  of  Cuba  give  an  iron  with  about  .10  per 
cent,  of  copper. 

Not  only  has  such  metal  been  put  into  rails,  but  into  all  kinds 
of  steel,  both  hard  and  soft,  and  large  quantities  have  been  worked 
in  puddle  furnaces  and  in  foundries,  so  that  the  miscellaneous  cast- 
iron,  wrought-iron  and  steel  scrap,  throughout  the  East,  is  very 
apt  to  contain  quite  an  appreciable  quantity  of  copper,  and  as  steel- 
makers will  continue  to  have  more  or  less  of  this  element  to  handle, 
it  is  of  pressing  importance  that  its  effect  be  understood.  The 


INFLUENCE   OF    CERTAIN   ELEMENTS   ON    STEEL.  473 

necessity  for  such  knowledge  is  the  more  marked  as  it  is  the  custom 
in  certain  favored  districts  to  intimate  that  copper  is  injurious, 
although  definite  proof  is  always  lacking. 

Most  of  the  Bessemer  steels  which  are  recorded  in  this  book  con- 
tain from  .30  to  .50  per  cent,  of  copper,  while  much  of  the  open- 
hearth  steel  is  of  the  same  character,  and  this  will  be  sufficient  proof 
that  the  best  of  steel  may  contain  a  considerable  proportion.  If, 
therefore,  it  appears  from  a  set  of  experiments  that  copper  exerts  a 
bad  effect,  then  one  of  two  things  follows : 

(1)  That  the  experiments  have  left  some  factor  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. 

(2)  That  the  maker  of  good  steel  has  some  trick  by  which  he 
overcomes  the  enemy. 

It  would  be  a  cause  for  satisfaction  if  we  could  boast  that  the 
latter  supposition  were  true,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  never 
known  that  copper  injured  the  cold  properties  of  steel  in  any  way, 
and  it  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  no  system  has  been  devised  to 
obviate  its  influence. 

Hard  and  soft  steels  of  our  manufacture  have  found  their  way 
into  all  channels  of  trade,  and  although  many  failures  have  come, 
as  they  have  -  everywhere,  from  high  carbon,  high  manganese,  or 
high  phosphorus,  there  have  been  no  cases  where  it  was  necessary 
to  invoke  the  aid  of  copper.  This  fact  outranks  and  transcends  in 
value  any  limited  series  of  tests  that  might  be  given.  In  the  same 
way  there  is  no  evidence  that  copper  segregates,  experience  pointing 
rather  to  perfect  uniformit}r.  A  story  has  been  the  rounds  of  the 
trade  journals  of  a  copper  wire  which  crystallized  out  in  the  head 
of  a  rail,  but,  unfortunately,  no  method  is  known  by  which  the 
phenomenon  can  be  duplicated,  since  such  rails  might  be  of  great 
value  in  electrical  work. 

Steel  may  contain  up  to  one  per  cent,  of  copper  without  being 
seriously  affected,  but  if  at  the  same  time  the  sulphur  is  high,  say 
.08  to  .10  per  cent.,  the  cumulative  effect  is  too  great  for  molecular 
cohesion  at  high  temperatures  and  it  cracks  in  rolling.  This  teai- 
ing  occurs  almost  entirely  in  the  first  passes  of  the  ingot,  so  that 
it  is  of  little  importance  to  the  engineer  who  is  concerned  only  with 
perfect  finished  material.  In  the  purest  of  soft  steels  containing 
not  more  than  .04  per  cent,  of  either  phosphorus  or  sulphur,  the 
influence  of  even  .10  per  cent,  of  copper  may  be  detected  in  the 
less  ready  welding  of  seams  during  the  process  of  rolling,  but  ordi- 


474  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

narily  when  the  sulphur  is  below  .05  per  cent,  the  copper  injures 
the  rolling  quality  very  little,  even  if  present  in  the  proportion  of 
.75  per  cent.  In  all  cases  the  cold  properties  seem  to  be  entirely 
unaffected. 

These  conclusions  are  not  founded  on  any  limited  series  of  tests 
on  special  alloys ;  they  are  the  fruit  of  years  of  experience  in  the 
making  of  millions  of  tons  of  cupriferous  steels,  and  it  is  quite 
certain  that  any  baneful  influence  of  this  constant  companion  would 
have  been  felt  in  the  many  investigations  which  have  been  made 
into  the  mechanical  equation  of  structural  metaL 

The  only  facts  ever  brought  out  against  copper  as  far  as  I  am 
aware  are  in  a  paper  by  Stead,*  who  shows  that  steels  containing 
from  0.46  to  2.00  per  cent,  of  copper  do  not  give  good  results  in 
drawn  wire  when  a  high  percentage  of  carbon  is  also  present,  but 
in  the  same  paper  it  is  stated  that  there  is  nothing  to  show  that 
rails  or  plates  are  affected  injuriously. 

The  quantitative  effect  of  copper  upon  the  tensile  strength  of 
steel  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  by  Ball  and  Wingham,f  in  which 
they  showed  that  as  much  as  7  per  cent,  could  be  alloyed  to  iron, 
and  that  a  specimen  with  4  per  cent,  forged  well  both  hot  and  cold. 
It  was  found  also  that  the  alloys  were  very  hard,  so  that  when  the 
content  was  over  7  per  cent,  the  metal  could  not  be  cut  by  a  good 
tool.  The  experiments  showed  a  considerable  increase  in  tensile 
strength  in  the  case  of  higher  copper,  but  no  great  weight  can  be 
given  to  the  determinations,  for  the  methods  used  in  making  the 
alloy  and  in  cutting  the  tests  were  too  crude  for  conclusive  results. 

It  is  not  easy  to  make  a  comparison  between  the  ductility  of 
high-copper  and  low-copper  steels,  for  at  works  using  such  material 
it  is  customary  to  keep  a  fairly  constant  percentage  in  the  mixture 
rather  than  to  vary  between  wide  limits.  A  limited  number  of 
heats  have  been  grouped  together  in  Table  XVII-I,  and  although 
the  list  is  not  as  long  as  might  be  desired,  it  should  be  considered 
,that  the  heats  were  all  made  within  a  short  period  in  the  same 
Bessemer,  and  were  all  rolled  in  the  same  mill. 

It  will  be  noted  that  no  difference  is  to  be  found  in  the  ultimate 
strength  between  steels  with  high  and  low-copper,  although  all  the 
heats  were  made  in  the  same  way  as  nearly  as  possible,  the  work- 

*  Jour.  I.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  II,  3901,  p.  122. 

t  On  the  Influence  of  Copper  on  the  Tensile  Strength  o£  Steel.  Journal  I.  and 
8.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1889,  p.  123. 


INFLUENCE   OF    CERTAIN   ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


475 


men  not  knowing  either  in  the  Bessemer  department  or  in  the  roll- 
ing mill  what  kind  of  iron  was  in  use. 

Moreover,  the  high-copper  gives  a  slightly  higher  elastic  ratio, 
which  is  a  benefit,  and  also  a  better  elongation  and  reduction  of 
area.  These  results  can  hardly  be  called  conclusive,  for  the  num- 
ber of  heats  is  too  limited,  but  as  the  data  on  high-copper  steels 
are  uniform  with  the  much  larger  number  of  similar  angles  given 
in  Table  XIVH,  and  as  the  two  separate  averages  for  low-copper 
correspond  so  closely  to  one  another  after  allowance  is  made  for 
the  two  different  thicknesses,  it  seems  quite  justifiable  to  conclude 
that  the  high-copper  is  not  in  any  way  harmful. 

TABLE  XVII-I. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Low-Copper  and  High-Copper 

Steel  Angles. 

Made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company,  1898. 


1 

| 

1 

bo 
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«| 

rt 

o 

D 

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1*1 

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MS 

VH 

o 

bickness  i 

p< 

umber  of 

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dj 
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11 

QJ    QJ 

it 

428 

11 

H 

8 

fc 

£ 

H 

W 

PH 

H 

TBB 

.10 
.35 

11 
17 

61376 
60283 

44152 
43841 

27.52 

27.88 

56.30 
59.01 

71.9 

72.7 

.10 

10 

58965 

42218 

28.85 

55.50 

71.6 

' 

.85 

11 

59630 

43478 

29.02 

57.86 

72.9 

A  notable  investigation  into  the  effect  of  copper  was  conducted 
by  Mr.  A.  L.  Colby  at  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Works,  and  was  de- 
scribed in  The  Iron  Age,  November  30,  1899.  He  relates  that  steel 
containing  0.57  per  cent,  of  copper  was  forged  into  crank  shafts 
for  the  United  States  battleships  and  stood  every  test  required  by 
the  government  specifications.  Another  ingot  was  forged  into  gun 
tubes  for  6-inch  guns  for  the  United  States  Navy  and  fulfilled 
every  requirement  of  the  department.  Other  exhaustive  tests  were 
made  on  plates  and  all  the  results  pointed  the  same  way. 

SEC.  XVIIh. — Influence  of  aluminum. — It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  discuss  at  length  the  effect  of  aluminum  upon  steel,  for  although 
it  is  often  used  to  quiet  the  metal,  it  unites  with  the  oxygen  of  the 
bath  and  passes  into  the  slag.  Sometimes  a  very  small  percentage 


476 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


remains  in  steel  castings,  while  it  is  quite  conceivable  that  other 
steels  may  receive  a  small  overdose  by  mistake,  so  that  Table 
XVII-J  will  be  of  interest  as  giving  the  results  of  an  investiga- 
tion by  Hadfield.* 

TABLE  XVII-J. 
Physical  Properties  of  Aluminum  Steel. 

NOTE. — Size  of  bars  |J  x  |  inch ;  all  samples  forged  either  very  well  or  fairly  well 
except  No.  10  which  was  very  shelly.  The  fractures  from  Nos.  I  to  7.  inclusive, 
were  granular,  but  Nos.  8,  9,  and  10  showed  increasing  coarse  crystallization.  All 
bars  bent  double  cold  after  annealing  except  No.  10.  Attempts  at  welding  were 
unsuccessful  on  samples  Nos.  3,  5,  and  8. 


2 

c3 

I§ 

c8 

3 
C? 
.»  oo 

tft=* 

g? 

a 

I 

I 

Composition;  percent. 

II 

fll 

V- 

O 

j> 

IS 

•5  w 

®  73 

2  •- 

Op 

^ 

c  ^ 

"cfi  ^ 

"cB  S 

lj  0) 

o  . 

d 

• 

!=*•§ 

Ss-S 

CO 

3  t. 

'11 

1 

C. 

Si. 

S. 

P. 

Mn. 

Al. 

«^S 

ga.s 

o  a 
u'~ 

1^ 

3° 

1 

.22 

.09 

.07 

.15 

47040 

64960 

36.70 

62.9 

72.4 

2 

.15 

.18 

'.10  ' 

'.04  ' 

.18 

.88 

61520 

67200 

87.85 

58.18 

767 

8 

.20 

.12 

.11 

.61 

48160 

62720 

88.40 

64.50 

76.8 

4 

.18 

.16 

'.09' 

'.03' 

.14 

.66 

45920 

64960 

83.85 

49.86 

70.7 

6 

.17 

.10 

.18 

.72 

49280 

62720 

40.00 

60.74 

78.6 

6 

.26 

.15 

'.08' 

'.04' 

.11 

1.16 

51520 

73920 

32.05 

61.46 

69.7 

7 

.21 

.18 

.18 

1.60 

44800 

69440 

32.70 

52.14 

64.5 

8 

.21 

.18 

'.09" 

'.03' 

.18 

2.20 

47040 

69440 

22.75 

27.80 

67.7 

9 

.24 

.18 

.82 

2.24 

48160 

72800 

20.67 

2464 

661 

10 

.22 

.20 

.08 

.03 

.22 

5.60 

85120 

896 

After  making  allowances  for  the  variations  in  other  elements,  it 
will  be  found  that  the  aluminum  has  little  effect  upon  the  tensile 
strength,  while  it  does  not  materially  injure  the  ductility  until  a 
content  of  2  per  cent,  is  reached. 

These  conclusions  do  not  agree  with  the  results  which  I  have 
found  by  casting  different  alloys  in  the  form  of  6-inch  square 
ingots.  The  aluminum  was  added  in  a  solid  state  and  it  is  quite 
possible  that  it  was  not  disseminated  uniformly,  but  the  analysis 
was  made  on  the  test-bar  itself,  and  the  fusible  nature  of  the  metal 
makes  it  probable  that  the  piece  would  be  reasonably  homogeneous. 
Either  two  or  three  ingots  were  cast  from  each  heat,  the  first 
containing  either  no  aluminum  or  only  a  trace,  while  the  others 
were  made  so  as  to  give  fairly  rich  alloys.  The  results  are  given 
in  Table  XVII-K. 

The  casting  and  working  of  such  ingots  is  a  regular  operation 
at  the  works  where  these  experiments  were  made,  and  perfect  uni- 


Aluminum  Steel.    Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  llf  1890,  p.  161. 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


477 


formity  is  always  obtained  in  respect  to  tensile  strength,  so  that  it 
is  probable  the  variations  in  bars  of  the  same  heat  are  due  to  the 
different  contents  of  aluminum.  These  changes  are  as  follows : 

(1)  The  addition  of  one-half  of  1  per  cent,  of  aluminum  in- 
creases the  tensile  strength  between  3000  and  8000  pounds  per 
square  inch,  exalts  the  elastic  limit  in  about  the  same  proportion, 
and  injures  .very  materially  the  elongation  and  contraction  of  area. 
The  effect  both  upon  strength  and  ductility  is  more  marked  in  the 
case  of  low  than  in  high-steels. 

TABLE  XVII-K. 

Effect  of  Aluminum  upon  the  Physical  Properties  of  Steel. 

3-inch  square  ingots,  made  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company,  rolled  to  2x%  inch. 


Heat  number. 

Composition;  percent. 

imate  strength; 
mnds  per 
uare  inch. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elastic  ratio; 
percent. 

1! 

l! 

li 

C  « 

o  £ 

3"* 

Reduction  of  area; 
per  cent. 

C. 

P. 

Si. 

Mn. 

s. 

Al. 

gu 

Soft  basic 
open-hearth 
steels. 

1791 

.11 
.11 

.024 
.022 

.48 
.45 

.035 
.035 

.00 
.58 

48800 
56880 

83190 
41150 

68.0 
72.4 

31.25 
18.25 

48.6 
29.8 

1792 

.11 
.11 

.010 
.011 

.45 
.41 

.019 
.023 

.00 
.45 

40440 
53440 

31040 
3(5900 

68.1 
69.1 

30.00 
22.50 

49.9 
81.5 

1793 

.11 

.11 

.013 

.35 

.00 
.50 

47160 
53900 

&3490 
38530 

71.0 
71.5 

31.25 

27.00 

45.8 
33.7 

Soft  acid  open~ 
hearth  steels. 

8681 

.17 
.16 
.14 

.035 

.61 

.025 

.04 
.473 

.899 

58560 
63440 
64160 

39310 
42100 
39100 

67.1 
66.4 
60.9 

30.00 
23.00 
17.50 

45.7 
86.3 
25-4 

.  .  . 

3686 

.14 
.14 
.12 

.059 

.58 

.021 

.03 
.46 
1.171 

•55030 
67810 
67420 

43260 
47950 
48850 

66.5 
707 
72.5 

24.00 
20.00 
8.00 

46.2 
34.0 

15.0 

3688 

.12 
.12 
.13 

.034 

.51 

.021 

.013 
.45 

.80 

55700 
59880 
61470 

39550 
39100 
43710 

71.0 
65.3 
71.1 

28.7 
21.7 
21.2 

51.8 
40.5 
34.2 

Hard  acid  open-hearth  steels. 

3682 

.47 
.44 
.43 

.048 

.21 

,70 

.018 

.00 
.571 
1.135 

107450 
110550 
105100 

65930 
72420 

68080 

61.4 
65.5 
64.8 

10.0 
92 
12.5 

201 
17.5 
21.0 

.  .  . 

8683 

.54 
.47 
.43 

.044 

.31 

.75 

.020 

.00 
.37 
.94 

124040 
122080 
128040 

47830 

47680 
47440 

88.6 
89.1 
87.0 

10.0 

'7.5' 

18.0 
8.2 
9.4 

.  .  . 

3684 

.40 
.36 

.38 

.040 

.26 

.67 

.028 

.01 
.54 
.90 

95010 
98375 
98720 

42740 
43050 
43150 

45.0 
43.8 
43.7 

18.7 
14.0 
12.5 

41.0 
24.5 
20.4 

3685 

.40 
.38 
.34 

.046 

.30 

.63 

.031 

.00 
.52 
.73 

94700 
100055 
98480 

44610 
47240 
46910 

47.1 
47.2 
47.6 

16.2 
13.7 
12.5 

81.8 
24.1 
17.5 

22.0 
89.7 
25.4 

8689 

.42 
,40 
.34 

.046 

.21 

.71 

.025 

.00 
.81 
.66 

90900 
94560 
96680 

63550 
59190 
59460 

58.9 
62.6 
61.5 

15.5 
15.0 
14.7 

478  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

(2)  The  addition  of  another  half  of  one  per  cent,  does  not  have 
much  effect  upon  the  ultimate  strength  or  the  elastic  limit,  but  it 
still  further  decreases  the  ductility  of  the  metal. 

It  is  stated  by  Odelstjerna*  that  the  use  of  aluminum,  in  the 
manufacture  of  steel  castings,  gives  an  inferior  metal,  even  though 
the  addition  amount  to  only  .002  per  cent.,  and  that  such  steel 
presents  a  peculiar  fracture,  the  faces  of  the  crystals  -being  large 
and  well  defined.  It  must  be  kept  in  mind,  however,  that  these 
conclusions  apply  to  one  particular  kind  of  practice,  and  that  the 
use  of  aluminum,  under  certain  conditions,  may  produce  a  most 
harmful  effect,  while  under  other  possible  conditions  the  result 
would  be  much  less  marked.  Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to 
isolate  one  factor  in  a  metallurgical  equation,  and  to  discover  its 
real  value,  when  it  is  always  associated  with  complicating  and 
equally  powerful  agencies. 

SEC.  XVIIi. — Influence  of  arsenic. — The  effect  of  arsenic  upon 
steel  was  .quite 'fully  investigated  several  years  ago  by  Harbord 
and  Tucker,  f  The  conclusions  given  by  them  may  be  summarized 
as  follows: 

Arsenic,  in  percentages  not  exceeding  .17,  does  not  appear  to 
affect  the  bending  properties  at  ordinary  temperatures,  but  above 
this  percentage  cold-shortness  begins  to  appear  and  rapidly  in- 
creases. In  amounts  not  exceeding  .66  per  cent.,  the  tensile 
strength  is  raised  very  considerably.  It  lowers  the  elastic  limit, 
and  decreases  the  elongation  and  reduction  of  area  in  a  marked 
degree.  It  makes  the  steel  harden  much  more  in  quenching,  and 
injures  its  welding  power  even  when  only  .093  per  cent,  is  present. 

These  results  have  been  corroborated  by  J.  E.  Stead,}  who  found 
that  between  .10  and  .15  per  cent,  of  arsenic  in  structural  steel  has 
no  material  effect  upon  the  mechanical  properties;  the  tenacity  is 
but  slightly  Increased,  the  elongation  and  reduction  of  area  ap- 
parently unaffected.  With  .20  per  cent,  of  arsenic,  the  differ- 
ence is  noticeable,  while  with  larger  amounts  the  effect  is  decisive. 
When  one  per  cent,  is  present,  the  tenacity  is  increased,  and  the 
elongation  and  reduction  of  area  both  reduced.  This  increase  in 
strength  and  diminution  in  toughness  continue  as  the  content  of 

•  The  Manufacture  of  Open-Hearth  Steel  in  Sweden.  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol. 
XXIV,  p.  312. 

t  On  the  Effect  of  Arsenic  on  Mild  Steel.  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1888, 
p.  183. 

t  The  Effect  of  Arsenic  on  Steel.     Journal  T.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1895,  p.  77. 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


479 


arsenic  is  raised  to  4  per  cent.,  when  the  elongation  and  reduction 
in  area  become  nil. 

These  experiments  are  of  considerable  practical  importance,  since 
a  great  many  steels  carry  an  appreciable  proportion  of  arsenic. 
Some  chemists  take  little  cognizance  of  this  fact,  and  their  phos- 
phorus determinations  are  often  too  high  on  account  of  the  presence 
of  arsenic  in  the  phosphorus  precipitate.  Other  analysts  take  spe- 
cial precautions  to  avoid  this  contamination. 

TABLE  XVII-L. 

The  Physical  Qualities  of  Nickel  Steel  as  Compared  with  Carbon 
Steel  of  Similar  Tensile  Strength. 

NOTE.— All  steels  were  made  in  an  acid  open-hearth  furnace  by  The  Pennsylvania 

Steel  Company. 


Composition;  percent.. 

Kind  of  steel. 

C. 

Mn. 

P. 

S. 

Ni. 

Nickel                                .24 

0.78 

.032 

.027 

8.25 

Hard  forging  .  .        .30  to  .35 
Forging  25  to  .80 

.60  to  1.00 
.60  to    .80 

.03  to  .05 
.03  to  .06 

.03  to  .05 
.03  to  .07 

nil. 
nil. 

Kind  of  steel. 

It 

"3 

d 

| 

§  M 

... 

Mi 

G  ,_ 

,H    W 

cd 

Shape  of  member. 

1! 

||1 

O 

in 

3  m 

I1- 

S  OJ 

O 

in 

C8  IH      • 

0*2^ 

o  1 

l 

o3  U> 

eg  ® 

+3  O 

•§!« 

£33 

4 

G  o 

C3  o 

§2 

•*^    ^    *H 

cB  5  C3* 

ii 

I 

OG 

O  fl 

^  S 

P      " 

1 

H 

W 

g 

ft 

Nickel  .  . 

86015 

63575 

73.9 

20.19 

34.00 

46.3 

Rounds, 

Hard  forging  . 

87663 

58055 

66.2 

16.70 

24.44 

80.3 

Forging  . 

78066 

51793 

66.3 

23.94 

52.0 

Nickel  .  . 

86960 

58553 

67.3 

21.75 

89.67 

60.5 

Angles, 

Hard  forging  . 
Forging  .... 

87820 
76970 

54153 
49544 

61.7 
64.4 

19.25 

34.83 

43.3 

49.0 

Universal  plates, 
longitudinal, 

Nickel  
Hard  forging  . 
Forging  .... 

85773 
82773 
78996 

58410 
50163 
46654 

68.1 
60.6 
59.1 

21.08 
20.50 
26.78 

89.25 
87.67 

52.0 
47.0 
52.1 

Universal  plates, 
transverse, 

Nickel  
Hard  forging  . 

86417 
85173 

58203 
(50000)* 

67.4 
(58.7)* 

16.50 
18.83 

28.92 
23.17 

36.1 

27.4 

Sheared  plates, 
longitudinal, 

Nickel  
Hard  forging  . 
Forging  .... 

85337 
85012 
78918 

58169 
(50000)* 
49128 

68.2 
(58.8)* 
62.3 

19.00 
22.10 
22.03 

85.50 
89.40 

48.8 

48.4 
50.8 

Sheared  plates, 
transverse, 

Nickel  
Hard  forging  . 
Forging  .... 

84377 
84327 

57260 
(50000)* 

67.9 
(59.3)* 

17.13 
21.71 

82.50 
87.00 

43.4 
41.3 

SEC.  XVIIj. — Influence  of  nickel,  tungsten  and  chromium. — 
The  first  public  presentation  of  the  effect  of  nickel  upon  steel  was 

*  Approximate ;  could  not  determine  accurately. 


480  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

a  paper  by  Jas.  Kiley.f  Since  that  time  the  properties  of  nickel 
steel  have  become  widely  known  through  the  experiments  by  the 
United  States  Government  on  the  armor  plate  manufactured  by 
The  Bethlehem  Iron  Company,,  and  by  the  Carnegie  Steel  Com- 
pany. As  often  happens  in  the  case  of  a  new  metal,  the  tendency 
is  to  exaggerate  its  importance.  In  a  paper  read  before  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  in  June,  1895,  I  gave  the  detailed 
results  found  by  testing  nickel  steel  when  rolled  into  rounds,  angles 
and  plates,  and  compared  them  with  the  records  of  carbon  steel  of 
about  the  same  tensile  strength.  A  condensation  of  the  work  will 
be  found  in  Table  XVII-L. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  nickel  steel  is  superior,  but  in  less 
measure  than  may  be  generally  supposed.  It  must  be  kept  in  mind, 
however,  that  in  armor  plate,  as  in  many  another  field,  there  is 
sometimes  but  a*  very  small  distance  between  absolute  success  and 
absolute  failure,  and  that  it  matters  little  how  much  margin  there 
is  above  success,  provided  there  is  a  margin  at  all. 

There  are  other  elements  used  to  make  special  alloys  with  iron, 
some  of  these  metals  being  of  considerable  importance.  Tungsten 
and  chromium  are  both  employed  to  give  tool  steels  extreme  hard- 
ness, their  peculiar  characteristic  being  that  no  quenching  or  tem- 
pering is  required.  These  alloys,  however,  do  not  come  under  the 
head  of  structural  material,  and  will  therefore  not  be  considered 
hero. 

SEC.  XVIIk. — Influence  of  oxide  of  iron. — The  last  step  in  the 
making  of  a  heat  of  steel  is  the  addition  of  the  recarburizer  to 
wash  the  oxygen  from  the  bath,  but  this  action  is  not  perfect,  and 
the  exact  relation  is  not  generally  understood.  The  amount  of 
oxygen  taken  from  the  metal  will  evidently  be  measured  in  a  rough 
way  by  the  amount  of  manganese  and  other  metalloids  that  are 
burned  during  the  reaction.  This  is  particularly  true  of  acid  prac- 
tice. In  basic  work  there  is  oftentimes  a  very  considerable  loss  of 
manganese  through  the  presence  of  a  large  amount  of  free  oxygen 
in  the  slag.  This  occasionally  occurs  in  the  acid  furnace,  but  less 
frequently.  It  was  shown  in  Section  Xj  that  the  loss  of  man- 
ganese in  recarburization  is  a  function  of  the  quantity  which  is 
added.  In  other  words,  if  there  is  a  reduction  in  the  percentage  of 
manganese  which  is  added  to  an  open-hearth  bath  at  the  time  of 

*  Alloys  of  Nickel  and  Steel.    Journal  I.  and  8.  I.t  Vol.  I,  1889.  p.  45. 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


481 


tapping,  there  will  be  a  reduction  in  the  amount  of  manganese 
which  will  be  oxidized,  and  this  proves  conclusively  that  the  reac- 
tion is  not  perfect,  and  that  an  increasing  amount  of  oxygen  must 
remain  in  the  metal  as  the  content  of  manganese  decreases ;  but  a 
reasonable  proportion  of  this  oxygen  can  hardly  exert  any  marked 
deleterious  influence,  else  the  fact  would  long  ago  have  been  known 
in  some  more  definite  form  than  the  suppositions  and  theories  which 
are  occasionally  founded  on  exceptional  phenomena. 

Assuming  as  certain  that  high  oxygen  will  more  likely  be  found 
in  steels  both  low  in  manganese  and  in  oxidizable  metalloids,  it 
may  reasonably  be  expected  that  any  bad  effect  it  may  exert  will  be 
seen  in  the  softest  products  of  the  basic  open-hearth  and  in  the 
purest  of  acid  steel.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  well  known  that  the 
reverse  is  true,  and  that  the  ductility  increases  as  the  condition 
of  pure  iron  is  approached. 

TABLE  XVII-M. 

Individual  Eecords  of  Heats  Composing  Group  .63  in 
Table  XVII-K 


^* 

. 

a 

^ 

o 

1 

§ 

d 
8 

S 

a 

£ 

g£ 

9, 

ir 

.~ 

9 

t-, 

2%% 

*i   CD   O 

5 

Heat  numl 

Carbon  by  < 
bustion; 

Carbon  by  < 
per  cent. 

Phosphoru 
per  cent. 

Manganese 
per  cent. 

Sulphur;  p 

Copper;  pe 

Elastic  lim 
pounds  p 
square  in 

Ultimate  s 
pounds  p 
square  in 

Elastic  rat 
per  cent. 

4669 

.04 

.007 

.02 

.024 

.10 

28420 

45620 

62.3 

4809 

.04 

.007 

.05 

.019 

.05 

80640 

46310 

66.2 

4930 

.04 

.007 

.04 

.021 

.06 

24370 

46000 

53.0 

4932 

.04 

.011 

.04 

.029 

.04 

25810 

46480 

55.5 

4971 

.03 

.010 

.05 

.032 

.14 

26780 

47140 

56.8 

4972 

.04 

.010 

.04 

.021 

.10 

27920 

47000 

69.4 

Average, 

.025 

.04 

.009 

.04 

.024 

.08 

27323 

46425 

58.9 

Some  people  imagine  that  it  is  not  well  to  take  all  the  impurities 
out  of  iron,  their  thesis  having  been  forcibly,  though  somewhat 
inelegantly,  expressed  in  the  saying  that  a  shirt  can  be  ruined  by 
too  much  scrubbing.  Unfortunately,  the  simile  is  entirely  worth- 
less, for  the  purification  of  steel  is  not  a  process  of  washing,  al- 
though often  so  called.  Dephosphorization  does  not  consist  in 
mechanically  removing  certain  foreign  ingredients,  but  in  placing 
the  metal  in  contact  with  a  slag  of  such  a  character  that  the  metal- 


482  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

loids  find  in  it  a  more  congenial  home,  and  although  it  is  true  that 
over-oxidation  assists  the  purification,  it  is  not  at  all  a  necessary 
adjunct,  since  the  transfer  of  allegiance  may  be  effected  by  a  slag 
moderately  rich  in  lime,  combined  with  the  normal  oxidizing  influ- 
ences. 

In  a  discussion  of  a  paper  by  Webster,  which  will  be  referred  to 
at  length  in  Part  II  of  this  chapter,  H.  D.  Hibbard*  deduced  the 
fact  that  oxide  of  iron  reduces  the  tensile  strength  of  very  soft 
metal  by  several  thousand  pounds.  I  cannot  indorse  this  conclu- 
sion, but  offer  Table  XVII-M  as  evidence  to  the  contrary. 

These  heats  were  made  in  a  basic  open-hearth  furnace,  and  their 
regularity  both  in  chemical  and  physical  character  shows  that  we 
are  dealing  with  a  normal  and  definite  metal  and  not  with  an  acci- 
dental product.  They  were  purposely  made  with  the  lowest  pos- 
sible content  of  manganese,  and  it  seems  positively  certain  that  the 
steel  must  be  saturated  with  oxygen. 

These  six  heats  constitute  Group  63  in  Table  XVII-N,  and  by 
the  most  casual  inspection,  as  well  as  by  a  glance  at  Curve  AA 
in  Fig.  XVH-B,  it  will  be  plain  that  these  steels  are  much  stronger 
than  would  be  expected  as  compared  with  those  containing  more 
carbon.  It  may  be  that  the  first  increments  of  carbon  have  less 
strengthening  effect  than  further  additions,  or  it  may  be  that  the 
first  increments  of  manganese  have  a  marked  weakening  effect. 
but  it  is  more  probable  that  the  oxide  of  iron  increases  the  ultimate 
strength. 

PART  II. 

EFFECT  OF  CERTAIN  ELEMENTS  AS  DETERMINED  BY  SPECIAL  MATHE- 
MATICAL INVESTIGATIONS. 

SEC.  XVIII. — Investigations  by  Webster  on  the  influence  of  the 
metalloids. — A  very  comprehensive  and  systematic  study  of  the 
physical  formula  of  steel  has  been  carried  out  by  W.  R.  Webster,  f 
He  has  used  the  long  and  laborious  method  of  successive  approxi- 
mations, and  by  "cutting  and  trying"  has  found  the  effect  of  each 
element  upon  the  ultimate  strength,  as  well  as  the  effect  of  the 

*  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXI,  p.  999. 

t  Observations  on  the  Relations  beticeen  the  Chemical  Constitution  and  Phy- 
sical Character  of  Steel.  Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  XXI,  p.  766,  and  Vol.  XXIII,, 
p.  113;  also  Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1894,  p.  328. 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


483 


thickness  and  finishing  temperature.  The  results  are  given  by  him 
as  follows : 

.01  per  cent,  of  sulphur  increases  the  tensile  strength  500  pounds 
per  square  inch. 

.01  per  cent,  of  manganese  has  an  effect  which  varies  with  each 
increment  as  follows,  the  values  being  expressed  in  pounds  per 
square  inch: 


An  increase  in  percentage 

gives  an  increment  of 

making  a  total  increase  in 
strength  over  metal  with  no 
manganese  of 

from  .00  to  .15 

3600 

8600 

.15  to  .20 

1200 

4800 

.20  to  .25 

1100 

5900 

-25  to  .30 

1000 

6900 

.30  to  .35 

900 

7800 

.35  to  .40 

800 

8600 

.40  to  .45 

700 

9300 

.45  to  .50 

600 

9900 

.50  to  .55 

500 

10400 

.55  to   60 

500 

10900 

.60  to  .65 

500 

11400 

.01  per  cent,  of  phosphorus  has  an  effect  which  varies  according 
to  the  amount  of  carbon  present : 


With  .08  p 
.09 
"        .10 
"        .11 
"        .12 
"       .13 
"        .14 
"        .15 
"        .16 
.17 

er  cent,  o 

f  carbon  i 

« 

t  i 

s   800  po 
900 
1000 
1100 
1200 
1300 
1400 
.1500 
1500 
1500        ' 

inds  p 

•  •  < 
t          t 

er  sqv 

t 
«           < 

tare  in 

< 

' 
« 

ch. 
< 
< 

«        < 
««        < 
«<        < 
n        i 
K        t 

« 
« 
ti 
« 
« 
u 

Carbon  is  credited  with  a  constant  effect  of  800  pounds  for  each 
,0i  per  cent. 

Mr.  Webster  has  constructed,  from  these  values,  a  table  showing 
the  strength  of  metal  containing  different  proportions  of  carbon 
and  phosphorus,  from  which,  as  a  basis,  the  strength  of  a  given 
steel  may  be  found  by  allowing  for  the  content  of  manganese  and 
sulphur.  This  table  presents  a  curious  anomaly,  as  will  be  shown 
by  the  following  excerpt  :* 

Estimated  Ultimate  Strengths ;  Pounds  per  Square  Inch ;  per 

Webster. 


Carbon  ; 
percent. 

.07 

.08 

.09 

.10 

.11 

.12 

.13 

.14 

.15 

.16 

.17 

.18 

P  =  .00perct. 
P  =  .03perct. 
P        t 

40350 
42750 
45150 

48350 

41150 
43550 
45950 
49150 

41950 
44650 
47350 
50950 

42750 
45750 
48750 
52750 

43550 
46850 
50150 
54550 

44350  45150 
47950  49050 
51550  52950 
56350'  58150 

45950 
50150 
54350 
59950 

46750 
51250 
55750 
61750 

47550 
52050 
56550 
62550 

48350 
52850 
57350 
63350 

49150 
53650 
58150 
64150 

Journal  I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  I,  1894,  p.  338. 


484  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

An  examination  of  these  figures  reveals  two  absolutely  irreconcil- 
able conditions,  for  Mr.  Webster  takes  as  his  starting  point  the 
dictum  that  carbon  is  a  constant,  and  proceeds  to  construct  a  table 
in  which  it  is  not  a  constant  at  all,  and  in  which  it  is  not  even 
constantly  irregular.  By  his  own  calculation  a  steel  of  .06  per 
cent,  phosphorus  and  .10  per  cent,  carbon  is  strengthened  1400 
pounds  by  the  addition  of  .01  per  cent,  of  carbon,  while  with  .10 
per  cent,  phosphorus  it  is  strengthened  1800  pounds  by  the  same 
addition.  Assuredly,  this  is  not  a  constant  effect.  Moreover,  car- 
bon does  not  even  have  a  constant  effect  with  the  same  content  of 
other  metalloids,  for,  with  .10  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  an  increase 
in  carbon  from  .07  to  .08  per  cent,  raises  the  strength  800  pounds, 
while  an  increase  from  .08  to  .09  per  cent,  strengthens  it  1800 
pounds. 

It  would  be  just  as  correct  to  conclude  from  these  results  that 
phosphorus  is  a  constant  and  carbon  a  variable,  as  to  say  that  car- 
bon is  a  constant  and  phosphorus  a  variable.  The  changing  values 
which  it  would  be  necessary  to  assign  to  carbon  to  fulfill  the  first 
assumption  would  be  no  more  arbitrary  and  hypothetical  than  the 
changing  values  assigned  to  phosphorus  by  Mr.  Webster,  or  the 
changing  values  which  he  has  assigned  to  manganese.  Thus  the 
table  which  has  been  given  is  entirely  indecisive,  since  it  can  be 
translated  into  two  diametrically  opposite  readings,  and  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  one  empirical  formula  is  as  good  as  another, 
provided  the  same  answers  are  obtained  from  both. 

This  curious  contradiction  of  the  premises  by  the  conclusion 
can  only  arise  from  some  erroneous  hypothesis  in  the  values  as- 
signed to  the  different  elements,  for  in  the  construction  of  such 
equations  it  is  plain  that  an  error  in  one  factor  must  be  atoned 
for  by  an  opposite  and  equal  error  in  another  factor.  If  this  rea- 
soning be  true,  then  very  little  faith  can  be  attached  to  the  formula 
as  an  expression  of  fundamental  laws,  however  accurately  the 
mathematical  results  may  coincide  with  observations. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  earnest  endeavor  of  Mr.  Webster  to 
write  the  physical  formula  should  have  been  hampered  by  the 
necessity  of  working  on  sheared  plates,  which  are  finished  under 
greater  variations  of  temperature  than  angles  or  bars,  and  further- 
more, that  these  plates  were  of  basic  Bessemer  steel,  a  "material 
which  would  not  be  chosen  for  its  regularity.  By  correcting  for 
thickness  and  finishing  temperature,  Mr.  Webster  has  shown  that 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  485 

about  90  per  cent,  of  the  heats  investigated  came  within  5000 
pounds  per  square  inch  of  what  his  equation  calls  for. 

This  is  a  very  satisfactory  result,  and  it  is  not  in  a  spirit  of 
hypercriticism  (for  my  own  results,  to  be  given  later,  display  ex- 
amples of  the  same  character),  but  from  a  strictly  scientific  point  of 
view,  that  attention  is  called  to  the  very  unpleasant  corollary  that 
one  charge  out  of  every  ten  does  not  give  results  within  5000 
pounds.  Some  of  these  undoubtedly  are  vitiated  by  wrong  chemical 
determinations,  for  the  carbon  was  determined  by  color,  and  this 
gives  only  approximate  results;  on  others  there  might  well  be  an 
error  in  estimating  the  finishing  temperature;^  on  others  there 
would  be  mistakes  in  measuring  and  testing;  while  some  pieces, 
perhaps,  did  actually  show  those  peculiarities  which  we  call  abnor- 
mal, which  are  ascribed  sometimes  to  oxide  of  iron,  sometimes  to 
nitrogen,  and  not  infrequently  to  the  devil,  but  which  grow  less 
numerous  as  we  learn  more  of  our  art. 

I  cannot  believe  that  the  complicated  formula  of  Mr.  Webster 
represents  actual  conditions,  and  the  remainder  of  this  chapter  will 
attempt  to  show  that  a  reasonably  accurate  empirical  equation  of 
steel  may  be  written  without  the  introduction  of  such  manifold 
variations,  and  by  the  use  of  constant  values  for  each  element  within 
the  limits  usually  obtaining  in  structural  metal.  It  will  also  be 
shown  that  the  first  increments  of  manganese  do  not  add  greatly 
to  the  strength  of  steel,  since  low-manganese  metal  is  stronger  than 
would  be  indicated  by  a  formula  that  applies  to  steels  containing 
higher  percentages  of  this  element. 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

The  remainder  of  Part  II  of  this  chapter  may  be  omitted  by  the 
general  reader.  It  discusses  the  first  investigation  made  upon  a 
series  of  steels  by  the  method  of  least  squares,  but  the  results  which 
are  given  later  on  a  second  series  shed  much  light  on  points  that 
are  not  made  clear  by  the  first  investigations  and  give  authority 
for  more  positive  statements.  This  increased  knowledge  does  not 
arise  from  any  superiority  of  the  second  investigation,  but  simply 
from  the  fact  that  the  basis  of  work  was  doubled  and  the  validity 
of  the  results  correspondingly  enhanced. 

The  careful  student  will  find  it  necessary  to  read  all  that  is 
written  to  understand  the  steps  involved,  and  to  know  why  certain 


486  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

elements  have  been  omitted  from  the  formula,  but  those  less  curi- 
ous may  pass  to  Part  III,  which  embraces  the  latest  investigations 
on  both  series,  while  Section  XVIIw  gives  a  synopsis  of  the  whole 
argument  and  the  conclusions  drawn  therefrom. 

SEC.  XVIIm. — Investigation  on  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company 
steels  ~by  the  method  of  averaging  groups  of  preliminary  tests.— 

I  believe  that  the  true  way  to  investigate  the  influence  of  the 
metalloids  upon  the  physical  qualities  of  steel  is  to  make  groups 
of  heats  so  as  to  avoid  the  determinative  errors  in  any  one  charge. 
It  is  essential  that  the  components  of  each  group  should  be  very 
nearly  alike  in  chemical  composition,  or  the  whole  purpose  of  the 
investigation  may  be  frustrated  by  the  intermingling  and  the  inte- 
gration of  factors  which  should  be  differentiated  and  equated.  If, 
however,  the  members  -of  each  group  are  as  nearly  uniform  as  pos- 
sible, we  may  thereby  reduce  the  effect  of  determinative  errors  and 
render  possible  an  accurate  determination  of  carbon,  for  it  is  out  of 
the  question  to  make,  a  combustion  on  each  separate  charge,  and  I 
do  not  consider  a  color  determination  as  any  fit  ground  for  scientific 
work. 

The  method  of  forming  the  groups  in  the  following  investiga- 
tion is  of  such  importance  that  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  full  descrip- 
tion. It  is  the  custom  at  Steelton  to  make  a  preliminary  test  of 
every  open-hearth  heat,  and  it  is  found  that  this  test  is  almost 
invariably  a  reliable  exponent  of  the  charge  from  which  it  comes. 
In  the  rolling  of  plates,  angles  and  miscellaneous  shapes,  the  thick- 
ness of  the  piece  and  the  finishing  temperature  have  a  great  effect 
upon  the  result,  but  in  this  test-piece  the  conditions  of  heating 
and  working  are  so  constant  that  the  results  as  shown  by  the  test- 
ing machine  reflect  only  the  influence  of  variations  in  the  chemical 
equation. 

Having  preserved  the  broken  bars  for  a  considerable  time,  there 
were  at  hand  575  pieces  of  acid  steel  below  80,000  pounds  ultimate 
strength,  1160  pieces  of  basic  steel  below  70,000  pounds,  and  145 
pieces  of  acid  steel  above  80,000  pounds.  In  addition  to  the  ulti- 
mate strength,  the  content  of  manganese,  sulphur  and  phosphorus 
was  on  record  for  each  piece. 

Taking  the  low-acid  steels  as  one  basis  of  work,  a  further  separa- 
tion was  made  according  to  the  tensile  strength;  for  example,  in 
the  case  of  the  low-acid  steels  there  were  148  heats  between  58,000 


INFLUENCE   OF    CERTAIN   ELEMENTS   ON   STEEL.  487 

and  60,000  pounds,  and  these  were  considered  a  sub-division.  This 
was  again  divided,  the  heats  being  arranged  according  to  their 
chemical  composition.  Thus  there  were  18  heats  which  showed 
lower  manganese  than  the  rest,  and  these  were  averaged  to  give 
Group  8  in  Table  XVII-N.  There  were  13  heats  showing  high 
manganese,  and  these  gave  Group  16.  The  low-sulphur  heats  gave 
Group  24,  the  high-sulphur  Group  17.  The  low-phosphorus  gave 
Group  25,  the  high-phosphorus  Group  19,  while  there  were  72 
heats  which  did  not  show  a  high  content  of  any  element,  and  these 
form  Group  15. 

Oftentimes  it  would  happen  that  a  charge  which  contained  high 
manganese  would  show  either  a  low  or  a  high  percentage  of  some 
other  element,  and  hence  would  appear  in  two  or  more  groups,  so 
that  the  total  number  of  heats  in  the  table  is  larger  than  the  num- 
ber of  test-pieces. 

After  forming  these  groups,  the  average  manganese,  sulphur, 
phosphorus  and  ultimate  strength  of  each  were  calculated  from  the 
records,  while  the  average  carbon,  silicon  and  copper  were  deter- 
mined by  weighing  an  equal  quantity  of  drillings  from  each  bar 
and  making  a  chemical  analysis,  the  carbon  being  determined  by 
combustion.  Since  each  member  of  a  group  contained  nearly  the 
same  percentage  of  carbon,  it  is  evident  that  very  little  error  is 
introduced  by  this  system  of  average,  while  it  assuredly  tends  to 
hide  the  idiosyncrasies  of  any  one  heat. 

By  this  system  of  combination  the  low-acid  steels  gave  47  groups, 
which  are  given  in  Division  I,  Table  XYII-N,  and  are  plotted  in 
Curve  AA,  Fig.  XYII-A.  The  high-acid  steels  gave  15  groups, 
which  are  given  in  Division  II,  and  are  plotted  in  Curve  BB,  Fig. 
XVII- A.  The  basic  steels  gave  75  groups,  which  are  given  in  Di- 
vision III,  and  are  plotted  in  Curve  AA,  Fig.  XVII-B.  In  these 
graphic  representations  the  ordinates  are  the  ultimate  strength  per 
square  inch,  and  the  abscissas  the  percentage  of  carbon,  the  latter 
element  being  selected  because  it  is  universally  recognized  as  the 
controlling  component. 

,  SEC.  XVUn.— Quantitative  valuation  of  the  elements  by  the 
method  of  least  squares. — It  is  certain  that  carbon  increases  the 
strength  of  steel  when  present  in  small  proportions,  but  that  after 
a  certain  content  is  reached  (say  about  1.00  per  cent.)  there  is  no 
increase  in  cohesive  power  from  a  further  addition.  It  will  also 
be  granted  that  this  point  is  not  a  sudden  break  in  the  line,  but 


488 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


TABLE  XVII-N. 

List  of  Groups  Used  in  Determining  the  Effect  of  Certain  Elements 
upon  the  Tensile  Strength  of  Steel,  together  with  the  Formulae 
Obtained  therefrom  by  the  Method  of  Least  Squares. 

NOTE. — All  figures  relating  to  ultimate  strength  are  expressed  in  pounds  per 

square  inch. 


Number 

Effect  of  .001  per  cent,  upon  the  ultimate  strength. 

of 

Kind  of 

formula 

steel. 

Carbon.' 

Manganese.     Phosphorus. 

Iron. 

1 

Acid, 

+152.9212 

—3.902156             +131.6955 

+0.3432669 

2 

Basic, 

+103.4560 

+5.298315             +  94.08509 

+0.3899613 

ft 

ti 
2 

Composition;  percent. 

ft 

0>  3 

•s  ° 

*  Formula  No.  1. 

M 

9 

c 

Q 

CO 

IS 

*j  O 

<«      • 

|ij 

£s  £ 

•3 

0 

i 

1 

« 

o 

£3 

c?^  ^ 

08  0  g  A 

!>  o  o 

1 

Is 

|| 

| 

I 

iH 

0 

O 
ft 

U> 

if 

-11 

|||| 

Ifi| 

3 

g  2 

*£  o 

.s 

d 

ft 

0 

ft 

fi$3 

c3£ 

3*3  £ 

5c  c^i; 

-Hi 

^ 

3  be 

§  0 

1-^ 

• 

— 

,£3 

o 

o  ^ 

t>  03 

S  CS  O>  cc 

& 

Zl 

0 

33 

a 

rfi 

0 

1—  1 

2 

^ 

o 

i 

6 

.082 

.006 

.290 

.034 

.034 

.120 

99.434 

52090 

50018 

—2072 

46672 

2 

12 

.105 

.009 

.380 

.059 

.074 

.180 

99.193 

57375 

58369 

+  994 

50106 

8 

11 

.109 

.008 

.310 

.036 

.066 

.140 

99.331 

57310 

58248 

+  938 

507(55 

4 

12 

.109 

.007 

.380 

.048 

.082 

.150 

99.224 

57430 

60045 

+2615 

50729 

5 

38 

.113 

.009 

.430 

.038 

.061 

.130 

,  99.219 

57140 

57694 

+  554 

51339 

6 

11 

.118 

.007 

.480 

.046 

.096 

.180 

99.078 

62870 

62060 

—  810 

51290 

7 

5 

.115 

.007 

.490 

.029 

.037 

.090 

99.232 

55450 

54610 

—  840 

51649 

8 

18 

.115 

.013 

.300 

.043 

.069 

.170 

99.290 

58780 

59585 

+  805 

51669 

9 

12 

.116 

.005 

.590 

.025 

.034 

.100 

99.130 

56830 

53942 

—2888 

51767 

10 

19 

.116 

.015 

.500 

.069 

.082 

.190 

99.028 

60870 

60580 

—  290 

-61732 

11 

9 

.116 

.013 

.470 

.057 

.089 

.170 

99.085 

62610 

61638 

—  972 

51752 

12 

18 

.117 

.018 

.330 

.039 

.073 

.200 

99.223 

61190 

60278 

—  912 

51952 

"5 

18 

17 

.117 

.005 

.450 

.049 

.099 

.160 

99.120 

61430 

63198 

+1768 

51916 

J> 

14 

19 

.118 

.005 

.590 

.030 

.035 

.100 

99.122 

56990 

54377 

—2613 

52070 

5 

15 

72 

.118 

.007 

.420 

.045 

.075 

.140 

99.195 

59110 

60333 

+1223 

52095 

,13 

16' 

13 

.118 

.008 

.560 

.044 

.063 

.140 

99.0(57 

58163 

—1187 

52051 

17 

15 

.118 

.007 

.450 

.064 

.081 

.170 

99.110 

H^so 

60977 

+1717 

5206(5 

18 

15 

.118 

.014 

.570 

.056 

.076 

.180 

98.986 

00900 

59808 

—1092 

52023 

^ 

19 

21 

.119 

.009 

.420 

.051 

.090 

.140 

99.171 

5:>310 

62453 

+3143 

52240 

A 

20 

15 

.119 

.017 

.430 

.028 

.065 

.160 

99.181 

6102J 

59125 

—1895 

52243 

M 
O 

21 

96 

.119 

.009 

.440 

.043 

.077 

.160 

99.152 

61130 

60657 

—  473 

52233 

s 

22 

19 

.123 

.014 

.440 

.030 

.063 

.160 

99.170 

59110 

59431 

+  321 

52851 

o 

23 

6 

.129 

.008 

.490 

.050 

.118 

.160 

99.045 

05020 

67354 

+2334 

53720 

2 

24 

11 

.131 

.012 

.470 

.033 

.051 

.130 

99.173 

60690 

58958 

—1732 

54075 

§ 

25 

13 

.134 

.015 

.480 

.035 

.045 

.150 

99.141 

58820 

58577 

—  243 

5452:? 

k 

26 

12 

.138 

.021 

.360 

.041 

.077 

.140 

99.223 

62940 

63899 

+  959 

551(53 

BE 

27 

88 

.140 

.016 

.480 

.042 

.077 

.180 

99.065 

02S90 

68682 

+  792 

55415 

1^ 

28 

10 

.143 

.006 

.390 

.045 

.086 

.200 

99.130 

64880 

65700 

+  820 

55891 

29 

10 

.147 

.012 

.540 

.024 

.056 

.160 

99.061 

63210 

G1752 

—1458 

50484 

M 

80 

12 

.151 

.012 

.640 

.033 

.051 

.130 

98.983 

62650 

61288 

—  1362 

57009 

81 

7 

.151 

.005 

.490 

.055 

.088 

.160 

99.051 

64930 

6(5709 

+  1819 

57092 

0 

82 

12 

.156 

.008 

.570 

.035 

.070 

.170 

98.991 

65180 

64830 

—  350 

57830 

1 

83 

8 

.171 

.011 

.630 

.026 

.036 

.100 

99.023 

(52850 

62125 

—  425 

60142 

| 

34 

4 

.178 

.008 

1.000 

.043 

.076 

.140 

98.555 

71930 

67157 

—4773 

61051 

85 

8 

.183 

.014 

.680 

.030 

.027 

.100 

98.906 

65100 

62859 

—2241 

61956 

86 

9 

.185 

.008 

.760 

.028 

.038 

.130 

98.851 

65590 

64201 

—1329 

6222*3 

87 

6 

.193 

.009 

.670 

.020 

.036 

.100 

98.972 

052SO 

6.5614 

+  381 

634HS 

88 

5 

.198 

.013 

.610 

.032 

.060 

.140 

98.947 

69970 

69765 

—  205 

64244 

89 

8 

.207 

.012 

.790 

.045 

.067 

.150 

98.729 

71210 

71286 

+    76 

65545 

40 

8 

.212 

.010 

.820 

.039 

.073 

.140 

98.706 

71870 

72710 

+  846 

60302 

41 

4 

.213 

.012 

.700 

.019 

.046 

.140 

98.870 

09750 

08687 

+    87 

66511 

42 

5 

.225 

.015 

.990 

.048 

.077 

.220 

98.425 

78700 

74471 

—4221) 

68193 

43 

5 

.235 

.016 

.750 

.027 

.037 

.140 

98.795 

71170 

71796 

+  626 

69850 

44 

12 

.240 

.009 

.760 

.030 

.054 

.140 

98.767 

7232.) 

74754 

+2434 

70605 

45 

7 

.242 

.010 

.860 

.049 

.076 

.190 

98.573 

78020 

77497 

—  523 

70844 

46 

6 

.282 

.009 

.660 

.033 

.053 

.160 

98.8013 

76830 

81444 

+4614 

77040 

47 

6 

.282 

.010 

.770 

.023 

.043 

.140 

98.732 

76940 

79673 

4-2733 

77015 

INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


489 


TABLE  XVII-N  (Continued). 


d 

Composition;  percent. 

A 

Formula  No.  1. 

gi 

* 

**->  O 

<M 
0 

of  heat 

g 

S3 

i 

CO 

3 
h 

o> 
o 
d 

i! 

3  o 

33 

yiijL 

.'S 

i  5  >> 

IP 

(H 

0 

So 

-3 

C  o 

« 

C3 

Jj 

J 

^ 

£2 

§bc 

2^<2  1^*3  s* 

«-§ 

£5 

£5  3 

O  d 

5 

W> 

<j 

ft 

9 

tr1 

*^  O  £    pQ         Q  ^ 

«  £.a 

a 

ag 

II 

<o 

ft 

0 

ft 

gte 

BJ 

^^  O  'tn'fi'd  *"* 

ill 

3 

=  5 

£o 

Sj 

m 

3 

A 

O 

O  ^j 

>« 

^H  C2  ci  '5  C3  Q»>  "y 

"3£3 

^ 

% 

o 

33 

N 

OC 

PH 

0 

H 

<1 

H> 

r 

0 

48 

7 

.306 

.010 

.790 

.034 

.050 

.090 

98.720 

8268C 

841& 

+1503 

80681 

5 

49 

7 

.333 

.220 

.650 

.026 

.041 

.080 

98.650 

8741C 

8764$ 

+  239 

84786 

a 

50 

11 

.341 

.020 

.850 

034 

.045 

.110 

98.600 

8698C 

88605 

+1622 

85992 

.1 

51 

8 

.374 

.030 

.830 

.035 

.057 

.120 

98.554 

9075C 

95291 

+4541 

91023 

52 

14 

.890 

.220 

.680 

.023 

.034 

.080 

98.573 

9263C 

9530C 

+2670 

93476 

tH   i 

53 

6 

.427 

.028 

.860 

.026 

.027 

.100 

98.532 

9930C 

9932C 

+    20 

99120 

fig~ 

54 

17 

.428 

.220 

.650 

.023 

.036 

.080 

98.563 

97270101485 

+4218 

99284 

o  ft< 

55 

16 

.438 

.220 

.690 

.026 

.033 

.130 

98.463 

102900  10243v 

—  468 

100779 

•22  ~*  " 

56 

14 

.477 

.240 

.690 

.025 

.080 

.080 

98.458 

107300  107998 

+  699 

106741 

15  2 

57 

20 

.480 

.230 

.690 

.022 

.032 

.060 

98.486 

111740108731'  —3009 

107209 

fi  § 

58 

13 

.480 

.090 

1.120 

.044 

.106 

.190 

97.970 

121210  116621 

—4589 

107032 

X} 

59 

18 

.507 

.061 

1.185 

.047 

.110 

.180 

97.910 

126800  121003 

—5797 

111140 

60 

10 

.527 

.250 

.720 

.027 

.032 

.070 

98.874 

116980  11576;] 

—1217 

114358 

M 

61 

10 

.554 

.230 

.680 

.022 

.032 

.090 

98.392 

122950  120054 

—2896 

118493 

62 

9 

.555 

.090 

1.130 

.042 

.109 

.190 

97.884 

123620 

128417 

+4797 

118472 

1 

Formula  No.  2. 

63 

6 

.025 

.005 

.040 

.024 

.009 

.080 

99.817 

46420 

42570    —3850 

41511 

64 

4 

.045 

.006 

.270 

.045 

.010 

.110 

99.514 

47550 

45834 

—1716 

43462 

65 

4 

.050 

.009 

.330 

.026 

.007 

.190 

99.388 

47060 

46J337 

—  723 

439SO 

66 

4 

..050 

.005 

.360 

.031 

.022 

.150 

99.382 

47610 

47905 

+  295 

43928 

67 

16 

.052 

.012 

.350 

.054 

.019 

.140 

99!373 

49010!  4777 

—1237 

44131 

68 

6 

.055 

.015 

.340 

.019 

.008 

.100 

99.463 

47130!  4703 

—    99 

44477 

69 

7 

.055 

.005 

.220 

.030 

.012 

.140 

99.538 

475701   4680 

—  769 

44506 

70 

12 

.058 

.005 

.340 

.029 

.011 

.140 

99.417 

47010 

47606 

+  596 

44769 

71 

8 

.061 

.006 

.460 

.025 

.016 

.140 

99.292 

47300 

4897 

+1673 

45031 

72 

18 

.062 

.008 

.210 

.036 

.015 

.120 

99.549 

48980 

47758 

-1222 

45235 

73 

6 

.065 

.008 

.360 

.080 

.014 

.180 

99.293 

49770 

4867 

—1100 

45445 

J""1 

74 

17 

.070 

.013 

.350 

.034 

.031 

.140 

99.362 

49250 

5076 

+1510 

45989 

75 

22 

.074 

.005 

.360 

.023 

.007 

.130 

99.401 

48830 

4898 

+  154 

46418 

09 

76 

19 

.074 

.009 

.390 

.018 

.013 

.100 

99.396 

49150 

49700 

+  556 

46416 

g 

77 

13 

.076 

.011 

.410 

.062 

.018 

.180 

99.243 

50880 

5042 

—  451 

46564 

78 

94 

.078 

.003 

.880 

,031 

.016 

.110 

99.382 

49090 

50343 

+1253 

46825 

3 

79 

15 

.081 

.005 

.540 

.031 

.016 

.130 

99.197 

49220 

5142Q 

+2200 

47063 

2 

80 

17 

.083 

.005 

.420 

.029 

.008 

.130 

99.325 

50910 

502H8 

-612 

47320 

i 

81 

16 

.083 

.006 

.570 

.035 

.017 

.110 

99.179 

51060 

51881 

+  822 

47263 

Q 
0} 

82 

26 

.084 

.009 

.250 

.033 

.021 

.140 

99.463 

50900 

50777 

—  123 

47477 

ft 

83 

23 

.085 

.014 

.380 

.032 

.036 

.140 

99.313 

51140 

52»2i 

+1782 

47522 

O 

84 

21 

.090 

.006 

.400 

.018 

.015 

.100 

99.871 

51200    51592 

+  392 

48062 

O 

85 

121 

.093 

.006 

.400 

.032 

.019 

.130 

99.320 

5103!)    52255 

+1229 

48352 

1 

86 

17 

.093 

.006 

.400 

.038 

.040 

.160 

99.263 

53020    54218 

+1193 

48330 

PQ 

87 

21 

.094 

.011 

.430 

.036 

.046 

.180 

99.203 

54800  '55016 

+  216 

48410 

88 

14 

.096 

.007 

.440 

.065 

.023 

.160 

99.209 

53000    53115 

+  115 

48619 

M 

89 

19 

.099 

.012 

.280 

.035 

.029 

.160 

99.385 

52950  '   53210 

+  260 

48998 

M 

90 

14 

.100 

.009 

.660 

.029 

.019 

.150 

99.033 

53380 

54249 

+  869 

48965 

H 

91 

5 

.102 

.010 

.470 

.087 

.027 

.150 

99.154 

53600 

54249 

+  649 

49219 

0 

92 

15 

.108 

.013 

.440 

.064 

.027 

.130 

99.223 

54950 

54221 

—  729 

49349 

"53 

93 

15 

.108 

.008 

.420 

.019 

.018 

.110 

99.317 

52910 

53822 

+  912 

49903 

"C 

94 

125 

.109 

.010 

.430 

.031 

.021 

.120 

99.279 

52380 

54246 

+1266 

49992 

S 

95 

03 

.112 

.005 

.420 

.034 

.025 

.160 

99.244 

54880 

54866 

—    14 

50288 

H 

96 

23 

.115 

.009 

.430 

.031 

.009 

.130 

99.276 

52750 

53736 

+  986 

50611 

97 

13 

.117 

.007 

.460 

.035 

.053 

.130 

99.198 

57210 

58211 

+1001 

50788 

98 

15 

.118 

.014 

.490 

.057 

.033 

.140 

99.148 

56980 

56573 

—  407 

50872 

99 

18 

.120 

.004 

.430 

.018 

.020 

.120 

99.288 

54860 

55293 

+  433 

51133 

00 

7 

.121 

.008 

.540 

.032 

.056 

.140 

99.103 

60580 

59294 

-1286 

51165 

01 

11 

.125 

.012 

.670 

.038 

.025 

.130 

99.000 

56680 

57440 

+  760 

51538 

02 

10 

.125 

.019 

.540 

.060 

.036 

.110 

99.110 

58790 

57829 

—  961 

51581 

03 

16 

.126 

.008 

.620 

.028 

.024 

.140 

99.054 

55090 

57206 

+2116 

51663 

04 

19 

.131 

.008 

.300 

.029 

.022 

.130 

99.380 

54690 

55966 

+  1276 

52307 

05 

20 

.132 

.006 

.390 

.027 

.009 

.130 

99.306 

54890 

55295 

+  405 

52382 

06 

63 

.132 

.010 

.470 

.033 

.028 

.190 

99.137 

56870 

57440 

+  570 

52316 

07 

9 

.134 

.016 

.510 

.036 

.055 

.110 

99.139 

59110 

60400 

+1290 

52528 

08 

15 

.136 

.009 

.310 

.029 

.024 

.130 

99.362 

57010 

6671P 

-292 

62817 

490 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


TABLE  XVII-N  (Continued). 


p, 

rt 
2 

Composition;  percent. 

ft 

Formula  No.  2. 

1 

1 

ti 

o 

00 

r? 

£  ° 

O 

Us 

jjlU 

•3 

•~ 
s 

!§• 

*1 

C5,a 

d 

! 

3 

I 

h 

J 

It 

-£j  ^  d 

opd  . 

03  s  S5 

ill 

,Q 

a 

*o  ~ 
as 

3  bo 

11 

8 

M 

d 

i 

A 
Sf 

| 

| 

o 

df 

£2 

o>,S 

>  03 

to'  «^-S 

S  <3  «  oo 

lea 

r.'—'~ 

& 

0 

55 

Jj 

w 

£ 

3 

M 

g.  <i 

« 

109 

11 

.137 

.020 

.720 

.037 

.033 

.180 

98.873 

59110 

59650 

+  540 

52730 

110 

6 

.142 

.017 

.530 

.058 

.029 

.120 

99.104 

60570 

58874 

l(j()(j 

53337 

111 

10 

.144 

.008 

.500 

.020 

.026 

.120 

99.182 

58860 

58670 

—  190 

53575 

J 

112 

87 

.144 

.015 

.520 

.034 

.028 

.130 

99.129 

5S070 

58944 

—  26 

53554 

113 

14 

.146 

.015 

.440 

.019 

.023 

.110 

99.247 

57030 

58302 

+1272 

53807 

9 

2 

114 

21 

.147 

.005 

.430 

.027 

.011 

.100 

99.280 

57060 

57237 

+  177 

53923 

QQ 

115 

7 

.151 

.016 

.680 

.029 

.024 

.180 

98.920 

60870 

60058 

—  812 

54197 

— 

116 

9 

.152 

.008 

.640 

.034 

.045 

.170 

98.951 

63480 

61937 

—1543 

54312 

fa 

117 

10 

.153 

.011 

.460 

.027 

.012 

.100 

99.237 

58970 

58094 

—  876 

54527 

08 

9 

118 

13 

.153 

.008 

.530 

.034 

.030 

.160 

99.085 

60770 

60099 

—  671 

54468 

A 

119 

12 

.155 

.012 

.390 

.029 

.020 

.120 

99.274 

59110 

58697 

—  413 

54749 

i 

120 

6 

.158 

.012 

.820 

.032 

.027 

.170 

98.781 

63400 

61752 

—1648 

54867 

s 

121 

8 

.164 

.018 

.570 

.046 

.031 

.160 

99.011 

63740 

61514 

-2226 

55577 

0 

122 

7 

.173 

.009 

.530 

.021 

.021 

.110 

99.136 

60310 

61341 

+  531 

56557 

123 

11 

.180 

.012 

.560 

.029 

.026 

.150 

99.043 

63110 

62658 

—  452 

67245 

OQ 

124 

10 

.181 

.006 

.480 

.031 

.011 

.100 

99.191 

60740 

60984 

+  244 

57406 

i 

125 

8 

.181 

.011 

.370 

.028 

.019 

.070 

99.321 

60870 

61205 

+  835 

57457 

w 

126 

5 

.185 

.039 

.720 

.049 

.043 

.110 

98.854 

67570 

65549 

—2021 

57689 

• 

127 

5 

.190 

.008 

.720 

.037 

.047 

.170 

98.828 

66480 

66433 

—  47 

58196 

H 

128 

5 

.196 

.025 

.860 

.032 

.029 

.170 

98.688 

67480 

66047 

—1433 

58762 

t_l 

129 

10 

.199 

.012 

.620 

.030 

.025 

.120 

98.994 

66820 

64829 

—1991 

59192 

d 

130 

7 

.204 

.007 

.450 

.028 

.010 

.120 

99.181 

63600 

63107 

—  493 

59782 

_o 

131 

8 

.210 

.010 

.530 

.020 

.018 

.130 

99.082 

63740 

64866 

+1126 

60364 

09 

182 

6 

.215 

.005 

.420 

.024 

.011 

.160 

99.165 

63470 

64174 

+  704 

60914 

> 

133 

6 

.231 

.029 

.360 

.025 

.012 

.120 

99.223 

67530 

65628 

—1902 

62591 

s 

134 

5 

.233 

.008 

.490 

.020 

.021 

.130 

99.098 

67560 

67322 

—  238 

62750 

135 

5 

.260 

.060 

.810 

.025 

.014 

.100 

99.231 

68470 

68554 

+  84 

65595 

136 

5 

.311 

.080 

.440 

.029 

.020 

.070 

99.050 

73010 

75013 

+2008 

70800 

187 

5 

.338 

.025 

.620 

.026 

.017 

.100 

98.874 

77950 

78410 

+  460 

7  •*?'"*") 

that  the  effect  of  each  unit  of  carbon  decreases  as  it  is  approached. 
If  this  relation  holds  good  throughout  the  whole  series  of  alloys, 
then  each  successive  increment  of  carbon  will  have  a  less  effect  from 
the  starting  point  of  pure  iron. 

It  is  also  possible  for  the  same  reasons  that  every  other  metalloid 
will  follow  the  same  rule,  so  that  the  influence  of  each  separate 
alloyed  element  will  be  represented  by  a  curve.  This  may  be  an 
arc  of  a  circle,  or  a  parabola,  or  a  cycloid,  or  a  broken  line ;  it  may 
be  different  in  degree  or  different  in  nature  in  the  case  of  each 
element ;  and  it  may  vary  in  degree  or  even  in  nature  with  changes 
in  the  proportions  of  the  associated  elements ;  but  it  will  be  as- 
sumed in  this  investigation  that  within  the  narrow  limits  of  the 
divisions  of  the  table,  the  effect  of  a  regular  increase  in  the  per- 
centage of  each  metalloid  would  be  represented  by  a  straight  line. 
In  other  words,  that  an  increase  of  carbon  from  .20  to  .21  per  cent, 
gives  the  same  increment  in  strength  as  an  increase  from  .10  to  .11 
per  cent. 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


491 


If  this  last  assumption  be  true,  then  the  seemingly  erratic  devi- 
ations of  the  curves  in  Fig.  XVII-A  and  Fig.  XVII-B  from  a 
straight  line  are  due  to  variations  in  the  associated  percentages  of 
silicon,  manganese,  sulphur,  phosphorus  and  copper.  It  seems  pos- 
sible to  find  the  effect  of  these  elements  by  the  method  of  least 
squares.  Each  group  may  be  regarded  as  an  equation  containing 
seven  unknown  quantities,  the  combined  effect  of  which  produces  a 
certain  ultimate  strength.  If  A  is  written  for  the  effect  of  .001 
per  cent,  of  carbon  upon  the  ultimate  strength,  B  lor  silicon,  C 
for  manganese,  D  for  sulphur,  E  for  phosphorus,  F  for  copper,  and 
G  for  iron,  then  Group  I  will  take  the  following  form : 

82  A+6  B+290  C+34  D+34  E+120  F+99,434  G=52,090. 


Curve  sh 

owing-  Relation  of 

;he  Chem  cal  Composition  o 

/ 

\^ 

^B 

Acid 
Curve_A 
Curve  B 
Curve  C 

Open-He 
A=frora 
B=froir 
C=  strei 

irth  Stee 
Division 
Division 
gth  due  1 

to  its  Ult 
I, 

II, 

o  Carbon 

mate  Sti 
and  Iron 

ength. 
only,. 

V^ 

'C 

100;OQO 
90,000 
80,000 
70IQPO 
•0,000 
80,000 
«0#X> 

£ 

L^ 

Abscissa 

s  —  Carb 

yn,  per  ce 

nt. 

i 

A 

Ordinatt 

s  =  Ultin 

ate  Stren 

gth,ibs.] 

>er  sq.  in, 
I 

S 

s 

A      t 

M 

\ 

C 

tM 

jy 

/ 

A/ 

rj 

S 

<S 

..00 

.05 

.10 

.15 

.20 

.25 

.30 

.35 

.40 

.45 

.50 

.55 

FIG.  XVII-A. — CURVES  SHOWING  EELATION  OP  THE  CHEMICAL 
COMPOSITION  OF  ACID  OPEN-HEARTH  STEEL  TO  THE  UL- 
TIMATE STRENGTH,  AS  SHOWN  IN  TABLE  XVII-N. 

Similarly  the  47  groups  of  low-acid  steels  furnish  47  equations  of 
condition,  as  they  are  called,  and  from  these  may  be  deduced  seven 
normal  equations  containing  seven  unknown  quantities.  These 
normal  equations  being  solved  by  ordinary  algebraic  methods  give 


492 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


the  values  of  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F  and  G,  which  will  most  nearly  fit 
the  original  equations  of  condition.  The  method  by  which  the  nor- 
mal equations  are  deduced  is  explained  in  the  following  formula : 

Multiply  each  equation  by  the  coefficient  of  A  in  that  equation, 
ihen  add  together  the  resulting  equations  for  a  new  equation;  then 
multiply  each  equation  by  the  coefficient  of  B  in  that  equation,  and, 
as  before,  form  the  sum  of  the  resulting  equations.  Continue  the 
process  with  the  coefficients  of  each  of  the  unknown  quantities. 
The  number  of  resulting  normal  equations  will  be  equal  to  that  of 
the  unknown  quantities,  and  the  values  of  the  unknown  quantities 
deduced  therefrom  will,  as  above  stated,  be  the  most  probable  values. 

Curve  AA=  from  Division  III. 
BB  ==  strength  dne  to  Carbon  and  Iron  orlv. 


80,000" 


70,000 


60,000 


60,000 


40.000 '-00          1,06         (40- •"""  (.15          I^iT Tg§          \M~       [,85 

FIG.  XVII-B. — CURVES  SHOWING  RELATION"  OF  THE  CHEMICAL, 
COMPOSITION  OF  BASIC  OPEN-HEARTH  STEEL  TO  THE  UL- 
TIMATE STRENGTH,  AS  SHOWN  IN  TABLE  XVII-N. 

NORMAL  EQUATIONS  FROM  Low  ACID  OPEN-HEARTH  HEATS. 

Equation  from  A;  1,210,191  A  +  76,504  B  +•  4,298,880  C  +  272,436  D  +  450,670  E 

+  1,074,560  P  +  710,516,809  G  =  471,142,035. 
Equation  from  B ;  76,504  A  +  5,845  B  +  274,330  C  +  19,254  D  +  81,696  E  +  75,260  F 

+  48,817,111  G  =  81,631,465. 
Equation  from  C;   4,298,830  A    +    274,330   B    -f  15,861,200  C    +   1,002,980   D 

+  1,644,430  E  +  8,887,300  F  +  2,581,030,930  G  =  1,697,750,700. 
Equation  from  D;  272,436  A  +  19,254  B  +  1,002,980  C  -f  78,962  D  +  128,102  E 

+  286,420  F  +  183,011,846  G  =  117,362,985. 
Equation  from  E ;  450,670  A  +  81,696  B   +  1,644,430  C  -f  128,102  D  +  215,997  E 

+  474,310  F  +  800,954,795  G  =  194,090,210. 
Equation  from  F ;  1,074,560  A  +  75,260  B  -f  3,887,300  G  +  286,420  D  +  474,310  E 

+  1,093,400  F  +  697,108,750  G  =  450,996,700. 
Equation  from  G;  710,516,809  A  +  48,817,111  B  +  2,581,030,980  C  +  183,011,846  D 

4-  000,954,795  E  +  697,108,750  F  +  460,910,659,759  G  =  296,665,604,300. 


Abscissas=Carbon,  percent. 
Ordinates=Ult.  Str.,  Ibs.  per  sq.  in. 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  493 

These  equations  have  been  worked  out  without  the  use  of 
logarithms  and  are  absolutely  accurate,  since  the  conditions  of  the 
problem  render  possible  a  perfect  proof.  The  iron  being  deter- 
mined by  difference,  it  follows  that  the  sum  of  the  coefficients  in 
<?ach  equation  of  condition  is  100,000,  and  since  each  coefficient  in 
each  equation  is  successively  multiplied  by  every  other  one  in  the 
same  equation  to  form  new  coefficients,  it  follows  that  the  sum 
of  the  resultant  coefficients  for  each  equation  of  condition  must 
be  the  square  of  100,000,  while  the  sum  of  all  the  equations  derived 
from  the  47  equations  of  condition  will  be  47  times  this  number,  or 
470,000,000,000,  and  this  is  exactly  the  sum  of  all  the  coefficients  in 
the  above  seven  normal  equations. 

In  the  subsequent  work  of  finding  values  of  the  unknown  quan- 
tities it  is  out  of  the  question  to  sustain  this  strict  accuracy,  as  by 
the  continual  combination  of  terms  the  final  step  would  involve 
the  multiplication  of  two  numbers,  each  of  which  would  contain 
nearly  150  integers.  Seven-place  logarithm  tables  have  therefore 
been  used,  and  seven  integers  have  been  kept  in  all  corresponding 
numbers.  This  care  is  necessary  in  determining  seven  unknown 
quantities,  since  the  number  of  operations  is  so  great  that  the  accu- 
mulated logarithmic  error  is  of  considerable  importance. 

It  is  necessary  also  to  keep  in  mind  that  the  iron  is  determined 
by  difference,  so  that  it  must  bear  all  the  inaccuracies  that  occur 
in  the  determination  of  the  other  elements.  Moreover,  it  is  a  false 
assumption  that  this  "difference"  is  entirely  made  up  of  pure  iron, 
for  there  are  certain  appreciable  portions  of  oxygen  and  arsenic, 
with  traces  of  other  elements  like  nickel,  cobalt,  nitrogen,  etc.  It 
is  difficult  to  say  how  much  this  fact  impairs  the  value  of  the  results. 

Following  is  the  result  of  the  solution  for  the  low  acid  open- 
hearth  heats,  the  number  in  each  case  expressing  the  effect  of  .001 
per  cent,  of  the  element  upon  the  tensile  strength,  in  pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Carbon=+135.6419 ;    Silicon=H-71. 75700. 
Manganese= — 2.066168  ;   Sulphur= — 37.77523. 
Phosphorus=-f-117.6217  ;  Copper=+7.389871. 
Iron=+0.3655429. 

The  values  are  given  in  each  case  to  seven  figures,  although  at 
first  sight  this  may  seem  an  absurd  refinement.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  although  the  original  groups  contain  large 
determinative  errors,  the  normal  equations  constitute  an  accurate 
mathematical  problem,  and  that  the  figures  just  given  should  be 


494  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

such  that  they  satisfy  the  original  equations  of  condition  more 
nearly  than  any  other  possible  set  of  values.  This  is  equivalent 
to  saying  that  if  they  be  substituted  in  the  47  groups  of  Division  I, 
Table  XVII-N,  the  sum  total  of  the  errors  should  be  zero. 

The  formula  actually  used  is  not  the  formula  just  given,  since 
for  reasons  to  be  explained  later,  I  have  discarded  the  results  of 
operating  upon  seven  variables,  and  taken  cognizance  of  only  four 
elements.  I  have,  however,  made  the  trial  of  applying  the  above 
values  to  the  groups  in  Division  I  and  find  that  the  sum  of  the  plus 
and  minus  errors  is  29  pounds,  being  an  average  error  of  only  one- 
half  a  pound  to  each  group,  which  is  very  close  to  mathematical 
accuracy. 

The  true  way  of  proving  the  correctness  of  values  deduced  from 
such  a  series  of  equations  is  first  to  eliminate  in  the  order  Gf  F,  Ef 
D,  C,  B,  A  and  then  in  the  order  A,  B,  C,  D,  E}  F,  G,  to  see  if  the 
two  sets  of  answers  agree;  but  as  each  such  double  solution,  when 
every  step  of  the  work  is  proven  to  avoid  error,  consumes  nearly 
two  weeks  of  steady  work,  this  reverse  process  has  not  been  carried 
out  in  every  one  of  the  cases  herein  recorded.  It  has,  however, 
been  used  to  corroborate  the  following  less  tedious  method  of  proof 
which  is  described  for  the  benefit  of  future  investigators. 

The  process  of  elimination  is  performed  according  to  the .  fol- 
lowing chart,  where  each  figure  represents  an  equation,  and  each 
bracket  the  combination  of  two  equations  by  multiplication  and 
subtraction. 

> 


•> 

3S 

_S     I0\          S     20< 


*>   . 


>     ,5 
_""        IV/NS          ^      *u\ 

^    ..^    I6N      >   24\      -*** 

*>   >  "^  2I>  <  " 
<  12>  '«>  tt 

4?        13 

CHART  SHOWING  METHOD  OF  DETERMINING  SEVEN  UNKNOWN 
QUANTITIES  IN  SEVEN  EQUATIONS. 

After  the  determination  of  the  final  factor  in  equation  No.  28, 
the  value  of  each  element  is  successively  determined  by  substitution 
in  ISTos.  26,  23,  19,  14,  8  and  1.  After  the  last  unknown  is  thus 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


495 


found  the  values  are  substituted  in  No.  7,  and  if  it  is  then  found 
that  the  results  agree  to  the  seventh  or  even  to  the  sixth  logarithmic 
place,  it  may  confidently  be  asserted  that  the  values  are  correct  to 
the  third  and  sometimes  to  the  fourth  integer,  and  this  is  amply 
sufficient  for  the  work  in  hand. 

Notwithstanding  such  methods  of  proof  and  the  reasonable, 
although  in  some  respects  the  unexpected,  nature  of  the  results 
just  given  from  Division  I,  it  is  with  no  little  disappointment  that 
I  am  forced  to  confess  that  further  investigation  throws  grave 
doubts  on  the  validity  of  this  method  of  least  squares  when  applied 
to  such  a  number  of  unknown  quantities,  and  when  any  one  of  these 
quantities  is  of  very  little  importance.  The  reasons  for  this  con- 
clusion will  appear  in  the  results  shown  in  Table  XVII-0,  which 
were  obtained  from  the  normal  equations  derived  from  the  groups 
composing  Division  II. 

TABLE  XVII-0. 

Effect  of  Certain  Elements  upon  the  Strength  of  Steel  as  Deter- 
mined from  Division  II  in  Table  XVII-N. 


Order 
of 
solution. 

Effect  of  .001  per  cent. 

Strength 
of 
pure  iron. 

C. 

Si. 

Mn. 

S. 

P. 

Cu. 

Forward  .  .    .  1  +148.403 
Backward  .  .  |  +148.402 

+36.030 
+36.012 

+29.069 
+29.056 

+867.923 
+367.4(57 

—34.340 
—34.203 

—29.110 

—29.088 

42347 
42530 

NORMAL,  EQUATIONS  FROM  THE  HIGH  ACID  OPEN-HEARTH  HEATS, 
CONSTITUTING  DIVISION  II  OF  TABLE  XVII-N 

Equation  from  A;  3,008,187  A  +  990,763  B  +  5,453,835  C  +  202,211  D  +  351,674  E 

+  743,270  F  +  650,950,560  G  =  708,894,410. 
Equation  from  B;  990,763  A  +  441,605  B  +  1,596,765  C  +  57,835  D  +  91,526  E 

+  207,280  F  +  212,514,226  G  =  230,460,700. 
Equation  from  C;   5,453,335  A  +  1,596,765  B   +  10,427,125   C    +  391,865   D 

+  704,040  E  +  1,447,300  F  +1,201,479,570  G  =  1,298,675,100. 
Equation  from  D ;  202,211  A  +  57,835  B  +  391,865  C    +  14,854  D  +  26,895  E 

+  54,730  F  +  44,851,610  G  =  48,331,270. 
Equation  from  E ;  851,674  A  +  91,526  B  +  704,040  C  +  26,895  D  +  52,914  E 

+  102,250  F  +  76,070,701  G  =  84,275,880. 
Equation  from  F;  743,270  A  +  207,280  B  +  1,447,300  C  +  54,730  D  +  102,250  E 

+  208,300  F  +  162,236,870  G  =  177,275,000. 
Equation  from  G;  650,950.560  A  +  212,514,220  B  +  1,201,479,570  C  +  44,851,610  D 

+  76,070,701  E  +  162,236,870  F  +  145,264,790,433  G  =  154,504,087,640. 

After  laborious  attempts  to  find  any  mathematical  error,  I  am 
certain  that  the  discrepancies  between  the  results  found  by  solving 
in  reverse  order  are  due  solely  to  logarithmic  errors,  and  could 


496  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

only  be  lessened  by  using  logarithm  tables  of  more  than  seven 
places.  But  these  errors  are  of  no  importance,  and  it  is  certain  that 
the  values  are  approximately  correct,  mathematically  speaking,  al- 
though they  are  absurd  from  a  practical  point  of  view. 

If  .001  per  cent,  of  sulphur  did  actually  cause  an  increase  of  367 
pounds,  then  .06  per  cent.,  which  is  a  very  common  content,  would 
increase  the  strength  22,000  pounds,  when  in  reality  its  effect  is 
very  slight,  if  it  is  even  appreciable.  Phosphorus  is  shown  as  a 
minus  quantity,  which  is  entirely  wrong,  and  copper  is  given  at  — 
29  pounds,  which  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  one-half  of  one  per 
cent,  would  reduce  the  strength  14,500  pounds,  when,  in  fact,  a 
content  of  even  one  per  cent,  does  not  seem  to  have  any  effect  at  all. 

These  ridiculous  values  place  in  question  the  validity  of  the 
method  of  least  squares,  by  which  they  were  determined,  and  the 
next  section  will  attempt  to  survey  the  territory  over  which  it  has 
jurisdiction. 

SEC.  XVIIo. — Application  of  the  method  of  least  squares  as  Urn- 
ited  by  the  conditions  of  the  problem. — The  fundamental  difficulty 
in  the  solution  of  Division  II  is  the  fact  that  the  iron  is  not  self- 
determining.  The  highest  percentage  of  iron  in  any  group  of  the 
division  is  98.720,  and  the  lowest  is  97.884,  being  a  ratio  of  less 
than  101  to  100.  It  is  true  that  the  ratios  in  Divisions  I  and  III 
are  very  little  higher  than  this,  but  in  both  these  cases  there  is  a 
determining  condition  in  the  fact  that  there  are  a  number  of  groups 
which  are  nearly  pure  iron,  and  it  will  evidently  be  less  probable 
that  a  wrong  result  will  be  found  under  such  circumstances. 

The  only  way,  therefore,  of  obtaining  an  intelligent  result  for 
Division  II  is  to  make  the  iron  self-determining,  and  since  this 
cannot  be  done  within  the  limits  of  the  division,  it  is  necessary  to 
combine  it  with  Division  I.  This  combination  may  be  regarded  as 
unjustifiable,  since  the  effect  of  carbon  decreases  after  a  certain 
point  is  passed,  but  it  can  be  answered  that  the  curve  in  Fig. 
XVII-A  gives  no  sign  of  falling,  and  that  the  value  of  carbon  just 
found  for  Division  II  is  greater  than  for  Division  I.  Moreover, 
it  will  be  shown  in  Table  XVII-P  that  the  value  of  carbon  as 
found  by  the  combination  of  I  and  II  is  higher  than  for  I  alone, 
so  that  there  is  good  warrant  for  the  union  of  the  two. 

This  conjunction  will  tend  to  prevent  an  absurd  result  in  the 
case  of  iron,  and  will  give  a  better  value  for  carbon ;  but  it  will  not 
prevent  a  wrong  estimation  of  an  element  like  copper,  which  has 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  497 


very  little  influence  upon  the  tensile  strength.  It  is  certain  that 
the  equations  of  condition  are  not  absolutely  accurate,  owing  to  the 
limitations  of  chemical  research  and  the  variations  in  the  rolled 
test-bars.  These  errors  are  incorporated  into  the  normal  equations, 
and  are  distributed  in  the  final  solution  so  as  to  give  the  best  mathe- 
matical result. 

It  does  not  follow  that  the  values  so  found  will  accurately  repre- 
sent the  actual  practical  state  of  affairs,  for  a  purely  fanciful  result 
is  not  an  unusual  phenomenon  in  mathematics ;  thus,  in  the  solution 
of  every  quadratic  equation,  two  values  are  always  produced  by  the 
plus  and  minus  roots,  and  one  of  these  values  is  often  inapplicable 
to  the  original  conditions.  This  occurred  in  the  derivation  of  the 
curves  given  in  Fig.  XVI-B,  for  there  were  two  possible  conic  sec- 
tions discovered  in  each  case. .  One  of  them  fitted  the  problem, 
while  the  other  was  a  reverse  curve  exactly  similar  to  the  first,  but 
situated  for  the  most  part  in  minus  territory,  and  having  an  exist- 
ence only  as  a  mirage  of  the  true  solution. 

To  prevent  such  a  purely  mathematical  answer  to  the  present 
practical  problem  it  is  necessary  to  discard  two  sets  of  variables: 

(1)   Those  which  are  known  to  have  very  little  effect. 
v    (2)   Those  which  are  present  in  very  nearly  constant  proportion. 

If  an  element  has  no  effect,  then  it  cannot  be  self-determining, 
but  may  be  forced  to  bear 'all  the  results  of  analytical  errors.  If 
it  is  present  in  nearly  constant  quantity,  then  the  slight  variations 
can  have  very  little  determining  effect. 

From  one  point  of  view  these  limitations  beg  the  question,  for  it 
becomes  necessary  to  know  in  a  general  way  the  influence  of  an 
element  before  its  value  can  be  quantitatively  determined.  The 
ultimate  logical  consequences  of  such  a  provision  need  not  be  dis- 
cussed, for,  in  the  problem  under  consideration,  it  is  known  that 
copper  has  scarcely  any  influence  upon  the  tensile  strength,  and 
that  the  same  is  true  of  sulphur  when  present  in  ordinary  propor- 
tions. 

In  the  case  of  silicon  there  is  a  chance  for  greater  hesitation, 
but  it  will  be  noticed  that  in  only  eight  groups  is  the  content  of 
this  metalloid  above  .20  per  cent.,  while  in  only  three  other  groups, 
or  11  in  all,  is  it  over  .03  per  cent.  Within  the  limits  of  .00  and 
.03  per  cent.,  which  thus  includes  five-sixths  of  the  groups,  the 
power  of  silicon  is  not  enough  to  disturb  the  calculations. 

SEC.  XVIIp. — Effect  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus  and  iron 


498  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

upon  the  ultimate  strength. — Having  thus  decided  to  neglect  the- 
effect  of  silicon,  sulphur  and  copper,  the  equations  of  condition  are 
simplified  so  that  they  take  the  following  form : 

EQUATIONS  OF  CONDITION. 

From  Group  I ;  82  A  +290  C  +  34  E  +  99434  G  =  52090. 
From  Group  II ;  105  A  +  880  C  +  74  E  +  99193  G  ==  57375. 

From  these  may  be  deduced  the  following  normal  equations  : 

NORMAL  EQUATIONS,  DIVISION  I. 
Equation  from  A;   1,210,191  A  +  4,298,830  C  +  450,670  E  +  710,516,809  G 

=  471,142,635. 
Equation  fromC;  4,298,830  A  +  15,861,200  C  +  1,644,430  E  +  2,581,030,930  G 

=  1,697,750,700. 
Equation  from  E;    450,670  A   +    1,644,430  C    +  215,997  E  +  300,954,795    G 

=  194,090,210. 
Equation     from    G;     710,516,809     A     +     2,581,030,930     C    +     300,954,795    E 

+  460,910,659,759  G  =  296,665,604,300. 

NORMAL  EQUATIONS,  DIVISION  II. 
Equation  from  A ;    3,008,187  A    +  5,453,335  C    +  351,674  E    +  650,950,560    G 

=  708,894,410. 
Equation  from  C ;  5,453,335  A  +  10,427,125  C  +  704,040  E   +   1,201,479,570  G; 

=  1,298,675,100. 

Equation  from  E ;  351,674  A  +  704,040  C  -f  52,914  E  +  76,070,701  G  =  84,275,880. 
Equation     from     G;     650,950,560    A     +     1.201,479,570     C     +     76,070,701    E 

+  145,264,796,463  G  =  154,504,087,640. 

NORMAL,  EQUATIONS,  DIVISION  III. 
Equation  from  A;  1,505,996  A    -f  4,700,050  C   +  225,664  E   +  954,850,000  G 

=  574,293,000. 
Equation  from  C;    470,005  A  +    1,723,710   C  +    83,790    E    +    340,994,800  G 

=  198,609,150. 
Equation  from    E;    225,664   A    +    837,900   C    +    48,942    E    +    169,769,400   G 


Equation  from  G;  9,548,500  A+  34,099,480  C  +  1,697,694  E  +  7,882,188,000  G 
=  4,206,995,000. 

NORMAL,  EQUATIONS.  DIVISIONS  I  AND  II  COMBINED. 
Equation  from  A;  4,218,378  A  +  9,752,165  C   +  802,844  E   +   1,361,467,000  G 

=  1,180,037,000. 
Equation  from  C;  9,752,165  A  +   26,288,830  C  +   2,348,470  E    +  8,782,511,000  G- 

=  2,996,426,000. 
Equation   from  E;   802,844  A    +  2,348,470  C  +  268,911  E    +  877,025,500  G 

=  278,366,090. 
Equation  fromG;  18,614,670  A  +37,825,110  C  +  8,770,255  E   +  6,061,755,000  G 

=  4,511,697,000. 

These  equations,  when  solved,  give  the  values  shown  in  Table 
XVII-P.  In  two  cases  the  elimination  has  been  performed  in  the 
order  Gf  E,  C,  A,  and  has  then  been  repeated  "backward"  in  the 
order  A,  C,  E,  G.  The  comparison  of  results  shows  the  degree  of 


INFLUENCE  OF  CERTAIN  ELEMENTS  ON  STEEL. 


499 


accuracy  obtained.  In  the  other  two  cases  the  work  was  not  re- 
peated in  this  manner,  but  the  table  gives  two  values  of  iron. 
These  two  determinations  are  the  result  of  substitution  in  the  ex- 
treme equations,  as  shown  by  the  chart  on  page  494,  and  the 
almost  perfect  agreement  of  the  two  proves  that  the  work  is  correct 
within  the  limits  of  logarithmic  error. 

TABLE  XVII-P. 

Effect  of  Carbon,  Manganese  and  Phosphorus  upon  the  Strength  of 
Iron,  as  Determined  from  Table  XVII-N  by  the  Method  of 
Least  Squares. 

NOTE.— All  values  are  in  pounds  per  square  inch. 


No.  of  division. 
(See  Table  XVII-N.) 

Order  of 
solution. 

Effect  of  .001  per  cent. 

Strength  of 
pure  iron. 

- 

Carbon. 

Manganese. 

Phosphorus 

Division  I. 

Forward, 

+141.4929 

—3.086216 

+109.3771 

37139.65 
87139.67 

Division  II. 

Forward, 
Backward, 

+166.8914 
+166.8939 

+3.921577 
+3.928512 

+  97.28167 
+  97.24250 

23236.27 
23231.43 

Divisions  I  and  II 
combined. 

Forward, 
Backward, 

+152.9212 
+152.9203 

—3.902156 
—3.901182 

+131.6955 
+131.6965 

84326.69 
84326.22 

Division  III. 

Forward, 

+103.4560 

+5.298315 

+  94.08509 

88996.13 

88996.14 

The  values  are  given  for  Division  I  in  order  that  they  may  be 
compared  with  those  found  by  combining  Divisions  I  and  II.  They 
are  given  also  for  Division  II  separately,  in  order  to  corroborate 
what  was  said  in  Sections  XVIIn  and  XVIIo  on  the  worthlessness 
of  any  solution  of  this  division  by  itself.  The  value  of  23,236 
pounds  for  the  strength  of  pure  iron  is  absurd,  and,  of  course,  this 
renders  worthless  all  the  other  factors,  but  the  coincidence  of  the 
results  when  the  equations  were  worked  in  opposite  directions 
proves  conclusively  the  accuracy  of  the  work. 

Moreover,  I  have  applied  these  values  to  the  separate  groups  of 
Division  II,  and  the  greatest  discrepancy  in  any  one  group  between 
the  actual  and  the  calculated  strength  is  6784  pounds,  while  the 
sum  of  the  plus  and  minus  errors  is  only  4.2  pounds,  being  an 
average  error  of  only  0.28  pounds  for  each  group.  This  shows 
again,  what  has  been  insisted  upon  elsewhere,  that  perfectly  correct 
mathematical  results  may  be  inapplicable  to  the  practical  conditions 
unless  the  factors  are  self-determining. 

The  values  found  by  the  combination  of  Divisions  I  and  II,  and 


500  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

the  values  given  for  Division  III,  are  those  which  have  been  applied 
to  the  groups  in  Table  XVII-N  under  the  titles  of  Formulae  No.  1 
and  No.  2.  The  antepenultimate  column  gives  the  tensile  strength 
as  calculated  from  the  formula,,  while  the  penultimate  shows  the 
error,  or  the  difference  between  this  calculated  value  and  the  result 
found  by  the  testing  machine. 

The  accuracy  of  the  formulae  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  the 
sum  of  the  plus  and  minus  quantities  for  the 'acid  steels,  comprising 
Divisions  I  and  II,  is  29  pounds,  being  an  error  of  half  a  pound  for 
each  group.  In  the  case  of  the  basic  steels  the  error  is  only  5 
pounds,  or  only  one-fifteenth  of  a  pound  for  each  group. 

SEC.  XVIIq. — Value  of  carbon  and  phosphorus  when  manganese 
is  neglected. — In  the  preceding  section  it  has  been  shown  that  man- 
ganese is  a  plus  quantity  in  basic  steels,  and  a  minus  quantity  in 
acid  metal.  These  contradictory  values  nray  seem  improbable, 
although  they  are  by  no  means  impossible.  In  order  to  get  a  little 
more  light  on  the  subject,  I  have  arbitrarily  divided  the  list  of 
groups,  given  in  Table  XVII-N,  into  two  sets,  and  have  determined 
the  most  probable  values  of  carbon,  manganese  and  phosphorus  for 
each  set.  It  would  naturally  be  expected  that  the  results  from 
one-half  the  number  of  groups  would  be  less  valid  and  less  uniform 
than  from  the  complete  list,  but  they  may  nevertheless  be  of  use  as 
corroborative  evidence. 

The  method  of  dividing  the  list  was  to  take  the  odd  numbers  for 
one  set  and  the  even  numbers  for  the  other.  Inasmuch  as  the 
original  arrangement  is  on  the  basis  of  carbon  content  alone,  it  will 
be  evident  that  this  insures  a  fair  division  without  any  chance  of 
selection  in  aid  of  any  preconceived  theory.  It  would  have  been 
much  better  if  a  calculation  could  have  been  made  on  those  groups 
showing  low  manganese,  and  those  with  high  manganese,  but  as  the 
low  steels  did  not  offer  any  examples  of  a  high  content  of  this 
element,  and  the  high  steels  did  not  offer  any  examples  of  a  low 
content,  the  result  would  have  been  of  no  value. 

In  the  case  of  acid  steel  a  mistake  was  made  in  taking  for 
this  arbitrary  division  the  original  list  of  groups,  which,  of  course, 
was  made  up  before  the  determinations  of  carbon  were  made  by 
combustion.  On  comparing  the  numbers  on  this  original  list  with 
the  new  arrangement,  it  was  found  that  the  two  sets  of  so-called 
"odd"  and  "even"  numbers  really  embraced  the  following  groups, 
as  given  in  Table  XVII-N,  after  they  had  been  renumbered : 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


501 


Odd  numbers:  Groups,  1,  2,  3,  8,  9,  10, 13,  15,  18,  22,  23,  25,  26, 
27,  29,  31,  33,  36,  38,  41,  42,  43,  44  and  45. 

Even  numbers:  Groups  4,  5,  6,  7,  11,  12,  14,  16,  17,  19,  20,  21, 
24,  28,  30,  32,  34,  35,  37,  39,  40,  46,  and  47. 

Inasmuch  as  one  arbitrary  division  seems  to  be  as  good  as  another 
and  as  the  calculation  is  very  laborious,  it  was  deemed  unnecessary 
to  repeat  the  work  simply  for  the  sake  of  uniformity,  but  this 
explanation  is  made  for  the  sake  of -any  mathematician  who  might 
wish  to  test  the  accuracy  of  the  solution.  In  the  case  of  the  basic 
steel,  the  odd  and  even  figures  were  taken  as  they  stand  in  Table 
XVII-K  The  results  are  given  in  Table  XVII-Q. 

TABLE  XVII-Q.  . 

Values  of  Carbon,  Manganese,  Phosphorus,  and  Iron,  obtained  by 
Arbitrarily  Dividing  the  List  in  Table  XVII-X  According  to 
Odd  and  Even  Numbers  and  Solving  Each  Division  by  the 
Method  of  Least  Squares. 


Factor. 

Kind  of 
steel. 

Value  in  pounds  per  sq.  inch. 

Odd. 

Even. 

Combined. 

.01  per  cent,  of 

carbon    

Acid, 
Basic, 

+  1554 
+1069 

+1502 
+  992 

+1529 
+  1035 

.01  per  cent,  of 

manganese  

Acid. 
Basic, 

—  0.18 
+20 

—  107 

+    85 

—    89 
+    53 

.01  per  cent,  of 

phosphorus    

Acid, 
Basic, 

+1451 

+  799 

+  1032 
+  1100 

+1317 
+  941 

Pure  iron  .  .  . 

Acid, 
Basic, 

80824 
40303 

40519 
37749 

84327 

88996 

It  will  also  be  seen  that  in  each  case  the  "combined"  value,  which 
is  the  original  value  given  in  Table  XVII-N,  is  very  close  to  an 
average  of  the  odd  and  even.  This  is  by  no  means  a  foregone  con- 
clusion, and  would  not  follow  if  the  factors  were  not  self-deter- 
mining to  a  great  extent. 

It  will  also  be  seen  that  there  are  variations  in  the  values  of 
each  one  of  the  factors,  but  that  manganese  shows  the  widest 
range.  In  the  acid  steel  the  figure  for  the  even  numbers  is— 107, 
while  in  the  odd  numbers  it  is  only  a  small  fraction.  The  varia- 
tions in  phosphorus  are  very  small  when  compared  with  this,  while 
those  of  carbon  are  insignificant.  The  value  of  iron  must  neces- 
sarily change  with  the  other  elements,  since  it  is  less  self-determin- 
ing than  carbon  or  phosphorus. 


.502  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

The  great  differences  found  in  the  values  of  phosphorus  in  the 
odd  and  even  subdivisions  of  the  basic  heats  are  easily  explained. 
An  examination  of  the  table  will  show  that  of  the  odd  numbers 
there  are  only  four  groups  showing  more  than  .04:  per  cent,  of 
phosphorus,  and  only  three  groups  in  the  even  numbers.  There 
is  therefore  too  little  variation  for  the  phosphorus  to  have  an  over- 
powering self-determining  effect.  The  combined  figures  are  sub- 
ject to  the  same  criticism,,  but  the  larger  number  of  groups  gives 
the  results  a  greater  validity. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  manganese  is  indicated 
as  positive  in  basic  and  negative  in  acid  steels,  and  that  it  gives 
wide  differences  in  value  between  the  odd  and  even  lists,  it  would 
seem  reasonable  to  suppose  that  it  has  very  little  effect  at  all  when 
present  in  usual  proportions,  since  the  method  of  least  squares 
should  give  a  reliable  result  for  an  element  which  has  a  strong  and 
positive  action,  when  such  an  element  is  present  in  widely  varying 
proportion. 

Accepting  such  a  conclusion,  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  a 
true  formula  can  be  deduced  by  omitting  manganese  altogether,  and 
ascribing  all  the  variations  in  tensile  strength  to  the  carbon,  phos- 
phorus, and  iron.  On  this  new  basis  the  following  normal  equations 
-are  formed,  the  solutions  of  which  are  given  in  Table  XVII-E. 

NOBMAL  EQUATIONS,  OMITTING  B,  C,  D,  AND  F. 

DIVISIONS  I  AND  II  COMBINED. 

Equation  from  A;  4,218,378  A  +  802,344  E  +  1,361,467,000 G  =  1,180,037,000. 
Equation  from  E ;  802,344  A  +  268,911  E  +  377,025,500  G  =  278,366,090. 
Equation  from  G;  13,614,670  A  +  8,770,255  E  +  6,061,755,000  G  =  4,511,6OT,000. 

DIVISION  III. 

Equation  from  A;  1,505,996  A  +  225,664  E  +  954,850,000  G  =  574,293,000. 
Equation  from  E ;  225,664  A  +  48,942  E  +  169,769,400  G  =  98,593,980. 
Equation  from  G;  9,548,500  A  +  1,697,694  E  +  7,382,138,000  G  =  4,206,995,000. 

The  data  in  Table  XVII-E  may  be  expressed  in  simple  formula?, 
an  allowance  being  made  for  the  fact  that  there  is  never  quite 
100  per  cent,  of  iron  in  any  steel.  In  Table  XVII-S  these  formula? 
are  applied  to  the  groups  of  metals  given  in  Table  XVII-N. 

In  order  to  see  whether  these  formula?  satisfy  all  the  classes  of 
steels  under  consideration,  the  results  in  Table  XVII-S  may  be 
analyzed  by  the  following  method : 

Silicon :  Referring  to  the  acid  steels  in  Table  XVII-N,  it  will  be 
found  that  there  are  eight  groups  containing  .22  per  cent,  or 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  503 

over  of  silicon.  Four  of  these,  49,  55,  56,  and  60,  show  an  error  in 
Table  XVII-S  of  less  than  2000  pounds.  There  are  two  groups, 
52  and  54,  having  an  aggregate  plus  error  of  6390  pounds,  and 
two  groups,  57  and  61,  with  an  aggregate  minus  error  of  7080 
pounds.  Thus  there  is  .no  evidence  that  silicon  influences  the 
result. 

TABLE  XVII-E. 
Effect  of  Carbon  and  Phosphorus  upon  the  Strength  of  Iron. 

NOTE.— All  values  are  expressed  in  pounds  per  square  inch. 


Kind  of  steel. 

Effect  of  .001  per  cent. 

Strength 
of 
pure  iron. 

Carbon. 

Phosphorus. 

Acid  steel  ;  Divs.  I  and  II, 
Basic  steel;  Division  III, 

148.495 
108.542 

126.449 
119.707 

83212.2 
40196.5 

Sulphur:  There  are  six  groups  in  the  acid  steel,  2,  10,  11,  17, 
18,  and  31,  which  contain  .055  per  cent,  or  more  of  sulphur,  and 
none  of  these  shows  an  error  in  Table  XVII-S  of  over  2000  pounds, 
In  the  basic  steels  there  are  eight  groups,  73,  77,  88,  91,  92,  98, 
102,  and  110,  showing  over  .055  per  cent.,  and  the  greatest  error  in 
any  of  them  in  Table  XVII-S  is  1680  pounds.  Thus  the  sulphur 
•does  not  seem  to  affect  the  situation. 

Manganese:  There  are  sixteen  acid  groups  containing  .75  per 
cent,  or  more  of  manganese.  Of  these  there  are  six,  36,  39,  40,  43, 
45,  and  53,  which  have  an  error  in  Table  XVII-S  of  less  than  2000 
pounds,  while  group  48  is  only  60  pounds  above  this  figure.  Of  the 
remainder  there  are  five  groups,  44,  47,  50,  51,  and  62,  giving  an 
aggregate  plus  error  of  19310  pounds,  and  four  groups,  34,  42, 
58,  and  59,  with  an  aggregate  minus  error  of  13720  pounds.  This 
would  indicate,  if  it  indicates  anything,  that  manganese  has  a 
minus  value  in  the  acid  steels,  which  is  in  accordance  with  the 
mathematical  deductions  of  the  last  section. 

Among  the  basic  groups  there  are  only  two,  120  and  128,  which 
contain  more  than  .75  per  cent,  of  manganese.  These  two  show 
an  aggregate  minus  error  in  Table  XVII-S  of  5750  pounds.  There 
are  six  other  groups  with  a  content  of  manganese  between  .65  and 
.75  per  cent.  Five  of  these,  90,  101,  109,  115,  and  127,  show 
an  error  under  2000  pounds,  while  the  remaining  group  gives  a 
minus  error  of  2340  pounds.  There  is,  therefore,  a  slight  indi- 


504 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


cation  that  manganese  strengthens  basic  steel,  as  was  discovered  in 
the  last  section. 

TABLE  XVII-S. 

Ultimate  Strength  of  the  Steels  Given  in  Table  XVII-X  as  Com- 
pared with  the  Eesults  Obtained  from  the  Following  Formula?. 

Formula  for  Acid  Steel;  83,000+1485  C+1260  P  =  Ultimate  Strength. 
Formula  for  Basic  Steel;  40,000+1085  C  +  1200  P  =  Ultimate  Strength. 


P. 

Ultimate  strength. 

d 

Ultimate  strength. 

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58890 

—  KJ80 

68470 

69890 

+  1420 

86 

6302-0 

51800 

+1870 

111 

58860 

58740 

—  120 

13< 

73010 

76140 

+3130 

a 

POO 

55720 

+  920 

112 

58970 

58980 

+  10 

137 

77950 

78710 

•f  760 

Phosphorus:  There  are  thirteen  acid  groups  containing  .08  per 
cent,  of  phosphorus  or  more,  and  seven  of  these,  6,  10,  11,  13,  17, 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  505 

28,  and  31,  have  an  error  in  Table  XVII-S  of  less  than  2000  pounds. 
Of  the  remainder,  four  groups,  4,  19,  23  and  62,  give  an  aggregate 
plus  error  of  12,330  pounds,  and  two  groups,  58  and  59,  give 
a  minus  error  of  8220  pounds.  This  would  indicate  that  the  value 
of  phosphorus  in  the  acid  steels  is  nearly  correct  but  that  it  may  be 
a  trifle  too  high.  The  basic  metals  contain  no  examples  of  high 
phosphorus,  and  hence  the  value  found  cannot  be  corroborated. 

It  will  be  found  that  these  deductions  must  be  materially  modified 
on  account  of  the  investigations  chronicled  in  Part  III.  In  the 
later  work  the  value  of  iron  is  nearly  the  same  in  acid  and  basic 
metal.  This  assuredly  seems  more  in  accord  with  reason,  and  gives 
greater  force  to  the  values  found  for  the  metalloids.  The  above 
calculation  will  be  of  interest  to  show  how  nearly  an  arbitrary 
equation  can  fit  the  case. 


PART  III. 

EFFECT    OF    CARBON,    MANGANESE,    AND    PHOSPHORUS    UPON    THE 

TENSILE     STRENGTH     OF    IRON,     AS     DETERMINED    BY 

SPECIAL  MATHEMATICAL  INVESTIGATIONS. 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. — A  general  synopsis  of  the  argument  and 
conclusions  of  both  Parts  II  and  III  is  given  in  Section  XVIIw. 

SEC.  XVIIr. — Values  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus,  and  iron 
in  a  new  series  of  acid  steels. — In  the  introductory  note  to  Part  II 
of  this  chapter  it  was  stated  that  a  second  series  of  steels  had  been 
investigated.  The  method  employed  in  the  formation  of  the  groups 
was  the  same  as  described  in  Section  XVIIm,  and  all  the  details  of 
the  work  were  performed  by  the  same  men  that  conducted  the 
previous  examination.  The  two  series,  which  we  may  call  the 
"old"  and  the  "new,"  are  therefore  of  equal  force  and  virtue,  and 
the  testimony  of  the  one  must  always  be  considered  in  connection 
with  the  testimony  of  the  other. 

It  was  proven  in  Section  XVIIo  that  the  influence  of  silicon  in 
small  proportions  was  so  slight  that  it  did  not  make  a  satisfactory 
working  factor  for  the  method  of  least  squares.  The  same  was 
found  true  of  sulphur  and  copper.  In  plotting  the  records  of 
acid  steel  of  the  new  series,  however,  it  was  found  that  the  groups 
that  contained  high  silicon  seemed  to  show  a  greater  tensile  strength 


506  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

than  steels  of  low  silicon  with  the  same  content  of  carbon.  As  this 
was  not  the  case  in  the  old  series,  the  groups  were  all  put  together 
in  the  former  calculation,  but  in  the  light  of  this  new  evidence 
it  would  seem  proper  to  separate  them  on  the  basis  of  their  silicon 
content.  This  is  easily  done,  since  in  both  cases  the  high-silicon! 
heats  were  put  together  in  separate  groups.  In  the  low-silicon 
groups  neither  the  total  content  nor  the  variations  in  this  element 
seem  sufficient  to  materially  disturb  the  result. 

The  normal  acid  steels  of  the  new  series  are  shown  in  Division 
I  of  Table  XVII-U,  and  the  normal  acid  steels  of  the  old  series  in 
Division  II.  They  are  both  combined  to  give  the  line  A  A  in 
Figure  XYII-C. 

The  high-silicon  steels  of  the  new  series  are  given  in  Division 
III,  and  those  of  the  old  series  in  Division  IV.  They  are  both 
combined  to  give  the  line  BB  in  Figure  XVII-C. 

The  high-manganese  and  high-phosphorus  steels  of  the  old  series 
are  placed  in  Division  V,  but  are  not  shown  in  the  diagram. 

Considering  only  the  normal  acid  steels  of  both  the  old  and  the 
new  series,  as  enumerated  in  Divisions  I  and  II,  a  calculation  was 
made  by  the  method  of  least  squares  to  find  the  values  for  carbon, 
manganese,  phosphorus,  and  iron,  which  would  most  nearly  satisfy 
the  conditions  of  the  problem.  The  results  are  shown  in  Table 
XYII-T. 

TABLE  XVII-T. 

Values  of  Carbon,  Manganese,  Phosphorus,  and  Iron,  as  Determined 
by  the  Method  of  Least  Squares  from  the  Normal  Acid  Steels 
in  Divisions  I  and  II  in  Tables  XVII-U. 


Series. 

Influence  of  .01  per  cent,  in  pounds  per  sq.  inch. 

Carbon. 

Manganese. 

Phosphorus. 

Iron, 

New  series.Division  I  

+1126 
+1868 

+  3 
-23 

+  716 
+1068 

+4.0439 
+8.7544 

Old  series,  Division  II  

In  the  old  series  as  originally  formed,  including  the  abnormal 
steels,  the  value  of  .01  per  cent,  of  manganese  was —  39  pounds.  In 
the  revised  series,  after  omitting  these  groups,  it  is  —  23  pounds, 
while  in  the  new  series  the  value  deduced  is  +  3.  It  would  appear, 
therefore,  that  manganese  does  not  make  a  satisfactory  working  fac- 
tor in  the  calculations  on  acid  steels,  while  the  .values  obtained  for 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  507 

it,  in  addition  to  being  contradictory,  show  that  it  does  not  have  a 
very  important  influence.  In  the  following  section,  therefore,  I 
have  computed  a  formula  from  carbon,  phosphorus,  and  iron  alone, 
and  have  then  compared  the  ultimate  strengths  as  calculated  from 
this  formula  with  the  actual  tensile  tests. 

SEC.  XVIIs. — Values  of  carbon,  phosphorus,  and  iron  in  acid 
steel  when  manganese  is  neglected,  as  determined  from  the  normal 
steels  of  the  old  and  the  new  series  combined. — Considering  only 
the  normal  steels  as  given  in  Table  XVII-U,  and  omitting  man- 
ganese from  the  problem,  we  shall  have  by  the  method  of  least 
squares  the  following  equations,  in  which  A  =  the  influence  of  .001 
per  cent,  of  carbon,  expressed  in  pounds  per  square  inch,  B  =  the 
influence  of  .001  per  cent,  of  phosphorus/  and  C  =  the  influence 
of  .001  per  cent,  of  iron. 

ACID  STEELS;*  DIVISIONS  I  AND  II  IN  TABLE  xvn-u. 
Equation  from  A     3,227,256  A+1,065,433  B+1,676,848,333  C=l,  130,441,385. 


Equation  from  B 

Equation  from  C 

=670,977,073,9 


1,065,433  A+488,892  B+689,328,873  0=441,177,250. 
1,676,848,333  A+689,328,872  B+1,043,135,334,268  C 
0. 


The    solution  of  these  equations  gives  the  following  values : 

Lbs.  per  sq.  In. 

Effect  of  .001  per  cent,  of  carbon -t-    121.6 

Effect  of  .001  per  cent,  of  phosphorus -f      88.9 

Strength  of  pure  iron. 38,908 

There  is  never  quite  100  per  cent,  of  iron  in  any  steel,  so  that  it 
would  not  be  right  to  take  the  above  determination  of  iron  as  a 
starting  point.  Theoretically  it  would  be  necessary  to  calculate  the 
value  of  iron  for  each  separate  metal,  and  this  was  done  in  Table 
XVII-N";  but  for  practical  purposes  it  will  be  assumed  that  struc- 
tural steel  contains  99.2  per  cent,  of  iron,  which  by  the  above  de- 
termination should  confer  a  strength  of  38,600  pounds  per  square 
inch  for  acid  metal. 

It  then  becomes  practicable  to  write  the  following  formula  by 
which  the  strength  of  acid  steel  may  be  calculated  when  the  per- 
centages of  carbon  and  phosphorus  are  known,  the  answer  being 
expressed  in  pounds  per  square  inch. 

Acid  Steel ;  38600+121  Carbon+89  Phosphorus-}- R=Ultimate  Strength. 

*  The  sum  total  of  the  coefficients  in  these  equations  is  not  quite  1,060,000,- 
000,000,  as  it  should  be  theoretically,  because  the  factors  in  the  old  series  relat- 
ing to  silicon,  sulphur  and  copper  have  been  omitted. 


508 


METALLURGY    OF    IROis     &ND   STEEL. 


The  unit  for  carbon  and  phosphorus  is  .001  per  cent.  The 
factor  R  represents  an  allowance  for  the  conditions  under  which 
the  piece  is  rolled,  whether  finished  hot  or  cold.  In  the  present 
series  of  groups  it  is  zero. 


itmc 
T^o5T 

190.000 

Curv< 
ical 
and 

1       • 

?s  showing  the  relation  between  the  cl 
composition  of  acid  open-hearth  stee 
its  ultimate  strength, 
normal  steels,  Divisions  I  and  II, 
nigh-silicon  steels,  Divs.  Ill  and  IV, 
mreiroii-f  pure  carbon,  calculated  froir 
nula  38600+  121  carbon=ultimate  strenj 
ssas=carbon,  per  cent. 
iates=ultimate  strength,  Ibs.  per  sq.  ii 

S 

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TIG.  XYII-C. — CURVES  SHOWING  EELATION  BETWEEN  THE  CHEMI- 
CAL COMPOSITION  OF  ACID  OPEN-HEARTH  STEEL  AND  ITS 
ULTIMATE  STRENGTH  AS  GIVEN  IN  TABLE  XVII-U. 

y 

In  Table  XVII-U  this  formula  has  been  applied  to  all  the  steels, 
both  normal  and  abnormal,  and  the  differences  between  the  actual 
and  the  calculated  ultimate  strength  have  been  placed  in  the  last 
column.  This  difference  will  sometimes  be  spoken  of  as  the  "error" 
in  subsequent  remarks,  as  being  the  discrepancy  between  the  re- 
corded results  and  those  obtained  by  calculation.  An  examination 
of  this  column  reveals  several  notable  points. 

First :  Group  54  is  entirely  abnormal.  It  is  almost  identical  in 
composition  with  Group  53,  and  yet  differs  from  it  by  4200  pounds 
in  strength.  The  fact  that  No.  53  is  an  average  of  twelve  heats 
and  conforms  to  the  formula,  while  No.  54  is  an  average  of  only 
four  heats,  points  to  the  latter  as  an  erratic  member  which  has 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  509 

gome  bar-sinister  in  its  history.  Out  of  numerous  possibilities  it  is 
only  necessary  to  mention  that  one  of  the  test-bars  might  have  been 
wrongly  marked.  This  group  will  be  neglected  in  the  following 
observations. 

Second :  There  is  a  decided  difference  between  the  old  and  the 
new  series.  The  sum  of  all  the  plus  values  in  Division  I  of  Table 
XVII-U,  after  omitting  Group  54,  is  49,310  pounds,  while  the  sum 
of  the  plus  values  in  Division  II  is  only  7290  pounds.  The  sum  of 
the  minus  values  in  Division  I  is  10,930  pounds,  while  in  Division  II 
it  is  57,780  pounds.  The  individual  records  corroborate  these  totals, 
for  in  Division  I  there  are  39  groups  where  the  error  is  plus,  and 
only  16  groups  where  it  is  minus.  On  the  other  hand,  Division  II 
furnishes  only  11  groups  where  the  error  is  plus,  while  it  has 
38  groups  where  it  is  minus. 

This  seems  too  decided  a  record  to  be  the  result  of  chance,  yet, 
as  before  stated,  the  two  investigations  relate  to  steels  which  were 
made  in  the  same  furnaces  and  handled  by  the  same  men,  while 
the  physical  and  chemical  determinations  were  made  on  the  same 
apparatus  and  by  the  same  operators.  In  the  light  of  this  evidence 
it  is  not  remarkable  that  results  from  different  sources  are  some- 
times inconsistent. 

i  Third :  There  are  seven  groups  among  the  normal  acid  steels 
where  the  actual  strength  is  more  than  2000  pounds  below  the  cal- 
culated, and  six  of  the  seven,  Nos.  29,  36,  45,  46,  49,  and  50,  show 
no  striking  peculiarity.  The  other  group,  No.  55,  is  low  in  phos- 
phorus and  sulphur,  and  rather  high  in  manganese. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  ten  groups  where  the  actual  strength. 
is  more  than  2000  pounds  above  the  calculated,  and  six  of  these, 
Nos.  90,  94,  98,  101,  104,  and  105,  show  a  high  content  of  man- 
ganese. Of  the  others,  No.  1  is  low  in  manganese  and  high  in 
sulphur,  No.  62  is  high  in  phosphorus,  No.  67  is  normal,  and  No. 
76  is  low  in  sulphur.  Thus  the  only  point  that  is  gained  by  a 
review  of  those  heats  that  display  a  difference  of  more  than  2000 
pounds  between  the  calculated  and  actual  strengths,  is  that  high 
manganese  seems  to  increase  the  tenacity.  The  figure  2000  pounds 
is  chosen  arbitrarily,  since  this  seems  a  sufficiently  close  approxi- 
mation to  attain 'by  any  formula. 

Fourth :  The  influence  of  manganese  may  be  investigated  by  put- 
ting together  the  groups  that  show  a  similar  content  of  this  element. 
Thus  there  are  twenty-nine  groups  that  hold  from  .30  to  .39  per 


510 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


TABLE  XVII-TJ. 

List  of  Groups  of  Acid  Open-Hearth  Steel  of  Old  and  New  Series, 
Used  in  Determining  the  effect  of  Certain  Elements  upon  the 
Tensile  Strength  of  Steel,  Together  with  the  Formula  Obtained 
Therefrom  by  the  Method  of  Least  Squares. 

NOTE.— All  figures  relating  to  ultimate  strength  are  expressed  in  pounds 
per  square  inch. 


Formula; 


;  the  unit  for  carbon  and  phosphorus  being  .001  per  c 
being  expressed  in  pounds  per  square  inch. 

88600+121  Carbon -f  89  Phosphorus = Ultimate  Strength. 


cent.,  and  the  result 


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56960 

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59980 

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62910 

63280 

+  370 

81 

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.143 

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62830 

64710 

+1880 

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.148 

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62860 

62830 

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83 

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.40 

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62210 

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63030 

64350 

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66790 

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.14 

69950 

69520 

—  480 

INFLUENCE   OF    CERTAIN   ELEMENTS   ON   STEEL. 


511 


TABLE  XVII-U.— Continued. 


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A 

o* 

t>to 

23  o3<2 

5  §P^  on 

& 

O 

02 

s 

i 

Pn 

0 

D 

Q 

48 

5 

.214 

.013 

.47 

.068 

.077 

.18 

69700 

71350 

+1650 

49 

7 

.218 

.009 

.43 

.049 

.070 

.17 

68410 

71210 

+2800 

50 

7 

.224 

.008 

.37 

.045 

.079 

.09 

69440 

72730 

+3290 

Division  I.—  Contin'd. 

51 

5 

.229 

.011 

.50 

.032 

.065 

.07 

70810 

72090 

+1280 

Normal  acid  open- 

52 

5 

.244 

.008 

.46 

.038 

.044 

.15 

70360 

72040 

+1680 

hearth  steels.    New 

53 

12 

.330 

.035 

.52 

.029 

.039 

.05 

82810 

82000 

—  810 

series. 

54 

4 

.331 

.018 

.51 

.032 

.039 

.03 

78610 

82120 

+3510 

55 

11 

.406 

.060 

.54 

.030 

.035 

.07 

86990 

90840 

+3850 

56 

4 

.424 

.060 

.57 

.031 

.043 

.05 

94470 

93730 

—  740 

57 

6 

.082 

.006 

.29 

.034 

.034 

.12 

52090 

51550 

—  540 

58 

12 

.105 

.009 

.38 

.059 

.074 

.18 

57380 

57890 

+  510 

59 

11 

.109 

.008 

.31 

.036 

.066 

.14 

57310 

57660 

+  850 

60 

12 

.109 

.007 

.38 

.048 

.082 

.15 

57430 

59090 

+  1660 

61 

38 

.113 

.009 

.43 

.038 

.061 

.13 

57140 

57700 

+  560 

62 

11 

.113 

.007 

.48 

.046 

.096 

.18 

62870 

60820 

—2050 

63 

5 

.115 

.007 

.49 

.029 

.037 

.09 

55450 

55810 

+  360 

64 

18 

.115 

.013 

.80 

.043 

.069 

.17 

58780 

58660 

—  120 

65 

12 

.116 

.005 

.59 

.025 

.034 

.10 

56830 

55660 

-1170 

66 

19 

.116 

.015 

.50 

.069 

.082 

.19 

60870 

59930 

—  940 

67 

9 

.116 

.013 

.47 

.057 

.089 

.17 

62610 

60560 

—2050 

68 

18 

.117 

.018 

.33 

.039 

.073 

.20 

61190 

59250 

—1940 

69 

17 

.117 

.005 

.45 

.049 

.099 

.16 

61430 

61570 

+  140 

70 

19 

.118 

.005 

.59 

.030 

.035 

.10 

56990 

55990 

—1000 

71 

72 

.118 

.007 

.42 

.045 

.075 

.14 

59110 

59550 

+  440 

72 

13 

.118 

.008 

.56 

.044 

.063 

.14 

59350 

58490 

—  860 

73 

15 

.118 

.007 

.45 

.064 

.081 

.17 

59260 

60090 

+  830 

74 

15 

.118 

.014 

.57 

.056 

.076 

.18 

60900 

59640 

—1260 

75 

21 

.119 

.009 

.42 

.051 

.090 

.14 

59310 

61010 

+1700 

76 

15 

.119 

.017 

.43 

.028 

.065 

.16 

61020 

58780 

—2240 

77 

96 

.119 

.009 

.44 

.043 

.077 

.16 

61130 

59850 

—1280 

78 

19 

.123 

.014 

.44 

.030 

.063 

.16 

59110 

59090 

—    20 

79 

6 

.129 

.008 

,49 

.050 

.118 

.16 

65020 

64710 

—  310 

80 

11 

.131 

.012 

.47 

.033 

.051 

.13 

60690 

58990 

—1700 

Division  II.     Normal 

81 

13 

.134 

.015 

.48 

.035 

.045 

.15 

58820 

§8320 

acid  open-hearth 
steels.    Old  series. 

82 
83 

12 

38 

.138 
.140 

.021 
.016 

.36 

.48 

.041 
.042 

.077 
.077 

.14 
.18 

62940 
62890 

62150 
62390 

'—  '  790 
—  500 

84 

10 

.143 

.006 

.39 

.045 

.086 

.20 

64880 

63560 

-1320 

85 

10 

.147 

.012 

.54 

.024- 

.056 

.16 

63210 

61370 

-1840 

86 

12 

.151 

.012 

.64 

.033 

.051 

.13 

62650 

61410 

—1240 

87 

7 

.151 

.005 

.49 

.055 

.083 

.16 

64950 

64700 

—  250 

88 

12 

.156 

.003 

.57 

.085 

.070 

.17 

65180 

63710 

—1470 

89 

8 

.171 

.011 

.63 

.026 

.036 

.10 

C2850 

62500 

—  850 

90 

4 

.178 

.008 

1.00 

.043 

.076 

.14 

71930 

66900 

—5030 

91 

8 

.183 

.014 

.68 

.030 

.027 

.10 

65100 

63150 

—1950 

02 

9 

.185 

.008 

.76 

.028 

.038 

.13 

65590 

64870 

—1220 

93 

6 

.193 

.009 

.67 

.020 

.030 

.10 

65280 

C5160 

—  120 

5 

.198 

.013 

.61 

.032 

.000 

.14 

69970 

67900 

—2070 

C5 

8 

.207 

.012 

.79 

.045 

.OC7 

.15 

71210 

C9C10 

—1600 

CG 

8 

.212 

.010 

.82 

.039 

.073 

.14 

71870 

70750 

—1120 

4 

.213 

.012 

.70 

.019 

.046 

.14 

60750 

68470 

—1280 

98 

5 

.225 

.015 

.99 

.048 

.077 

.22 

78700 

72680 

—6020 

99 

5 

.235 

.016 

.75 

.027 

.037 

.14 

71170 

70330 

—  840 

100 

12 

.240 

.009 

.76 

.030 

.054 

.14 

72320 

72450 

+  130 

101 

7 

.242 

.010 

.86 

049 

.070 

.19 

78020 

74650 

—3870 

102 

6 

.282 

.009 

.66 

.033 

.053 

.16 

76830 

77440 

+  610 

100 

6 

.282 

.010 

.77 

.023 

.043 

-14 

76940 

76550 

—  890 

104 

7 

.306 

.010 

.79 

.034 

.050 

.09 

82680 

80080 

—2600 

105 

11 

.341 

.020 

.85 

.034 

.045 

.11 

86980 

83870 

—3110 

100 

8 

.374 

.030 

.83 

.035 

.057 

.12  !  90750 

88930 

—1820 

512 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON   AND   STEEL. 

TABLE  XVIT-TJ. — Continued. 


Composition;  percent. 

d 

<r>  3 

-6 

3  * 
<£  3 

38 

"S>£ 

ft 

a 

a 

>J 

| 

II 

II 

|||    ^ 

o 

^3 

o> 

t 

^5 

o>  3  d 

O  CS^^ 

be 

°2 

-3 
C-0 

8 

he 

3 
& 

1 
ft 

1 

1 
p, 

ff 

111 

Hit 

0 

0  bo 

S  3 

^H 

^ 

3 

o 

^M 

^H  o5  C<  •-•<  o3«^t  OP 

fc 

0 

5J 

% 

CO 

cu 

0 

P      |Q 

107 

14 

.253 

.150 

.55 

.026 

.033 

.03 

73710 

72150   —  1560 

108 

7 

.816 

.200 

.65 

.025 

.033 

.06 

82-240 

79770 

—  2470 

Division  III-      High- 
silicon  acid  open- 
hearth  steels.    New 

109 
110 
111 
112 

7 
7 
9 
9 

.342 
.366 
.392 
.408 

.190 
.170 
.210 
.230 

.61 
.60 
.63 
.70 

.020 
.022 
.022 
.021 

.029 
.028 
.029 
.029 

.04 
.04 
.06 
.04 

87860 
91580 
98180 
102430 

82560 
85380 
88610 
90550 

—  5300 
—  6200 
—  9570 

—11880 

series. 

113 

9 

.461 

.230 

.64 

.021 

.029 

.05 

106560 

96960 

—  9600 

114 

7 

.470 

.230 

.65 

.021 

.031 

.07 

111830 

98230 

—  136CO 

115 

7 

.5555 

.200 

.72 

.022 

.030 

.07 

120590 

106010 

—14580 

116 

7 

.333 

.220 

.65 

.026 

.041 

.08 

87410 

82540!  —  4870 

117 

14 

.81)0 

.220 

.68 

.023 

.034 

.08 

88820 

—  3810 

Division  IV.      High- 
silicon  acid  open- 

118 
119 

17 
16 

.428 
J88 

.220 
.220 

.65 
.69 

.023 
.026 

.036 
.033 

.08 
.13 

97270 
102900 

93590 
94540 

—  3680 
—  8360 

hearth   steels.     Old 

120 

14 

.477 

.240 

.69 

.025 

.030 

.08 

107300 

98991* 

—  8310 

series. 

121 

20 

.480 

.230 

.69 

.022 

.032 

.06 

111740 

99530 

—12210 

122 

10 

.527 

.250 

.72 

.027 

.032 

.07 

116980 

105220 

—11760 

123 

10 

.554 

.230 

.68 

.022 

.032 

.09 

122950 

108480 

—14470 

Div.  V.   High-manga- 
nese and  high-phos- 

124 

13 

.480 

.090 

1.12 

.044 

.106 

.19 

121210 

106110 

—15100 

phorus  acid  open- 
hearth  steels.      Old 

125 
126 

18 
9 

.507 
.555 

.061 
.090 

1.19 
1.18 

.047 
.042 

.110 
.109 

.IS 
.19 

126800 
123620 

109740 
115460 

—17060 
—  8160 

series. 

cent.  Nineteen  of  these  have  a  plus  error  with  a  total  of  21,650 
pounds,  while  ten  groups  have  a  minus  error  with  a  total  of  8,030 
pounds.  The  difference  between  these  totals,  or  rather  their  alge- 
braic sum,  is  +  13,620,  which,  divided  by  twenty-nine,  gives  the 
average  error  for  one  group.  Table  XVII- V  has  been  constructed 
by  this  process  of  differential  synthesis  for  each  increment  of  man- 
ganese, Group  No.  54  being  omitted  for  reasons  given  above. 

TABLE  XVII-V. 

Average  Error  of  Groups  in  Table  XVII-U  Arranged  According  to 
their  Manganese  Content. 


Manganese;  ] 

per  cent. 

No  of 

Total 

Total 

Net 

Average 

Limits. 

Average. 

heats 

minus 
error. 

plus 
error 

error. 

error 

.20  to  .29 
.80  to  .39 
.40  to  .49 
.50  to  .59 
.60  to  .69 
.70  to  .79 
.80  to  .89 
.90  to  1.00 

.27 
.36 
.44 
.55 
.65 
.76 
.84 
1.00 

6 
29 
88 
18 
6 
7 
4 
2 

—  5370 
—  8030 
—10660 
—10520 
—  5730 
—  7930 
—  9420 
—11050 

+      10 
+21650 
+27600 
+  6600 
+    610 
+    130 

—  5360 
+  13620 
+16940 
—  3920 
—  5120 
—  7800 
—  9420 
—11050 

-898 
+  470 
-f  446 
—  801 
—  858 
—1114 
-2355 
-5525 

INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  513 

It  should  be  noted  that  most  of  the  groups  that  contain  high 
manganese  are  in  Division  II,  and  it  has  been  remarked  that  there 
is  some  occult  cause  why  the  actual  strengths  of  this  division  are 
slightly  above  the  formula.  The  error  arising  from  this  condition 
is  not  sufficient  to  invalidate  the  records,  but  when  most  of  the 
members  of  the  division  are  slightly  above  the  formula  it  is  not 
extraordinary  if  the  high-manganese  groups  follow  the  rule. 

Passing  over  this  reasoning,  the  table  teaches  that  in  steels 
containing  about  .25  per  cent,  of  manganese,  the  actual  ultimate 
strength  is  893  pounds  greater  than  would  be  indicated  by  the  for- 
mula. With  an  increase  in  the  content  to  .36  per  cent,  the  actual 
strength  is  470  pounds  less  than  the  formula,  and  with  .44  per  cent/, 
it  is  446  pounds  less.  From  this  point  an  increase  in  manganese 
gives  an  increase  in  strength. 

It  is  important  to  notice  that  the  figures  +  446  for  .44  per  cent, 
of  manganese,  and-j-470  for  .36  per  cent.,  are  consistent  with  the 
minus  values  for  the  higher  percentages,  since  manganese  was  en- 
tirely omitted  in  the  derivation  of  the  formula,  and  the  result  may 
therefore  be  looked  upon  as  strictly  applicable  only  to  the  average 
content  of  an  element  which  it  neglects;  and  if  such  an  element 
does  have  an  effect,  it  should  make  itself  evident  in  a  plus  error  on 
one  side  of  the  average  and  a  minus  error  on  the  other. 

This  reasoning,  however,  is  inconsistent  with  the  fact  that  man- 
ganese did  not  make  a  good  working  factor  in  the  method  of 
least  squares.  This  inconsistency  is  explained  by  the  values 
obtained  in  the  first  three  lines  of  Table  XVII-V.  With  a  content 
of  .27  per  cent.,  the  actual  strength  is  more  than  the  calculated,  and 
this  is  directly  opposed  to  the  law  of  higher  strength  with  higher 
manganese.  Moreover,  the  figure  for  .36  per  cent,  is  practically  the 
same  as  that  for  .44  per  cent.,  being  +  470  in  one  case  and  +  446 
in  the  other.  Considering  the  fact  that  three-quarters  of  all  groups 
were  below  .50  per  cent,  in  manganese,  and  that  the  results  on  such 
metal  were  indecisive,  it  is  not  strange  that  manganese  did  not 
form  a  proper  determinative  member  of  the  equations. 

It  is  indicated,  therefore,  that  with  less  than  .50  per  cent,  of 
manganese  the  effect  is  not  so  uniformly  marked  as  with  larger 
proportions.  Whether  this  is  due  to  the  different  physical  or  mole- 
cular condition  of  soft  metal,  or  to  the  presence  of  oxide  of  iron, 
or  whether  it  arises  from  abnormality  of^the  steels,  or  determinative 
errors  in  the  records,  cannot  be  satisfactorily  demonstrated. 


514  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

The  results,  as  a  whole,  justify  the  use  of  a  formula  for  normal 
acid  steels  without  any  factor  representing  manganese.  With  con- 
tents above  .60  per  cent,  of  this  element,  it  is  necessary  to  make 
allowance  for  an  increased  strength,  while  above  .80  per  cent,  the 
tenacity  will  rapidly  increase. 

It  may  also  be  necessary  to  allow  for  a  very  low  content  of  man- 
ganese, since  it  was  found  in  Table  XVII-V  that  when  there  is  less 
than  .30  per  cent,  the  actual  strength  was  893  pounds  more  than  was 
indicated  by  the  formula.  This  fact  will  be  considered  in  Section 
XVIIv  in  connection  with  other  information  from  the  basic  steels. 

Fifth :  The  high-silicon  steels  all  show  a  much  greater  strength 
than  is  given  by  the  formula.  The  natural  inference  would  be  that 
silicon  strengthens  steel,  but  it  is  necessary  to  notice  a  curious  and 
important  fact,  viz.,  that  the  differences  between  the  calculated  and 
actual  strength  vary  in  proportion  to  the  content  of  carbon,  and 
not  in  proportion  to  the  content  of  silicon. 

In  the  new  series,  as  given  in  Division  III,  the  lowest  carbon 
is  .253  per  cent.,  and  the  error  is  1560  pounds.  As  the  carbon 
increases  to  .316  per  cent.,  the  error  rises  to  2470  pounds,  and  with 
.342  per  cent,  it  is  5300  pounds.  The  old  series  starts  at  .333 
per  cent,  as  the  lowest  carbon,  and  the  error  is  4870  pounds,  so  that 
the  two  series  agree  perfectly  at  the  starting* point.  They  also  agree 
at  their  highest  point,  for  the  maximum  carbon  is  .535  per  cent, 
in  the  new  series,  and  .554  in  the  old,  the  error  being  14,580 
pounds  in  one  case  and  14,470  in  the  other.  Between  these  two 
extremes  there  are  considerable  variations,  but  in  the  main  the  law 
holds  good  that  the  error  steadily  rises  with  higher  carbon. 

A  glance  at  the  table  will  show  that  the  content  of  silicon  is 
practically  constant  throughout  both  series,  and  hence  it  is  mathe- 
matically impossible  to  find  any  constant  value  for  this  element 
which  will  account  for  the  variations  in  ultimate  strength.  In 
explanation  of  this  it  may  be  urged  that  the  formula  by  which  the 
strength  is  calculated  gives  a  wrong  value  to  carbon. 

The  answer  to  this  criticism  will  be  found  in  the  line  CC  in 
Figure  XVII-C.  The  most  casual  inspection  will  show  that  this 
line  is  very  nearly  parallel  to  the  trend  of  the  line  AA.  It  is 
impossible  to  decide  exactly  what  that  trend  is,  but  the  line  CC 
seems  to  follow  the  average  direction  as  near  as  it  can  be  estimated. 
If  any  criticism  were  to  be  made,  it  would  be  that  the  tangent 
of  CC  was  too  great  rather  than  too  small.  Bearing  in  mind  that 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS   ON    STEEL.  515 

the  carbon  determines  the  tangent  of  these  lines,  and  that  the 
linear  distance  between  them  represents  the  effect  of  the  other 
metalloids,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  graphic  delineation  bears  almost 
conclusive  proof  of  the  mathematical  deductions. 

The  general  trend  of  the  line  BB  in  Figure  XVII-C,  which  repre- 
sents the  high-silicon  steels,  forms  a  decidedly  greater  tangent  to 
the  horizontal  axis  than  the  line  AA  or  its  counterpart  CCf  and  it 
would  be  impossible  to  draw  a  line  which  would  be  parallel  to  the 
trend  of  BB,  and  which  at  the  same  time  would  be  parallel  to  the 
trend  of  (7(7,  and  since  it  has  been  remarked  that  the  tangent  of  CC 
is  fully  as  great  as  it  can  be  to  fall  parallel  to  AA,  and  is  possibly 
a  step  beyond,  it  will  be  evident  that  a  different  law  is  indicated 
for  the  metals  with  high  silicon. 

This  law  may  be  stated  in  two  different  ways : 

First:  .JJiat  a  constant  percentage  of  silicon  exerts  a  greater 
effect  with  each  increment  of  carbon. 

Second:  That  when  a  constant  percentage  of  silicon  is  present, 
each  increment  of  carbon  exerts  a  greater  influence. 

It  will  be  granted  that  this  law  has  an  upper  limit,  since  the 
ultimate  strength  does  not  increase  after  a  certain  content  of 
carbon  is  attained.  It  also  appears  that  there  is  a  lower  limit,  for, 
by  referring  again  to  Figure  XVII-C,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  line 
BB  joins  AA  at  a  point  corresponding  to  about  .25  per  cent,  of 
carbon,  and  it  is  therefore  indicated  that  silicon  has  very  little 
effect  below  this  point,  even  when  present  in  considerable  propor- 
tions. 

These  high-silicon  groups  were  all  composed  of  heats  made  for 
steel  castings,  and  it  seems  possible  that  the  different  conditions  of 
-casting  temperature  might  exert  an  influence  on  the  result.  If  this 
were  true,  it  would  also  seem  as  if  soft  steel,  made  for  castings, 
should  show  different  physical  properties  from  heats  made  in  the 
ordinary  way.  Such  does  not  seem  to  be  the  case,  for  Groups 
9,  16,  20,  23,  85,  86,  89,  91,  92,  93,  and  99,  were  composed  almost 
entirely  of  casting  heats,  and  yet  conform  very  closely  to  the 
formula. 

Sixth:  The  influence  of  sulphur  has  not  been  taken  into  account 
in  the  formula,  and  accordingly  an  investigation  was  made  on  the 
steels  of  Divisions  I  and  II  of  Table  XVIT-U  by  the  same  process 
of  synthetical  differentiation  that  was  used  to  discover  the  effect  of 
manganese  in  Table  XVII- V,  Group  No.  54  being  omitted  as 


516 


METALLUKGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


before.     The  results  are  given  herewith,  it  being  evident  that  no  law 
is  indicated. 

16  groups  bet.  .019  and  .03  per  cent,  sulphur  gave  an  average  error  of— 485  Ibs. 
80  "  .03     "      .04        "  "  "  "  "         —260  " 

27  "  .04     "     .05       "  "  "  "  "         -188  « 

20  "  .05     "     .06       "  "  "  "  "         +819  '• 

7  "  .06     "     .07       "  "  "  "  "         +584  " 

5  "          .07     "     .081     "  "  "  "  "        —378  " 

Seventh :  A  similar  table,  which  is  given  on  the  following  page, 
shows  the  average  error  for  the  different  percentages  of  phosphorus. 
As  there  seems  to  be  no  law  of  error,  the  value  given  to  phosphorus 
is  probably  approximately  true. 

The  foregoing  conclusions  are  summarized  in  Section  XVIlw  in 
connection  with  a  similar  study  of  basic  steel. 

1  group  bet.  .02  and  .03  per  cent,  phosphorus  gave  an  av.  error  of— 1950  Ibs. 

«  «  «        «         _  117 

«  «  «        '••         —  159 


—  173 


11 

•           .08     " 

.04 

8          ' 

'           .04     " 

.05 

16          ' 

«           .05     " 

.08 

16 

.06     " 

.07 

84 

.07     " 

.08 

11 

.08     " 

.09 

7 

.09     " 

.10 

1 

.11     " 

.12 

—  3iO 


SEC.  XVIIt.  —  Values  of  carbon,,  manganese,  phosphorus  ,  and 
iron  in  a  new  series  of  basic  steels.  —  The  steels  considered  in  Sec- 
tions XVIIr  and  XVIIs  were  all  made  by  the  acid  process,  but  at 
the  same  time  that  they  were  under  investigation,  similar  series  of 
basic  steels  were  being  studied.  The  groups  were  formed  in  the 
same  way  as  described  in  Section  XVIIm,  and  a  list  of  them  is 
given  in  Division  I  of  Table  XVII-N,  while  the  old  series  of  basic 
steels  is  shown  in  Division  II.  The  numbers  given  to  the  groups 
are  continuous  with  those  in  Tables  XVII-U  to  avoid  confusion  in 
references.  The  members  of  both  series  are  combined  to  give  Curve 
AA  in  Fgure  XVII-D. 

TABLE  XVII-W. 

Values  of  Carbon,  Manganese,  Phosphorus,  and  Iron,  as  Determined 
by  the  Method  of  Least  Squares  from  the  Basic  Steels  in 
Divisions  I  and  II  of  Table  XVII-X. 


Series. 

Influence  of  .01  per  cent,  in  pounds  per  square  inch. 

Carbon. 

Manganese. 

Phosphorus. 

Iron. 

New  series.  Division  I, 
Old  series,  Division  II, 

+  935 
+  1085 

-H14 
+  53 

+939 
+941 

+  3.6335 
+  8.8996 

INFLUENCE   OF   CERTAIN   ELEMENTS   ON    STEEL.  517 

The  solution  of  the  new  series  by  the  method  of  least  squares  is 
given  in  the  first  column  of  Table  XVII-W,  while  the  second  column 
shows,  for  comparison,  the  determinations  on  the  old  series  of  basic 
steels  as  given  in  Table  XVII-X. 

The  results  indicate  that  manganese  has  a  decided  strengthening 
effect  upon  basic  steel,  although  it  was  found  that  in  the  case  of 
acid  steel  no  positive  relation  could  be  proven.  This  conclusion  is 
corroborated  by  a  calculation  which  was  made  by  combining  the 
old  and  new  series,,  and  solving  the  resultant  equations  by  the 
method  of  least  squares,  without  taking  any  account  of  manganese 
as  a  factor.  In  the  case  of  acid  steel  this  process  gave  a  satisfactory 
formula,  but  in  the  basic  steel  it  gave  the  following  results : 

.01  per  cent,  of  carbon=+998  pounds. 

.01  per  cent  .of  phosphorus=+1444  pounds. 

Pure  iron=39,987  pounds. 

This  value  of  phosphorus  is  not  sustained  by  any  other  evidence. 
Referring  to  Table  XYII-W,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  corresponding 
figure  was  +939  for  the  new  series,  and  -f-  941  for  the  old  series. 
Thinking  that  there  might  be  a  clerical  error,  the  solution  was 
repeated  in  reverse  order,  as  described  on  page  494,  but  the  answers 
were  found  to  be  mathematically  correct  to  five  places. 

This  high  value  of  phosphorus,  when  manganese  is  omitted,  may 
be  explained  in  the  following  way : 

(1)  It  has  been  shown  that  carbon  is  self -determining  in  every 
series  investigated,  and  that  it  gives  fairly  accurate  results. 

(2)  The  iron  is  less  self -determining,  but  with  basic  metal,  where 
some  groups  are  so  nearly  pure  iron,  the  chance  for  variations  in 
this  factor  is  less  than  in  the  case  of  acid  steel. 

(3)  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  if  manganese  is  a  positive  factor, 
and  if  it  is  neglected,  its  effect  must  be  forced  upon  some  other 
factor  by  the  method  of  least  squares,  and  phosphorus  is  the  only 
factor  available. 

(4)  The  responsibility  falls  on  phosphorus  rather  than  on  carbon, 
because  the  variations  in  phosphorus  are  very  small  and  it  is  there- 
fore less  self -determining  than  carbon,  and  less  than  in  acid  steel 
where  it  is  present  in  large  proportions. 

SEC.  XVIIu. — Values  of  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus,  and 
iron  in  basic  steel,  as  determined  from  the  old  and  the  new  series 
combined.  Accepting  as  proven  the  conclusion  of  the  foregoing 
section  that  manganese  has  a  decided  influence  upon  the  tensile 


518 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

TABLE  XVII-X. 


List  of  Groups  of  Basic  Open-Hearth  Steels  of  Old  and  New  Series, 
used  in  Determining  the  Effect  of  Certain  Elements  upon  the 
Tensile  Strength  of  Steel,  Together  with  the  Formula  obtained 
therefrom  by  the  Method  of  Least  Squares. 

NOTE. — All  figures  relating  to  ultimate  strength  are  expressed  in  pounds  per 
square  inch.  The  group  numbers  are  made  continuous  with  those  of  Table 
XVII-U  to  avoid  confusion  in  references. 

Formula:  the  unit  for  carbon,  manganese,  and  phosphorus  being  .001  per  cent., 
and  the  result  being  expressed  in  pounds  per  square  inch. 

87430+95  Carbon-f  8.5  Manganese +105  Phosphorus  =  Ultimate  Strength. 


ti 

Composition,  per  cent. 

d 

®  3 

c*i 

ti 

P) 

» 

^riv-3 

D        *     • 

2 

bo 

1 

g 

II 

-^  o 

3)  OP 

»   3w> 

0 

"o 

ss 

• 

o 

. 

o 

**£! 

2g-' 

8§|jl 

Numbei 

Numbei 
group, 

Carbon, 
combi 

Silicon. 

1 

3 

CC 

Phosph 

Copper. 

c3  g) 

£.5 

>  00     1 

<J 

ill  sSgs 
|*£gsfa 

127 

6 

.051 

.008 

.25 

.027 

.008 

.06 

45680 

45240 

—1390 

128 

13 

.058 

.007 

.26 

.036 

.012 

.10 

48900 

46410 

—2490 

129 

11 

.062 

.007 

.38 

.059 

.019 

.05 

50640 

48550 

—2090 

130 

10 

.063 

.017 

.41 

.046 

.032 

.06 

50860 

50260 

—  600 

131 

15 

.069 

.003 

.39 

.053 

.013 

.08 

49030 

48660 

—  870 

132 

6 

.070 

.006 

.36 

.050 

.009 

.08 

47860 

48090 

+  780 

133 

7 

.071 

.008 

.44 

.o;$8 

.009 

.08 

47720    48860 

+  1140 

134 

14 

.071 

.003 

.50 

.037 

.012 

.06 

41H)60:   49680 

+  620 

135 

7 

.072 

.003 

.34 

.021 

.008 

.07 

45tYTO:    48000 

+  1380 

136 

42 

.072 

.005 

.38 

.011 

.08 

48990 

48,660 

—  830 

137 

14 

.074 

.007 

.38 

.*034 

.021 

.07 

49280 

4(}('0( 

+  620 

138 

11 

.079 

.007 

.83 

.030 

.007 

.05 

40950 

48470 

+  1520 

139 

17 

.081 

.OOG 

.37 

.035 

.Oil 

.08 

47320 

49420 

+2100 

140 

12 

.081 

.004 

.42 

.032 

.007 

.07 

49070 

49430 

+  860 

141 

15 

.082 

.007 

.88 

.020 

.011 

.11 

49150 

4960C 

+  450 

142 

33 

.082 

.004 

.43 

.03 

.014 

.08 

50770 

£0350 

—  420 

143 

13 

.087 

.006 

.53 

.036 

.017 

.10 

51010 

51980 

+  970 

144 

12 

.087 

.006 

.28 

.030 

.015 

.08 

51290 

49650 

-1640 

145 

13 

.101 

.005 

.40 

.027 

.007 

.08 

50710 

51160 

+  450 

146 

9 

.102 

.005 

.37 

.018 

.OH) 

.12 

51090 

51310 

+  220 

147 

10 

.105 

.020 

.53 

.032 

.012 

.07 

52870 

53170 

+  200 

Division  I  ;  new 

148 

8 

.106 

.019 

.41 

.036 

.036 

.06 

58130 

54760 

+  1630 

series. 

149 

9 

.118 

.008 

.41 

.048 

.014 

.10 

52990 

53590 

+  600 

150 

17 

.119 

.005 

.36 

.054 

.015 

.09 

52930 

53370 

+  440 

151 

10 

.125 

.009 

.38 

.030 

.008 

.10 

52750 

58380 

+  630 

152 

10 

.127 

.009 

.43 

.019 

.010 

.06 

52980 

5420( 

+1220 

153 

8 

.128 

.006 

.28 

.035 

.017 

.07 

53070 

53760 

+  690 

154 

12 

.128 

.012 

.51 

.035 

.022 

.08 

54930 

56230 

+1300 

155 

9 

.131 

.014 

.41 

.039 

033 

.08 

54870 

56830 

+1960 

156 

13 

.1:36 

.003 

.40 

.040 

!031 

.09 

57000 

57000 

157 

12 

.144 

.004 

.30 

.037 

.013 

.10 

55260 

55030 

—  230 

158 

12 

.147 

.004 

.38 

.019 

.08 

55100 

56620 

+1520 

159 

24 

.155 

.006 

.87 

'.034 

.015 

.08 

55000 

56870 

+1870 

160 

13 

.162 

.010 

.30 

.029 

.017 

.12 

57060 

57160 

+  100 

161 

38 

.164 

.032 

.38 

.034 

.015 

.08 

57020 

57810 

+  790 

162 

12 

.165 

.009 

.41 

.051 

.021 

.11 

572-20 

£8800 

+  1580 

168 

9 

.166 

.007 

.032 

.008 

.07 

55080 

57360 

+2280 

164 

13 

.169 

.002 

*51 

.036 

.018 

.07 

57070 

59710 

+2640 

165 

13 

.170 

.008 

.36 

.019 

.013 

.09 

55250 

58000 

+2750 

166 

12 

.170 

.003 

.86 

.019 

.012 

.13 

57210 

57900 

+  690 

167 

13 

.170 

.003 

.42 

.043 

.040 

.07 

61070 

6177C 

+  700 

168 

10 

.175 

.007 

.41 

.041 

.029 

.08 

59060 

6058C 

+1520 

169 

H 

.176 

.009 

.38 

.052 

.024 

.10 

58970 

59900 

+  930 

170 

10 

.177 

.008 

.48 

.034 

.019 

.08 

59280 

6082C 

+1040 

171 

43 

.179 

.014 

.88 

.082 

.014 

.10 

5897C 

5914C 

+  170 

INFLUENCE   OF   CERTAIN   ELEMENTS   ON   STEEL. 


519 


TABLE  XVII-X.— Continued. 


Is 

Composition;  percent. 

'ft 

05  3 

•SO 

jt 

i  1 

o  :1 

. 

C3  !H 

S£? 

I  I 

be 

A 

o 

. 

08 

So 

+3  -2 

s-g-g- 

0 

V> 

h>«a 

1 

g 

oa  jS  . 

1 

cfi 

C 

G? 

B 

O 
ft 

^ 

&H 

Ill 

l"3s| 

fa 

a 

I! 

II 

e3  ^ 

8 

q 

• 

A 

o 

49 

1 

>-to 

III 

£§!! 

£ 

£ 

5 

33 

s 

m 

PH 

0 

<J 

£ 

s 

172 

13 

.183 

.004 

.36 

.030 

.008 

.13 

57350 

68710 

+1860 

173 

13 

.187 

.004 

.46 

.054 

.  .030 

.07 

60940 

62250 

+1310 

174 

13 

.188 

.013 

.30 

.031 

.015 

.10 

58900 

59420 

+  520 

175 

15 

.192 

.004 

.39 

.020 

.013 

.08 

58900 

60350 

+1450 

176 

13 

.194 

.004 

.39 

.019 

.014 

.09 

60860 

60640 

—  220 

177 

13 

.194 

.007 

.51 

.040 

.023 

.06 

61340 

62610 

+1270 

178 

8 

.195 

.004 

.38 

.024 

.008 

.08 

59000 

60020 

+1020 

179 

88 

.202 

.010 

.42 

.033 

.016 

.09 

60740 

61870 

+1180 

180 

10 

.204 

.006 

.54 

.039 

.025 

.11 

63700 

64020 

+  320 

181 

15 

.208 

.005 

.47 

.038 

.035 

.07 

63530 

64860 

+1380 

182 

13 

.209 

.007 

.47 

.053 

.024 

.06 

63220 

63800 

+  580 

Division  I,  continued  ; 

183 
184 

17 

38 

.214 
.214 

.007 
.004 

.42 
.43 

.030 
.031 

.008 
.017 

.07 
.11 

60860 
63130 

62170 
63200 

+1310 
+  70 

new  series. 

185 

r 

.217 

.009 

.59 

.039 

.025 

.07 

68140 

65680 

—2460 

186 

ii 

.219 

.007 

.82 

.027 

.016 

.10 

60790 

62630 

+1840 

187 

12 

.220 

.006 

.40 

.018 

.015 

.08 

63560 

63300 

—  260 

188 

r 

.229 

.007 

.49 

.039 

.043 

.07 

67770 

67870 

+  100 

189 

10 

.233 

.009 

.47 

.032 

.007 

.09 

66330 

64300 

—2080 

190 

9 

.234 

.007 

.40 

.030 

.008 

.08 

63400 

63900 

+  500 

191 

10 

.245 

.009 

.33 

.028 

.019 

.13 

63290 

65500 

+2210 

192 

8 

.248 

.006 

.40 

.033 

.018 

.08 

66220 

66280 

+  60 

193 

8 

.252 

.006 

.50 

.050 

.026 

.08 

67090 

68350 

+1260 

194 

20 

.255 

.010 

.50 

.035 

.020 

.10 

67340 

68000 

+  660 

•  Y  '  '• 

165 

10 

.257 

.007 

.45 

.019 

.015 

.08 

66920 

67250 

+  330 

196 

5 

.297 

.007 

.50 

.037 

.021 

.07 

71360 

72100 

+  740 

197 

6 

.801 

.005 

.65 

.029 

.017 

.08 

76890 

73340 

—3550 

198 

6 

.025 

.005 

.04 

.024 

.009 

.08 

46420 

41090 

—5380 

199 

4 

.045 

.006 

.27 

.045 

.010 

.11 

47550 

45050 

—2500 

200 

4 

.050 

.009 

.33 

.026 

.007 

.19 

47060 

45720 

—1340 

201 

4 

.050 

.005 

.36 

.031 

.022 

.15 

47610 

47550 

—  60 

202 

16 

.052 

.012 

.35 

.054 

.019 

.14 

49010 

47340 

—1670 

203 

6 

.055 

.015 

.34 

.019 

.008 

.10 

47130 

46380 

—  750 

204 

7 

.055 

.005 

.22 

.030 

.012 

.14 

47570 

45790 

—1780 

205 

12 

.058 

.005 

.34 

.029 

.011 

.14 

47010 

46980 

—  80 

206 

8 

.061 

.006 

.46 

.025 

.016 

.14 

47300 

48820 

+  1520 

207 

18 

.062 

.008 

.21 

.036 

.015 

.12 

48980 

46680 

-2300 

208 

6 

.065 

.008 

.36 

.080 

.014 

.18 

49770 

48130 

—1640 

209 

17 

.070 

.013 

.35 

.034 

.031 

.14 

49250 

50310 

+1060 

210 

22 

.074 

.005 

.36 

.023 

.007 

.13 

48830 

48260 

—  670  - 

211 

19 

.074 

.009 

.39 

.018 

.013 

.10 

49150 

49140 

—  10 

212 

13 

.076 

.011 

.41 

.062 

.018 

.18 

50880 

50030 

-850 

213 

94 

.078 

.003 

.38 

.031 

.016 

.11 

49090 

49750 

+  660 

214 

15 

.081 

.005 

.54 

.031 

.016 

.13 

49220 

51400 

+2180 

215 

17 

.083 

.005 

.42 

.029 

.008 

.18 

50910 

49720 

-1190 

Division  II;  old 

216 

16 

.083 

.006 

.57 

.035 

.017 

.11 

51060 

51950 

+  890 

series. 

217 

26 

.084 

.009 

.25 

.033 

.021 

.14 

50900 

49740 

—1160 

218 

23 

.085 

.014 

.38 

.032 

.036 

.14 

51140 

52520 

+1380 

219 

21 

.090 

.006 

.40 

.018 

.015 

.10 

51200 

50950 

—  250 

220 

121 

.093 

.006 

.40 

.032 

.019 

.13 

51030 

51660 

+  630 

221 

17 

.093 

.006 

.40 

.038 

.040 

.16 

53020 

53860 

+  840 

222 

21 

.094 

.011 

.48 

.036 

.046 

.18 

54800 

54840 

+  40 

223 

14 

-.096 

.007 

.44 

.065 

.023 

.16 

53000 

52700 

—  800 

224 

19 

.099 

.012 

.28 

.035 

.029 

.16 

52950 

52260 

—  690 

225 

14 

.100 

.009 

.66 

.029 

.019 

.15 

53380 

54540 

+1160 

226 

5 

.102 

.010 

.47 

.087 

.027 

.15 

53600 

53950 

+  350 

227 

15 

.103 

.013 

.44 

.064 

.027 

.13 

54950 

53790 

—1160 

228 

15 

.108 

.008 

.42 

.019 

.018 

.11 

52910 

53150 

+  240 

229 

125 

.109 

.010 

.43 

.031 

.021 

.12 

52980 

53640 

+  660 

230 

103 

.112 

.005 

.42 

.034 

.025 

.16 

54880 

54260 

—  620 

231 

23 

.115 

.009 

.43 

.031 

.009 

.13 

52750 

52960 

+  210 

282 

13 

.117 

.007 

.46 

.035 

.053 

.13 

57210 

58020 

+  810 

233 

15 

.118 

.014 

.49 

.057 

.033 

.14 

56980 

56270 

—  710 

234 

18 

.120 

.004 

.43 

.018  '  .020 

.12 

54860 

54590 

—  270 

520 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


TABLE  XVII-X.— Continued. 


d 

Composition,  per  cent. 

ft 

Q   3 

xa 

d       5 

P* 

00 

"he  ^ 

Q)               2? 

o 

l» 

-Z 

d 
<j 

CO 

11 

s  ° 

li 

1    H 

*o 

*O 

• 

I 

3.d 

00  73  03 

*  S.2  ® 

1* 

-    • 

fo 

C3 

ij 

0 

_, 

ate 

~  5*3  '  s—  '^  * 

% 
a 

%% 

£2 

d,a 

II 

| 

1 

3 

a 

1 

o 

o> 
ft 

ft 

II 

Hi  Sill 

a  CO  Q  •  jg  O  33  —  i 

0 

3  be 

-  « 

l-H 

^ 

— 

r] 

o 

>  w 

~  o3  £  5  03  §  3 

& 

^ 

0      . 

33 

^ 

02 

PH 

8 

Q 

235 

7 

.121 

.008 

.54 

.032 

.056 

.14 

60580 

59400 

—1180 

236 

11 

.125 

.012 

.67 

.038 

.025 

.13 

56680 

57620 

+  940 

237 

10 

.125 

.019 

.54 

.060 

.036 

.11 

58790 

57680 

—1110 

238 

16 

.126 

.008 

.62 

.028 

.024 

.14 

55090 

57190 

+2100 

. 

239 

19 

.131 

.008 

.30 

.029 

.022 

.13 

54690 

54730 

+    40 

240 

'20 

.132 

.006 

.89 

.027 

.009 

.13 

54890 

54230 

—  660 

241 

63 

.132 

.010 

.47 

sm 

.028 

.19 

5(5870 

56900 

+    30 

242 

9 

.134 

.016 

.51 

.036 

.055 

.11 

59110 

60270 

+1160 

243 

15 

.136 

.009 

.81 

.029 

.024 

.13 

57010 

65500 

—1510 

244 

11 

.137 

.020 

.72 

.037 

.033 

.18 

59110 

60030 

+  920 

245 

6 

.142 

.017 

.53 

.058 

.029 

.12 

60570 

58470 

—2100 

246 

10 

.144 

.008 

.50 

.020 

.026 

.12 

588»50 

58090 

—  770 

247 

37 

.144 

.015 

.52 

.034 

.028 

.13 

5S970 

58470 

—  500 

248 

14 

.146 

.015 

.44 

.019 

.023 

.11 

57030 

57460 

+  430 

249 

21 

.147 

.005 

.43 

.027 

.011 

.10 

57060 

5(5200 

—  860 

250 

7 

.151 

.016 

.68 

.029 

.024 

.18 

60870 

('0080 

—  790 

251 

9 

.152 

.008 

.64 

.034 

.045 

.17 

63480 

62040 

—1440 

252 

10 

.153 

.011 

.46 

.027 

.012 

.10 

58970 

57130 

—1840 

Division  II,  con- 

253 

13 

.153 

.008 

.53 

.034 

.030 

.1(5 

60770 

59620 

—1150 

tinued;  old  series. 

254 

12 

.155 

.012 

.39 

.029 

.020 

.12 

59110 

57570 

—1540 

255 

6 

.158 

.012 

.82 

.032 

.027 

.17 

63400 

62250 

—1150 

256 

8 

.164 

.018 

.57 

.046 

.031 

.16 

63740 

61110 

—2630 

257 

7 

.173 

.009 

.53 

.021 

.02? 

.11 

60810 

60570 

—  240 

258 

11 

.180 

.012 

.56 

.029 

.026 

.15 

63110 

62020 

—1090 

259 

10 

.181 

.006 

.48 

.031 

.011 

.10 

60740 

59860 

—  880 

260 

8 

.181 

.011 

.37 

.028 

.019 

.07 

60870 

59770 

—1100 

261 

5 

.185 

.039 

.72 

.049 

.043 

.11 

67570 

65640 

—1930 

262 

5 

.190 

.008 

.72 

.037 

.047 

.17 

66480 

66530 

+    50 

263 

5 

.196 

.025 

.86 

.032 

.029 

.17 

67480 

66400 

—1080 

264 

10 

.199 

.012 

.62 

.030 

.025 

.12 

6(5820 

64230 

-2590 

265 

7 

.204 

.007 

.45 

.028 

.010 

.12 

63600 

61690 

—1910 

266 

8 

.210 

.010 

.53 

.020 

.018 

.13 

63740 

63770 

+    80 

267 

6 

.215 

.005 

.42 

.024 

.011 

.16 

63470 

62580 

—  890 

268 

6 

.231 

.029 

.36 

.025 

.012 

.12 

67530 

63700 

—3830 

269 

5 

.233 

.008 

.49 

.020 

.021 

.13 

675(50 

65940 

-1620 

270 

5 

.260 

.060 

.31 

.025 

.014 

.10 

68470 

66230 

—2240 

271 

5 

.311 

.080 

.44 

.029 

.020 

.07 

73010 

72820 

—  190 

272 

5 

.338 

.025 

.62 

.026 

.017 

.10 

77950 

76600 

—1350 

BASIC  STEELS;*  DIVISIONS  I  AND  II,  TABLE  XVII-X 
Equation  from  carbon:  3,503,736  A  +  9,353,710  B  +  423,710  C  +  2,049,800,569  D 

«=  1,230,544,020. 
Equation   from   manganese;    9,353,710.   A   +    29,555,000   B    +   1,350,180  C 

+  6,301,464,560  D  =  3,660,255,100. 
Equation  from  phosphorus;  423,710  A  +  1,350,180  B  +  74,634  C  +  290,433,400  D 

=  169,202,400. 
Equation   from   iron;    2,049,800,569   A     +    6,301,464,560    B    +    290,433,410  C 

+  1,439,974,511,304  D  =  822,329,462,810. 

The  solution  of  these  equations  gives  the  following  values : 

Lbs.  per  sq.  in. 

Effect  of  .001  per  cent,  of  carbon +   94.9 

Effect  of  .001  per  cent,  of  manganese +     8.5 

Effect  of  .001  per  cent,  of  phosphorus t  105.4 

Strength  of  pure  iron 37733 

*The  sum  total  of  the  coefficients  in  these  equations  is  not  quite  1,460,000,000,000, 
ftsit  should  be  theoretically,  because  the  factors  in  the  old  series  relating  to  aili- 
oon,  sulphur,  and  copper,  have  been  omitted. 


INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL. 


521 


strength  of  basic  steel,  the  groups  of  both  the  new  and  the  old 
series  as  given  in  Division  I  and  II  of  Table  XVII-X  were  com- 
bined, the  resultant  equations  being  given  at  the  foot  of  page  519, 
in  which  A  =  the  influence  of  .001  per  cent,  of  carbon,  B  =  the 
influence  of  .001  per  cent,  of  manganese,  C=  the  influence  of  .001 
per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  and  D  =  the  influence  of  .001  per  cent,  of 
iron. 

Following  the  same  line  of  argument  as  in  acid  steels,  it  is 
necessary  to  make  allowance  for  the  fact  that  there  is  never  100 
per  cent,  of  iron  in  any  steel.  The  figure  99.2  per  cent,  was  taken 
as  a  basis  in  Section  XVIIs,  and  it  will  also  be  taken  in  the  present 
case.  It  is  true  that  the  phosphorus  is  generally  lower  in  basic 
steel,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  carbon  is  usually  higher.  On 
this  assumption  the  strength  given  by  the  iron  itself  in  an  average 
basic  steel  will  be  37,430  pounds  per  square  inch. 


120.000 

C 

urves  showing  rels 
composition  of  ba 
its  ultimate  streng 
A=normal  steels,  1 
C=pure  iron  4  pure 
formula  37430+  95  c* 
bscissas=carbon,  p 
rdinates=ultimate 

i 

ition  b 
sic  op 
'th. 
Divisio 
carboi 

etwee 
en-het 

nsl  ai 
i,  calci 
ultim 

b. 
?th,  It 

a  the  c 
irth  s 

id  II, 
ilated 
ate  sti 

s.  per 

1 

hemic 
beel  ai 

from  tl 
•ength 

sq.  inc 

al 

110  000 

-ioblSb- 
-ic^oT 

A 
C 

—  •> 

A 

o 

ie 

irbon= 
er  cen 
stren 

h. 

J 

A 

,       JflJ 

^S 

C 

60,000 

,J 

M^ 

^ 

A-—" 

^ 

JVv 

* 

40.000 

C 

<.  — 

.0* 

JO 

.!» 

.2.0 

.25 

.90 

.AS 

.4* 

A» 

SO 

.35 

FIG.    XVII-D. — CURVES    SHOWING    EELATION    BETWEEN    THE 

CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION  OF  BASIC  OPEN-HEARTH  STEEL 

AND  ITS  ULTIMATE  STRENGTH  AS  SHOWN  IN 

TABLE  XVII-X. 


522 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AXD    STEEL. 


Constructing  a  formula  in  the  same  way  as  for  acid  metal,  we 
have  the  following,  the  answer  being  expressed  in  pounds  per 
square  inch. 

37,430+95  Carbon+8.5   Manganese+105   Phosphorus+R=Ultimate    Strength. 

The  factor  E  represents  an  allowance  for  the  conditions  under 
which  the  piece  is  rolled,  whether  finished  hot  or  cold.  In  the 
present  series  of  groups  it  is  zero.  In  each  case  the  unit  is  .001 
per  cent.,  but  since  manganese  is  seldom  determined  beyond  two 
decimal  points,  it  will  be  convenient  in  calculation  to  use  a  unit,  of 
.01  per  cent,  and  a  value  of  85  pounds  per  unit,  but  it  would  be  very 
confusing  to  so  write  the  formula. 

In  Table  XVII-X  this  formula  has  been  applied  to  the  basic 
steels  of  the  old  and  the  new  series,  and  the  differences  between  the 
actual  and  the  calculated  ultimate  strengths  have  been  placed  in  the 
last  column.  An  inspection  of  these  differences  or  "errors"  as 
they  have  been  called,  brings  to  light  one  or  two  points  of  interest. 

First:  The  difference,  which  was  found  between  the  two  series 
of  normal  acid  steels,  exists  also  between  the  two  series  of  basic 
products.  In  Division  I  there  are  fifty-six  groups  that  give  a  plus 
error,  with  a  total  of  57,130  pounds,  while  there  are  only  fourteen 
groups  that  are  minus,  with  a  total  of  18,080  pounds. 

On  the  other  hand,  Division  II  offers  only  24  groups  having  a 
plus  error,  with  a  total  of  18,330  pounds,  while  it  has  51  groups 
with  a  total  minus  error  of  65,350  pounds.  The  net  error  of 
Division  I  is  +39,050  pounds,  and  that  of  Division  II  is  — 17,020 
pounds.  The  reason  for  this  difference  is  unknown. 

Second :  An  investigation  was  made  into  the  effect  of  manganese 
in  the  same  way  as  was  done  for  acid  steel  in  Table  XVII- V,  and  the 
results  are  shown  in  Table  XVII-Y.t 

TABLE  XVII-Y. 

Average  Error  of  Groups  in  Table  XVII-X,  Arranged  According 
to  their  Manganese  Content. 


Manganese  ;  per  cent. 

Number 
of  heats. 

Total 
minus 
error. 

Total  plus 
error. 

Net 
error. 

Average 
error. 

Limits. 

Average. 

.20  to  .29 
.30  to  .39 
.40  to  .49 
£0  to  .59 
.60  to  .69 
.70  to  .79 
.80  to  .89 

.26 
.36 
.43 
.53 
.65 
.72 
.84 

9 
47 
52 
24 
8 
3 
2 

—13950 
—20190 
—16850 
—13230 
—  9720 
—  1930 
—  2230 

+    690 
-f  30680 
+  24680 
+14240 
+  4200 
+    970 

—13260 
+10490 
+  7830 
+  1010 
—  5520 
—    960 
—  2230 

—1473 
+  228 
+  151 
+    42 
—  690 
—  820 
—1115 

INFLUENCE    OF    CERTAIN    ELEMENTS    ON    STEEL.  523 

There  is  no  such  regular  progression  as  was  shown  in  the  former 
case.  This  is  readily  explained  by  the  fact  that  manganese  is  given 
a  value  as  part  of  the  formula,  and  it  is  indicated  that  the  value 
determined  must  be  a  very  close  approximation  to  the  truth. 

In  the  case  of  the  steels  containing  between  .20  and  .29  per  cent, 
manganese,  the  actual  strength  is  1473  pounds  above  the  calculated. 
This  will  be  again  referred  to  in  Section  XVIIv. 

Third :  The  influence  of  sulphur  was  investigated  in  the  same 
way  as  manganese.  The  results,  given  herewith,  agree  with  those 
found  from  acid  steel,  in  showing  that  sulphur  exerts  no  regular 
influence  upon  the  tensile  strength. 

13  groups  bet.  .01  and  .02  per  cent,  sulphur  gave  an  av.  error  of  +317  ibs. 


87  "  "  .02  "  .03 

69  "  "  .03  "  .04 

9  "  "  .04  "  .05 

12  "  "  .05  "  .06 

4  "  "  .06  "  .07 

2  "  "  .08  "  .09 


—  598  " 
+  251  " 

—  397  " 
+  81  " 

—  855  " 

—  645  " 


Fourth :  A  similar  table,  which  is  here  given,  shows  the  average 
error  for  the  different  percentages  of  phosphorus.  This  is  done  as 
corroborative  evidence  that  the  value  of  phosphorus  in  the  formula 
is  correct,  for  it  may  be  assumed  that  if  the  value  was  too  high  or 
too  low,  the  fact  would  be  made  manifest  by  a  large  error  in  the 
groups  containing  either  high  or  low  phosphorus.  The  fact  that 
no  regular  relation  exists  seems  to  indicate  that  the  deduced  value 
is  practically  correct. 

21  groups  bet.  .00  and  .01  per  cent,  phosphorus  gave  an  av.  error  of  —  20  Ibs. 


63  "  .01  "  .02 

89  "  .02  "  .03 

13  "  •  .03  "  .04 

7  "  .04  "  .05 

3  "  .05  "  .06 


—  56  " 

—  168  " 
+  261  " 

—  234  " 
+  263  " 


SEC.  XVIIv. — Meaning  of  the  term  "pure  iron!' — In  the  fore- 
going investigation,  a  slightly  different  value  was  found  for  "pure 
iron"  as  derived  from  acid  steels,  and  "pure  iron"  as  derived  from 
basic  metal.  This  contradiction  is  solely  a  matter  of  words.  Abso- 
lutely pure  iron  never  has  been,  and,  in  all  probability  never  will  be 
made.  The  steels  given  in  Table  XVII-M  are  about  as  near  to  pure 
iron  as  can  be  found.  Heat  No.  4932  in  that  table  contains  .011 
per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  .04  per  cent,  of  manganese,  .029  per  cent, 
of  sulphur,  and  .04  per  cent,  of  copper.  The  carbon  was  not  deter- 
mined by  combustion,  but  it  must  have  been  about  the  same  as  the 


524  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

average  sample  of  the  six  heats,  which  was  .025  per  cent.  This 
would  leave  a  total  content  of  impurities  of  00.145  per  cent.  If 
copper  is  omitted  from  the  total,  as  having  no  appreciable  effect, 
the  total  will  be  00.105  per  cent. 

Notwithstanding  this  purity,  the  tensile  strength  of  this  heat 
is  46,480  pounds,  which  is  practically  the  same  as  the  average  of 
the  group.  The  great  strength  of  this  metal,  as  compared  with 
steel  containing  a  larger  proportion  of  impurity,  has  already  been 
discussed  in  Section  XVII-E,  but  must  again  be  considered  here. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  that  oxide  of  iron  is  present  in  this  de- 
carburized  and  dephosphorized  product,  and  that  it  may  confer 
an  abnormal  cohesive  power.  This  supposition  is  corroborated  by 
Tables  XVII- V  and  XVlI-Y,  which  indicate  that  both  acid  and 
basic  steels,  when  low  in  manganese,  are  somewhat  stronger  than 
would  be  accounted  for  by  their  content  of  carbon  and  phosphorus, 
and  it  will  be  acknowledged  that  such  steel  holds  a  considerable 
quantity  of  oxygen. 

It  is  true  that  these  abnormal  metals  may  contain  unusual  pro- 
portions of  certain  substances  like  hydrogen,  nitrogen,  or  carbonic 
oxide,  but  since  the  effect  of  these  constituents  is  entirely  hypothet- 
ical, the  most  reasonable  assumption  is  that  oxide  of  iron  increases 
the  ultimate  strength. 

Whether  this  theory  is  perfectly  true  or  not  is  of  little  importance 
so  -far  as  the  present  investigation  is  concerned,  for  the  results 
obtained  from  absolutely  pure  iron  would  be  utterly  valueless  as  a 
guide  in  creating  a  proper  formula.  From  one  point  of  view  there 
is  no  more  real  necessity  of  knowing  the  strength  of  pure  iron  than 
of  knowing  the  strength  of  pure  carbon  or  pure  phosphorus.  There 
may  be  no  connection  at  all  between  the  tensile  strength  of  a 
carbide  or  phosphide  of  iron  and  the  tensile  strength  of  its  separate 
components,  since  a  chemical  compound  often  has  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  its  parents. 

In  the  foregoing  pages,,  therefore,  the  term  "pure  iron"  is  arbi- 
trary, and  is  intended  to  express  simply  the  datum  plane  from  which 
it  is  most  convenient  to  start  in  order  to  find  the  strength  of  steel 
by  a  simple  formula. 

SEC.  XVIIw. — Synopsis  of  the  argument  and  conclusions  in  the 
foregoing  investigations. — The  argument  involved  in  the  foregoing 
calculations  is  so  complicated,  and  the  conclusions  are  so  scattered 
throughout  the  text,  that  it  will  be  convenient^  to  give  a  general 


INFLUENCE  OF  CERTAIN  ELEMENTS  ON  STEEL.       525 

synopsis  of  Parts  II  and  III  of  this  chapter.  As  far  as  the 
conclusions  are  concerned,  it  is  conceded  that  no  one  series  of  experi- 
ments can  make  a  valid  foundation  for  universal  generalizations, 
but  it  has  been  deemed  proper  to  put  the  discovered  relations  into 
the  form  of  statements,  which  are  to  be  accepted  subject  to  the 
limitations  of  the  premises. 

Basis  of  the  investigation. — The  object  of  the  investigation  was 
to  discover  the  influence  upon  the  tensile  strength  of  open-hearth 
steel,  of  the  metalloids  that  are  usually  found  therein.  Both  acid 
and  basic  metals  were  investigated,  but  the  two  kinds  were  kept 
separate  throughout  the  work. 

The  preliminary  tests  of  several  hundred  heats  of  each  kind  of 
steel  were  at  hand,  with  a  record  of  the  ultimate  strength  of  each, 
together  with  the  content  of  sulphur,  phosphorus,  and  manganese. 
These  .tests  were  made  into  several  divisions  on  the  basis  of  their 
ultimate  strength,  and  these  divisions  were  again  subdivided  so  as 
to  produce  groups  that  would  show  high  and  low  phosphorus,  high 
and  low  sulphur,  and  high  and  low  manganese.  These  groups  were 
analyzed  by  taking  an  equal  quantity  of  drillings  from  each  bar, 
and  determining  the  carbon  by  combustion,  and  also  the  silicon  and 
the  copper.  The  iron  was  calculated  by  difference. 

Each  one  of  these  groups  was  then  considered  as  a  unit,  and  an 
equation  was  constructed  from  its  chemical  composition.  On  one 
side  of  the  equation  were  the  carbon,  silicon,  manganese,  sulphur, 
phosphorus,  copper  and  iron,  and  on  the  other  side  was  the  ultimate 
strength.  The  coefficients  of  the  factors  were  the  percentages  found 
by  analysis,  while  the  factors  themselves  were  the  unknown  quanti- 
ties whose  values  were  to  be  sought. 

Mathematical  calculations. — The  only  method  which  seemed  to 
meet  the  case  was  the  method  of  least  squares,  but  the  first  applica- 
tion of  this  very  complicated  and  laborious  mathematical  agent 
gave  results  which  were  palpably  incorrect.  It  was  demonstrated 
that  the  error  arose  from  using  silicon,  sulphur,  and  copper  as  fac- 
tors in  the  equations,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  exerted  no 
controlling  influence. 

Neglecting  these  elements,  a  solution  was  made  by  which  values 
were  found  for  carbon,  manganese,  phosphorus,  and  iron.  Differ- 
ences existed  between  the  basic  and  acid  steels  in  the  values  of  all 
these  factors,  but  the  most  striking  variation  was  in  manganese,  it 


526  METALLURGY   OF    IRON   AND   STEEL. 

being  found  that  it  was  a  minus  quantity  in  acid,  and  a  plus  quan- 
tity in  basic  steel. 

After  completing  these  calculations,  the  same  line  of  work  was 
repeated  on  an  entirely  new  series  of  acid  and  basic  steels.  The 
results  corroborated  the  former  records  in  most  respects,  but  the 
value  of  manganese  was  found  to  be  very  nearly  zero  in  the  case  of 
the  acid  steel.  Certain  computations  showed  that  this  element  gave 
very  discordant  results  when  the  acid  steels  were  separated  into  two 
arbitrary  divisions,  while  the  figures  for  the  other  metalloids  pre- 
served their  general  character,  and  the  conclusions  were  drawn  that 
manganese  was  an  unsatisfactory  factor  in  acid  metal,  that  its  effect 
upon  the  tensile  strength  was  very  small  when  present  in  ordinary 
proportions,  and  that  a  working  formula  could  be  constructed  with- 
out it. 

Finally  the  old  and  the  new  series  of  steels  were  put  together 
and  a  solution  was  made  of  the  combined  list  to  find  the  most 
probable  values  of  the  metalloids.  Manganese  was  neglected  in  the 
case  of  the  acid  steel,  but  it  was  found  to  have  a  decided  influence 
upon  basic  metal. 

From  the  values  so  determined,  formulae  were  constructed,  and 
these  were  applied  in  Tables  XVII-U  and  XVII-X  to  the  groups 
from  which  they  were  derived.  Against  each  group  is  placed  the 
strength  as  given  by  the  formula,  as  well  as  the  difference  between 
this  figure  and  the  actual  strength. 

This  column  of  differences  was  then  analyzed  in  the  case  of  both 
acid  and  basic  steels,  and  it  was  sought  to  find  whether  there  was 
any  law  of  error ;  for  instance,  whether  high-sulphur  groups  would 
always  give  a  plus  difference  and  low  sulphur  groups  would  always 
give  a  minus  difference,  thus  indicating  that  the  formula  did  not 
fit  the  facts,  and  that  the  values  were  not  correct. 

From  this  series  of  steps  the  following  conclusions  were  drawn : 

Conclusions. —  (1)  The  strength  of  pure  iron,  as  far  as  it  can  be 
determined  from  the  strength  of  steel,  is  about  38,000  or  39,000 
pounds  per  square  inch. 

(2)  An  increase  of  .01  per  cent,  of  carbon  raises  the  tensile 
strength  of  acid  steel  about  1210  pounds  per  square  inch,  and 
of  basic  steel  about  950  pounds.  This  difference  between  the  effect 
of  carbon  upon  acid  and  basic  steels,  as  found  by  mathematical 
analysis,  is  corroborated  by  the  graphic  records  in  Figures  XVII-C 
and  XVII-D. 


INFLUENCE    OF   CERTAIN   ELEMENTS    ON   STEEL.  527 

(3)  An  increase  ^  of  .01  per  cent,  of  manganese  has  very  little 
effect  upon  acid  steel  unless  the  content  exceeds  .60  per  cent.,  but 
it  raises  the  strength  of  basic  steel  about  85  pounds  per  square 
inch. 

(4)  An  increase  of  .01  per  cent,  of  phosphorus  raises  the  tensile 
strength  of  acid  steel  about  890  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  of 
basic  steel  about  1050  pounds. 

(5)  The  following  formulae  will  give  the  ultimate  strength  of 
ordinary  open-hearth  steel  in  pounds  per  square  inch,  the  carbon, 
manganese,  and  phosphorus  being  expressed  in  units  of  .001  per 
cent.,  and  a  value  being  assigned  to  E  in  accordance  with  the  con- 
ditions of  rolling  and  the  thickness  of  the  piece. 

FOKMULA    FOB    ACID    STEEL. 

38,600+121   Carbon+89   Phosphorus+R=Ultimate   Strength. 

FORMULA  FOB  BASIC  STEEL. 
37,430+95  Carbon+8.5   Manganese+105   Phosphorus+R=Ultimate   Strength. 

(6)  The  metals,  from  which  these  data  were  derived,  were  ordi- 
nary structural  steels  ranging  from  .02  to  .35  per  cent,  of  carbon, 
and  it  is  not  expected  that  the  formulae  are  applicable  to  higher  steels. 
or  to  special  alloys. 

(7)  A  considerable  difference  may  be  found  between  steels  which 
apparently  are  of  the  same  composition,   and  which,   as   far  as 
known,  have  been  made  under  the  same  conditions. 

(8)  In  the  case  of  acid  steel,  an  increase  in  manganese  above 
.60  per  cent,  will  raise  the  tensile  strength  above  the  amount 
indicated  by  the  formula,  the  increment  being  quite  marked  when 
a  content  of  .80  per  cent,  is  exceeded. 

(9)  In  steels  containing  from  .30  to  .50  per  cent,  of  carbon,  the 
value  of  the  metalloids  is  fully  as  great  as  with  lower  steels,  while 
the  presence  of  silicon  in  such  metal  in  proportions  greater  than 
.15  per  cent,  seems  to  enhance  the  strengthening  effect  of  carbon. 

(10)  In  steels  containing  less  than  .25  per  cent,  of  carbon  the 
effect  of  small  proportions  of  silicon  upon  the  ultimate  strength  is 
inappreciable. 

(11)  Sulphur,  in  ordinary  proportions,  exerts  no  appreciable 
influence  upon  the  tensile  strength. 

(12)  Both  acid  and  basic  steels  containing  less  than  .30  per  cent, 
of  manganese  give  an  actual  strength  greater  than  is  shown  by  the 
formula,  and  when  this  is  taken  in  connection  with  the  abnormal 
strength  of  the  unusually  pure  metal  shown  in  Group  198  of  Table 


528  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

XVII-X,  it  is  indicated  that  oxide  of  iron  raises  the  ultimate 
strength. 

NOTE.  Several  years  have  elapsed  since  the  foregoing  formulae 
were  deduced.  During  that  time  every  open-hearth  heat  made  at 
Steelton  has  been  calculated  according  to  formula  and  almost  every 
one,  acid  and  basic,  has  come  out  within  2500  pounds  of  the  actual 
strength  as  determined  by  the  breaking  test,  except  the  steels  con- 
taining manganese  in  excess  of  .60  per  cent.  Usually  the  calcu- 
lated strength  is  within  1000  or  1500  pounds  of  the  actual.  Our 
experience  proves  that  the  formula  represents  something  and  it  is 
used  as  a  check  and  as  a  guide  in  the  practical  and  commercial 
disposition  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  of  steel. 

The  exception  noted  in  the  case  of  high-manganese  contents  is 
in  exact  accordance  with  conclusion  No.  8,  just  given.  It  was 
not  possible  for  the  mathematical  method  to  give  a  correct  answer 
for  this  kind  of  metal,  because  such  steels  were  not  represented  in 
sufficient  proportion  in  the  groups  taken  and  because  no  simple 
formula  of  this  kind  so  determined,  could  express  a  varying  func- 
tion. 

I  have  more  than  once  met  with  the  objection  that  these  formulae 
do  not  allow  for  the  variations  in  thickness  and  finishing  tem- 
perature. This  criticism  is  unfounded.  The  only  way  in  which 
these  can  be  allowed  for  is  by  adding  a  certain  sum  for  thin  pieces 
and  cold  finishing,  or  subtracting  for  heavy  pieces  and  hot  finishing. 
This  was  explained  in  the  conclusions  given  and  the  factor  R  covers 
this  ground,  as  it  may  be  either  plus  or  minus.  Mention  is  made  of 
this  because  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  made  sufficiently  prom- 
inent. 


CHAPTEE    XVIII. 

CLASSIFICATION  OF  STRUCTURAL  STEELS. 

SECTION  XVIIIa. — Influence  of  the  method  of  manufacture  on 
the  properties  of  steel. — The  first  problem  in  the  writing  of  speci- 
fications for  structural  steel  is  the  advisability  of  prescribing  the 
method  by  which  it  shall  be  manufactured.  Some  engineers,  with 
commendable  fairness,  hold  that  the  way  in  which  a  bar  or  plate  is 
made  is  a  matter  entirely  beyond  their  dominion.  Logically  this 
position  is  impregnable,  but  it  is  not  so  practically,  for  although 
there  is  no  essential  difference  in  the  results  obtained  from  open- 
hearth  and  Bessemer  steel  in  the  ordinary  testing  machine,  there 
is  good  testimony  to  show  that  the  product  of  the  converter  is  an 
inferior  metal  which  gives  way  in  a  treacherous  manner  under 
shock. 

It  is  granted  that  in  a  strict  sense  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
treachery  or  mystery,  but  these  are  convenient  terms  to  cover  an 
undiscovered  law.  The  evidence  concerning  the  unreliability  of 
Bessemer  steel  is  made  up  for  the  most  part  of  scattered  individual 
opinions,  many  of  which  have  been  made  on  insufficient  evidence, 
but  they  are  too  numerous  to  be  entirely  ignored,  and  they  are 
fortified  by  the  carefully  considered  statements  of  men  whose  words 
are  weighed,  and  who  are  absolutely  disinterested  in  their  decisions. 
Thus  A.  E.  Hunt,  whose  long  experience  as  the  chief  of  The 
Pittsburg  Testing  Laboratory  gives  much  force  to  his  opinion, 
wrote  as  follows:*  "Xumerous  cases  have  come  under  our  obser- 
vation of  angles  and  plates  which  broke  off  short  in  punching,  but 
although  makers  of  Bessemer  steel  claim  that  this  is  just  as  likely 
to  occur  in  open-hearth  metal,  we  have  as  yet  never  seen  an  instance 
of  failure  of  this  kind  in  open-hearth  steel." 

Mr.  Hunt  also  quotes  (loc.  cit.)  from  a  paper  by  Wailes  before 
the  British  Association  to  the  effect  that  "these  mysterious  failures 

*  The  Inspection  of  Materials  of  Construction  in  the  United  States.  Journal 
I-.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1890,  p.  316. 

529 


530  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

occur  in  steel  of  one  class,  viz.,  soft  steel  made  by  the  Bessemer 
process." 

There  is  also  the  testimony  of  W.  H.  White,  Director  of  Naval 
Construction,  Royal  Navy.*  "With  converter  steel  riveted  samples 
have  given  less  average  strength,  greater  variations  in  strength,  and 
much  more  irregularity  in  modes  of  fracture  than  similar  samples 
of  open-hearth  steel." 

My  own  experience  leads  me  to  think  that  Bessemer  steel  requires 
more  work  for  the  attainment  of  a  proper  structure  than  open- 
hearth  metal,  so  that  a  thick  bar  is  more  apt  to  have  a  coarse  crys- 
talline fracture.  This  may  be  ascribed  in  any  particular  case  to 
improper  heat  treatment,  but  if  it  is  true  that  open-hearth  metal 
would  not  be  injured  under  a  similar  exposure,  then  it  is  proven  that 
there  is  a  difference  between  the  metals,  and,  if  this  be  acknowl- 
edged, then  there  is  no  necessity  for  further  argument. 

It  is  true  that  Bessemer  metal  has  been  used  for  rails,  and  that 
these  are  exposed  to  great  stress  and  shock,  but  it  also  true  that 
a  large  number  of  rails  break  in  service,  and  that  the  use  of  ordinary 
rail  steel  for  bridges  was  long  ago  given  up  as  dangerous.  More- 
over, it  is  quite  probable  that  the  number  of  broken  rails  would  be 
considerably  reduced  if  they  were  made  of  open-hearth  steel. 

The  question  therefore  arises  why  rails  are  not  made  of  this  ma- 
terial, and  railroad  engineers  occasionally  come  forward  with  in- 
quiries to  that  end.  It  may  be  well  to  say  therefore  that  the  making 
of  open-hearth  rails  is  purely  a  commercial  question,"  but  it  involves 
immense  sums  of  money.  All  rails  made  to-day  in  America  are 
made  by  the  Bessemer  process,  and  each  rail-making  plant  must 
be  regarded  as  a  unit.  The  converting  department  is  one  factor  of 
this  unit,  its  capacity  and  whole  scheme  of  operation  being  de- 
signed for  the  one  purpose  of  supplying  the  blooming  mill  with 
just  the  right  quantity  of  ingots  of  just  exactly  the  right  size.  It 
may  be  that  at  a  given  rail-making  works  there  is  no  open-hearth 
furnace  plant  at  all.  In  such  a  case  if  open-hearth  rails  are  wanted 
they  can  be  made  only  by  some  such  changes  as  the  following : 

(1)  Bring  cold  blooms  from  other  works,  entailing  much  expense 
and  the  erection  of  a  mammoth  plant  of  bloom  heating  furnaces. 

(2)  Bring  cold  ingots  from  other  works,  with  the  same  necessity 
for  heating  furnace  equipment.    In  both  cases  the  extra  fuel  con- 
sumption and  waste  in  heating  would  be  very  serious  matters. 

*  Experiments  with  Basic  STCCIP.     Jcimial  1.  ann  N.  /..  >'ol.  I,  1892,  p.  35^ 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    STRUCTURAL    STEELS.  531 

(3)  The  foregoing  propositions  are  merely  temporary  on  their 
face  and  the  only  true  solution  is  an  open-hearth  plant.    This  calls 
for  a  very  large  amount  of  capital,  and  when  the  plant  gets  into 
operation  the  Bessemer  plant  will  become  a  scrap  heap  of  no  value 
whatever,  for  in  order  that  it  shall  be  of  any  value  it  must  run,  and 
in  order  that  it  may  run,  it  would  be  necessary  to  build  a  complete 
plant  of  rolling  mills  to  handle  its  product,  and  this  would  seldom 
be  desirable  even  if  it  were  feasible  at  all  in  some  cases. 

(4)  Having  written  off  the  value  of  the  Bessemer  outfit  as  a 
dead  loss,  it  is  necessary  to  guarantee  business  to  the  open-hearth 
department  in  sufficient  quantity  to  keep  it  in  steady  operation  at  a 
price  in  proportion  to  the  increased  cost.    It  is  out  of  the  question 
to  operate  the  open-hearth  plant  on  certain  orders  for  open-hearth 
rails  at  a  slightly  higher  price,  and  then  start  up  the  Bessemer 
plant  on  other  orders  and  let  the  open-hearth  lie  idle.     Such  a 
proposition  is  clearly  out  of  the  argument. 

(5)  It  may  seem  possible  to  have  a  number  of  mills  and  have 
the  open-hearth  and  Bessemer  plants  both  operating  continuously 
and  distributing  their  product  as  orders  demand.     One  or  two 
works  in  the  country  are  able  to  do  this  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  do  it  and  maintain  the  proper  coordination  of 
dependent  factors  and  keep  the  operating  costs  in  each  department 
at  a  minimum. 

We  may  conclude  therefore  that  small  lots  of  open-hearth  rails 
may  be  made,  but  their  production  on  a  large  scale  means  a  plant 
laid  out  with  that  end  in  view,  and  if  this  plant  is  not  guaranteed  a 
regular  line  of  business  extending  over  many  years  at  an  increased 
price,  it  will  be  a  losing  venture.  Such  an  innovation  is  hardly 
justified  by  the  present  knowledge  of  the  rail  business.  Within  the 
last  few  years  it  has  been  clearly  shown  that  a  great  improvement 
may  be  made  by  certain  modes  of  heat  treatment.  Much  care  is 
now  taken  to  finish  the  rails  colder  than  formerly  and  to  do  a  great 
deal  of  work  upon  them  while  they  are  at  a  moderately  low  heat. 
By  so  doing  a  much  better  grain  is  attained,  and  this  renders  pos- 
sible the  use  of  a  higher  content  of  carbon  than  was  formerly 
thought  advisable.  This  question  of  finishing  temperature  and  all 
the  associated  problems  of  wear  and  toughness  are  being  thoroughly 
threshed  'out,  and  it  may  be  well  to  await  the  results  of  experiments 
liow  under  way  before  starting  out  into  untried  fields. 

In  the  case  of  structural  shapes  there  is  no  difficulty  in  obtaining 


532  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

at  moderate  cost  all  needed  sections  in  open-hearth  steel,  and  it 
would  seem  to  be  the  safer  way  to  prescribe  that  it  shall  be  used 
in  all  structures,  like  railroad  bridges,  where  the  metal  is  under 
constant  shock,  and  where  life  and  death  are  in  the  balance. 
In  this  connection  it  should  be  stated  that  the  method  by  which  the 
steel  is  made  cannot  be  discovered  by  ordinary  chemical  analysis. 
Certain  experiments  indicate  that  there  is  a  difference  between 
Bessemer  and  open-hearth  steel  in  the  character  of  the  occluded 
gases,  but  this  system  of  analysis  is  never  resorted  to  in  practice, 
and  no  provision  is  made  for  it  in  laboratories.  Moreover,  it  is 
doubtful  if  any  expert  would  risk  his  reputation  by  asserting  posi- 
tively, from  any  such  evidence,  that  a  certain  steel  was  made  by 
either  one  or  the  other  process.  Consequently,  when  open-hearth 
metal  is  specified,  a  careful  watch  should  be  kept  in  the  steel  works 
that  there  is  no  substitution  of  the  inferior  material. 

SEC.  XVIIIb. — Chemical  specifications. — Another  point  concern- 
ing which  there  is  room  for  discussion  is  the  propriety  of  limiting 
the  chemical  composition.  Some  engineers  contend  that  as  long 
as  the  physical  tests  are  fulfilled,  the  making  of  the  metal  is  an 
entirely  foreign  matter.  This  position  is  untenable,  for  it  would 
be  possible  to  make  a  steel  with  0.25  per  cent,  of  phosphorus  which 
would  satisfy  the  ordinary  tests  of  strength  and  ductility,  and 
although  such  a  content  could  usually  be  detected  in  the  shops,  a 
considerable  proportion  of  the  bars  might  be  able  to  pass  muster. 

It  is  impossible  to  fix  a  limit  of  phosphorus  below  which  there  is 
no  danger  of  treacherous  breakage,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that,  as 
the  content  is  reduced,  the  danger  of  such  disaster  disappears.  On 
this  account  it  becomes  not  only  the  province  but  the  duty  of  the 
engineer  to  specify  the  chemical  composition  of  the  metal  that  he 
buys. 

In  the  construction  of  ordinary  roof-trusses  and  similar  work 
there  is  no  necessity  for  stringency,  and  Bessemer  steel  with  a 
maximum  content  of  .10  per  cent,  of  phosphorus  may  be  allowed; 
but  in  railroad  bridges^  traveling  cranes,  and  other  structures  where 
the  steel  is  exposed  to  moving  loads  and  continued  shock,  and  where 
the  consequence  of  failure  may  not  be  measured  in  money,  the  speci- 
fications should  require  the  use  of  open-hearth  steel  with  a  maximum 
phosphorus  of  .06  per  cent.  The  common  limit  at  the  present  day 
is  .08  per  cent.,  but  the  time  has  come  for  another  step  in  advance, 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    STRUCTUEAL    STEELS.  533 

since  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  the  purer  metal  has  been  reduced 
to  an  unimportant  figure. 

In  addition  to  thus  limiting  the  chemical  content  of  phos- 
phorus, it  is  necessary  to  specify  the  manner  in  which  the  sample 
shall  be  taken  for  analysis.  There  are  four  methods  of  doing  this 
of  which  only  one  is  correct,  and  this  correct  one  is  seldom  or 
never  used.  Taking  for  illustration  a  rolled  billet  of  steel  three 
inches  square,  its  cross-section  may  be  mentally  divided  into  nine 
equal  squares,  each  having  an  area  of  one  square  inch.  Eight  of 
these  squares  are  next  to  the  surface,  while  only  one  is  in  the 
interior.  This  central  square  will  include  almost  all  the  segregated 
portion  of  the  mass. 

Ordinarily  a  sample  of  such  a  billet  would  be  taken  by  drilling 
to  a  depth  of  half  an  inch,  but  it  is  evident  that  this  does  not 
take  cognizance  of  the  interior  core,  and  that  the  chemical  deter- 
minations on  the  drillings  will  show  too  low  a  content  of  certain 
segregrating  metalloids. 

Another  method  is  to  drill  all  the  way  to  the  center,  and  to 
cake  all  the  drillings  that  are  made.  Two-thirds  of  these  drillings 
will  come  from  the  outside  square  and  one-third  from  the  inside, 
or  a  ratio  of  two  from  the  outside  and  one  from  the  interior,  while 
the  true  ratio  is  eight  to  one;  hence  the  content  of  segregating 
metalloids  found  by  this  method  is  higher  than  the  true  average. 

A  third  method  which  is  sometimes  used,  although  manifestly 
inaccurate,  is  to  take  only  those  drillings  that  come  from  the  central 
portion,  but  this  will  give  a  very  much  higher  content  of  certain 
elements  than  will  be  found  throughout  the  bar. 

The  fourth  way  is  to  plane  the  entire  surface  and  thus  get  a 
true  average,  but,  as  before  stated,  this  practice  is  seldom  carried 
out. 

In  the  case  of  angles,  a  very  fair  sample  can  be  obtained  by 
drilling  into  the  bar  as  far  as  the  center,  the  results  so  obtained 
being  only  slightly  higher  than  the  true  values.  In  plates  it  is  much 
more  difficult  to  take  a  fair  sample,  since  the  segregated  portion  is 
in  the  body  of  the  sheet,  and  it  is  usually  impracticable  to  drill  a 
hole  without  injuring  the  strength  of  the  member. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  great  injustice  may  be  done  by  insist- 
ing on  unusual  methods  of  sampling.  It  would  be  perfectly  right 
to  state  in  the  contract  that  drillings  were  to  be  taken  from  the 
center  of  the  plate,  but  it  is  not  right  to  take  them  in  this  way 


534  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

in  the  absence  of  a  previous  understanding.  On  the  other  hand, 
-the  engineer  has  an  indisputable  right  to  investigate  the  homo- 
geneity of  any  plate,  and  to  reject  those  members  that  show  exces- 
-sive  segregation. 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  take  some  account  of  these  variations, 
and  in  the  following  specification  it  is  provided  that  when  drillings 
:are  taken  from  the  center  of  plates,  the  allowable  maximum  of  phos- 
phorus and  sulphur  shall  be  raised  25  per  cent. ;  e.  g.,  from  .04  to 
.05  per  cent.,  or  .08  to  .10  per  cent. 

The  engineer  who  has  been  calling  for  steel  containing  less  than 
..08  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  may  deem  it  a  step  backward  to  allow 
the  center  of  plates  to  contain  .10  per  cent.,  but  it  is  necessary  to 
•consider  that  the  new  provision  is  merely  a  formal  recognition  of  a 
fact,  and  that  the  higher  phosphorus  has  always  existed  in  the 
•center  of  plates,  particularly  if  they  have  been  rolled  directly  from 
ordinary  plate  ingots  which  have  not  undergone  a  preliminary 
"roughing"  and  "cropping."  It  is  also  well  to  consider  that  less 
careful  engineers,  who  have  specified  a  maximum  of  .10  per  cent, 
of  phosphorus,  have  received  many  a  plate  that  contained  .12  per 
cent.,  and  even  .15  per  cent.,  of  this  impurity.  The  fact  of  non- 
homogeneity  in  plates  is  a  strong  argument  in  favor  of  the  further 
lowering  of  the  allowable  maximum,  for,  when  all  other  conditions 
are  the  same,  each  decrease  in  the  average  content  diminishes  the 
increment  due  to  segregation. 

Usually  it  is  specified  that  basic  metal  shall  show  a  still  lower 
phosphorus.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  proof  that  basic  open- 
hearth  steel  of  a  given  composition  is  more  unreliable  than  acid 
metal  of  the  same  character,  but  in  order  to  meet  any  possible 
danger,  and  because  the  cost  of  a  little  extra  purification  is  not 
excessive,  it  is  not  amiss  to  require  that  the  best  basic  steel  shall  not 
show  over  .04  per  cent,  of  phosphorus. 

The  other  elements  need  not  be  rigidly  limited,  for  many  com- 
binations are  possible,  and  some  discretion  should  be  left  to  the 
maker  in  the  attainment  of  definite  results.  It  is  not  uncommon 
for  engineers  of  limited  knowledge  to  write  specifications  that  give 
an  upper  limit  for  every  element,  and  require  a  tensile  strength 
which  cannot  be  obtained  by  the  formula.  The  carbon  should 
always  be  left  open,  so  that  if  the  maker  wishes  to  reduce  the 
phosphorus  he  may  use  carbon  to  get  strength. 

Manganese  may  be  limited  to  .60  per  cent,  on  the  steels  under 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRUCTURAL   STEELS.  535 

64,000  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  to  .80  per  cent,  on  harder  metal. 
This  will  ensure  a  safe  material,  and  will  not  be  a  burden  on  the 
manufacturer.  Silicon  is  of  little  importance,  but  the  maximum 
/nay  be  placed  at  .04  per  cent,  for  soft  steel,  this  proportion  being 
seldom,  if  ever,  exceeded. 

Sulphur,  in  most  cases,  concerns  the  manufacturer  more  than 
the  engineer,  for  if  it  is  too  high  the  bar  will  crack  in  rolling 
and  be  imperfect,  while  it  seems  to  have"  no  marked  effect  on  the 
ductility  of  the  finished  piece.  In  material  for  eye-bars,  however, 
there  is  danger  that  high  sulphur  may  cause  coarse  crystallization 
during  the  heating  necessary  to  form  the  eye. 

Copper  may  be  entirely  neglected,  for  no  ill  effect  upon  the  cold 
properties  of  low  steel  has  ever  been  traced  to  its  action,  while 
thousands  of  tons  of  excellent  metal  have  been  made  with  a  content 
of  .75  per  cent. 

Eivet  steel,  like  eye-bar  flats,  stands  on  an  entirely  different 
footing  from  other  structural  metal,  for  this  must  be  heated  and 
worked  after  leaving  the  place  of  manufacture.  Only  the  very  best 
of  material  should  be  used,  and  it  should  be  so  soft  that  it  will  not 
be  injured  by  cold  working  or  crystallized  by  overheating.  The 
phosphorus  should  not  be  over  .04  per  cent.,  the  sulphur  not  over 
.05  per  cent.,  and  the  tensile  strength  not  over  56,000  pounds  per 
square  inch.  These  limits  should  be  insisted  upon  whether  acid  or 
basic  open-hearth  metal  be  used. 

SEC.  XVIIIc. — Use  of  soft  steel  in  structural  work. — It  is  not  the 
intention  of  this  chapter  to  arbitrarily  state  just  what  should  or 
should  not  be  given  as  the  best  tensile  strength  for  every  purpose, 
but  it  is  my  opinion  that  a  softer  metal  should  be  used  for  bridges 
than  is  often  employed,  because,  although  a  slight  sacrifice  is  made 
in  the  ultimate  strength,  there  is  a  gain  in  the  working  strength  due 
to  the  higher  elastic  ratio,  and  a  decided  increase  in  toughness 
and  resistance  to  shock,  so  that  the  calculations  may  be  made  on  the 
same  basis  for  the  working  load  as  with  a  harder  metal. 

The  fact  that  the  elastic  ratio  rises  as  the  ultimate  strength 
decreases  is  not  generally  recognized,  but  will  be  shown  in  Table 
XVIII-A.  This  is  constructed  by  comparing  the  groups  of  angles 
in  Table  XIV-H,  which  are  made  by  the  same  process,  and  are  of 
the  same  thickness,  and  which  contain  the  same  percentage  of 
phosphorus.  It  will  be  found  that  in  every  case  the  stronger  steel 
gives  a  lower  elastic  ratio. 


536 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


TABLE  XVIII-A. 

Else  in  Elastic  Eatio  with  Decrease  in  Ultimate  Strength.  Com- 
parison of  'the  Angles  Given  in  Table  XI V-H  which  are  Made 
by  the  Same  Process,  of  the  Same  Thickness,  and  with  the 
Same  Content  of  Phosphorus. 


Kind  of  steel. 

Content  of  phos- 
phorus; percent. 

Thickness  of  angle, 
in  inches. 

Harder  steels. 

Softer  steels. 

Rise  in  elastic  ratio 
in  softer  steels; 
percent. 

2    S-g 
%*A£ 
H&Sg 

~flC!c3 

™ 

>«P,OQ 
<1 

Average  elastic 
limit;  pounds 
per  square 
inch. 

Average  elastic 
ratio;  per 
cent. 

Av.  ultimate 
strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

o  vi 

lit 

*ft§ 

Iff, 

*-!     fl     **     O 

g.S2fl 

$-°~ 

Average  elastic 
ratio;  per 
cent. 

Basic  O.  H. 

below  .04 

&  to  | 

<*  1°  t 
A  to  | 

ii  to  I 

58865 
58538 
59235 
59125 

39692 
37827 
37487 
36035 

67.43 
64.62 
63.28 
60.95 

52533 
53171 
51903 
51923 

36284 
34891 
84026 
32356 

69.07 
65.62 
65.56 
62.31 

1.64 
1.00 
2.28 
1.36 

Acid  O.  H. 

.05  to  .07 

SSI 

65656 
65631 

43713 
42191 

66.58 
64.28 

60845 
60695 

40891 
39415 

67.21 
64.94 

0.63 
0.66 

Acid  0.  H. 

.07  to  .10 

tlol 

66365 

65777 

44486 
42817 

67.03 
65.09 

60061 
605S3 

41143 
40170 

68.50 
66.30 

1.47 
1.21 

Acid  Bess, 

.07  to  .10 

tlol 

66277 
65940 

46422 

45280 

70.04 
68.66 

60659 
59882 

43417 
42518 

71.58 
7100 

1.54 
2.34 

The  tendency  in  the  first  epoch  of  steel  structures  was  toward 
a  hard  alloy,  but  later  practice  has  been  a  continual  progress 
toward  toughness.  There  was  a  halt  in  this  movement  at  a  tensile 
strength  of  60,000  pounds,  not  entirely  on  account ,  of  any  magic 
virtue  in  the  figure,  but  because  the  ordinary  mild  steels  gave  that 
result,  and  a  much  higher  price  was  charged  for  a  softer  metal.  The 
conditions  to-day  are  somewhat  different,  for  the  reduced  cost  of 
low-phosphorus  pig-iron,  and  the  introduction  of  the  basic  hearth, 
have  altered  the  economic  situation.  A  steel  with  a  tensile  strength 
of  50,000  to  58,000  pounds  per  square  inch  is  a  most  attractive 
material,  possessing  all  the  good  characteristics  of  wr ought-iron 
with  greater  strength  and  toughness. 

With  this  recommendation  for  the  adoption  of  softer  metal,  cer- 
tain classes  are  proposed  from  which  the  engineer  can  choose.  In 
some  cases  the  option  is  given  between  acid  and  basic  open-hearth 
steel,  but  it  must  not  'be  forgotten  that  it  costs  more  to  make  low- 
phosphorus  metal  by  the  acid  than  by  the  basic  process,  so  that  the 
terms  of  the  specification  should  be  enforced  after  the  contract  is 
awarded,  out  of  justice  to  the  other  bidders  who  have  based  their 
calculations  on  the  letter  of  the  law.  In  steel  above  .08  per  cent. 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    STKUCTURAL   STEELS.  537 

of  phosphorus,  this  difference  in  cost  disappears  and  there  is  no 
economy  in  the  use  of  the  basic  hearth. 

The  option  is  sometimes  given  between  open-hearth  and  Bessemer 
metal,  but  it  will  be  understood  that  whenever  the  former  is  specified 
the  latter  is  not  admissible,  although  as  a  matter  of  course  the 
manufacturer  may  supply  open-hearth  in  place  of  Bessemer,  if  for 
any  reason  he  wishes  to  use  the  better  and  more  expensive  material. 

SEC.  XVIIId. — Tests  on  plates. — In  the  specifications  for  plates 
it  will  be  noticed  that  a  variation  of  10,000  pounds  per  square  inch 
is  allowed,  and  that  concessions  are  made  for  thick  and  wide  sections. 
All  this  may  seem  to  some  engineers  to  be  a  step  backward,  but 
in  reality  these  provisions  have  been  in  force  for  many  years.  The 
engineer  who  writes  a  new  specification  calling  for  a  better  elonga- 
tion, never  knows  that  he  receives  exactly  the  same  steel  that  has 
been  made  before.  The  plate  rollers  have  been  driven  to  expedients 
which  are -not  dishonest,  but  which  are  dangerously  near  the  line 
of  deception.  Thus,  if  it  is  required  that  a  test  must  be  cut  from 
one  plate  out  of  every  ten,  the  manufacturer  will  leave  a  coupon  on 
every  plate  and  test  strips  are  cut  from  immediately  next  to  them ; 
after  finding  which  plates  fill  the  requirements,  the  coupons  are  cut 
from  the  others  and  the  inspector  is  told  that  the  pile  is  ready 
for  him. 

If  every  plate  is  to  be  tested,  then  a  coupon  is  left  upon  each 
corner  and  a  contiguous  strip  is  privately  tested  by  the  maker. 
After  finding  which  corner  gives  the  best  results,  the  other  coupons 
are  cut  off  and  the  plate  submitted  to  the  inspector.  This  is  not 
dishonest,  for  any  one  corner  represents  the  plate  just  as  much 
as  any  other  corner,  and  it  would  manifestly  be  absurd  to  designate 
from  which  corner  the  test  is  to  be  taken. 

It  is  also  quite  certain  that  no  one  corner  represents  the  center 
of  the  plate,  for  the  edges  are  always  finished  colder  than  the 
center,  and  it  is  just  as  certain  that  in  a  plate  rolled  direct  from  an 
ingot  with  only  the  usual  amount  of  scrap,  the  corners  in  no  way 
represent  the  part  of  the  plate  which  corresponds  to  the  segregated 
portion  of  the  ingot. 

It  is  by  care  in  the  preliminary  testing  rather  than  by  improve- 
ment in  the  quality  of  material  that  advances  have  been  made,  and 
it  is  time  that  the  fact  be  made  known  to  engineers.  The  mill 
managers  have  been  aided  by  the  inspectors  for  most  of  these  men 
(to  their  credit  be  it  said)  are  anxious  to  pass  material  which  they 


538  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

know  to  be  good.  They  allow  the  manufacturer  to  put  part  of  a 
heat  into  thick  plates  and  part  into  thin,  and  make  the  tests  OD 
three-eighths  or  one-half  inch  gauge ;  they  pass  over  the  sheets  that 
are  100  inches  wide,  and  cut  the  coupons  from  plates  that  are  less 
than  70  inches.  These  concessions  have  been  tacitly  made  in  the 
past;  I  have  merely  put  them  into  print. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  have  called  for  higher  tests  on  plates  under 
42  inches  wide.  This  is  because  they  can  be  made  on  a  universal 
mill,  and  since  better  results  can  be  had  in  this  way,  it  is  right 
to  demand  what  there  is  a  perfectly  simple  way  of  obtaining. 

It  will  be  seen  that  no  allowance  is  made  for  a  variation  in 
tensile  strength  for  different  shapes,  while  concessions  are  made 
for  differences  in  thickness.  This  inconsistency  arises  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  generally  known  beforehand  whether  a  certain  heat 
of  steel  is  to  be  rolled  into  angles,  or  plates,  or  eye-bars,  and  it  is 
seldom  that  it  is  necessary  to  put  part  of  a  heat  into  one  shape  and 
part  into  another.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  almost  always  necessary 
to  roll  a  charge  into  more  than  one  thickness  and  more  than  one  size 
of  angles,  plates,  etc.,  and  it  is  evidently  an  onerous  restriction  if 
proper  allowance  be  not  made  for  the  normal  variations  due  to 
different  thickness. 

SEC.  XVIIIe. — Standard  size  of  test-pieces. — In  all  the  tensile 
tests  a  length  of  eight  inches  is  taken  as  the  standard  for  all  sections, 
allowance  being  made  for  variations  in  shape  and  size.  For  several 
years  there  have  been  conferences  held  in  foreign  lands  to  establish 
uniform  methods  of  testing,  and  it  has  been  officially  recommended 
that  in  the  case  of  rounds  the  length  of  the  test-piece  shall  be  pro- 
portional to  the  square  root  of  the  sectional  area,  the  formula  being 
given  as  follows :  /  ==  12.0V  /  when  I  =  the  length  in  inches  and 
f  =  the  sectional  area  in  square  inches.  In  Table  XVIII-B  I  have 
calculated  from  this  formula  the  proper  length  for  rounds  from 
one-half  inch  to  114  inches  in  diameter.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
length  is  greatly  reduced  as  the  diameter  grows  less,  and  this,  of 
course,  is  equivalent  to  demanding  less  elongation,  while  on  larger 
sizes  the  length  is  increased,  this  being  the  same  thing  as  demand- 
ing more  elongation. 

It  is  rather  difficult  to  compare  this  system,  in  which  the  elonga- 
tion is  constant  and  the  length  varies,  with  the  system  wherein  the 
length  is  constant  and  the  required  elongation  varies ;  but  an  attempt 
is  made  to  do  this  by  obtaining  the  proportional  elongation  for  the 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   STRUCTURAL   STEELS. 


539 


different  lengths  from  Curve  AA  in  Figure  XVI-A.  The  results 
are  given  in  the  last  column  of  the  table,  and  it  will  be  found  that 
the  allowances  for  changes  in  sectional  area,  given  in  the  following 
pages,  are  in  line  with  the  formula  just  mentioned.  A  long  time  has 
been  spent  in  arriving  at  the  general  adoption  of  an  international 
standard  length  of  eight  inches,  and  it  would  be  very  unfortunate 
if  a  complicated  substitute  were  introduced.  Such  a  change,  how- 
ever, is  very  unlikely  from  present  indications. 

TABLE  XVIII-B. 

•  Calculation  of  12.0  V  /  f°r  Different  Diameters,  together  with 
the  Proportional  Elongation  for  the  Given  Lengths  as  Deter- 
mined by  Curve  AA  in  Figure  XVI-A. 


.1963 
.3067 
.4417 
.6018 
.7854 
.9940 
1.2271 


.443 

.554 
.665 
.775 

.886 

.997 

1.108 


?r  K 


5.32 
6.65 
7.98 
9.30 
10.63 
11.96 
13.30 


33.2 
81.5 
80.2 
29.8 

28.7 
27.8 
27.1 


It  is  understood  in  these  specifications,  as  well  as  throughout 
this  book,  that  the  elastic  limit  is  determined  by  the  drop  of  the 
beam,  for  this  is  the  universal  method  in  American  steel  works 
and  rolling  mills.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  that  group  of  agitators 
who  are  trying  to  introduce  new  meanings  to  old  terms,  and  to 
apply  old  terms  to  new  factors.  It  matters  not  whether  the  drop  of 
the  beam  does  or  does  not  mark  the  spot  where  the  elongation 
ceases  to  be  exactly  proportionate  to  the  load.  It  is  certain  that 
it  represents  a  critical  point  of  failure,  and  this  is  acknowledged 
by  the  agitators  before  mentioned,  who  recommend  its  determina- 
tion on  all  tensile  test-pieces. 

Moreover,  it  is  shown  in  Section  XVIm  that  this  is  a  definite 
point  which  can  be  determined  more  accurately  than  the  reduction 
of  area,  and  nearly  as  accurately  as  the  elongation.  If  a  new  point 
is  desired,  such  as  is  shown  by  an  autographic  device,  then  this 


540  METALLURGY    OF    IRON   AND   STEEL. 

new  point  should  be  given  a  new  name.  The  term  "elastic  limit" 
has  been  preempted  by  general  use.,  as  part  of  a  system  of  trade 
nomenclature,  to  designate  the  point  where  the  beam  drops. 

Upon  this  determination  all  specifications  and  contracts  are  based, 
and  any  attempt  to  ascertain  the  elastic  limit  in  any  other  way 
is  a  change  in  the  contract  requirements  which  would  not  be  sus- 
tained in  a  court  of  equity.  All  calculations  upon  factors  of  safety 
in  existing  bridges  are  based  upon  this  "drop  of  the  beam,"  and 
there  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  why  one  arbitrary  point  should 
be  substituted  for  another  and  no  reason  why  future  work  should 
not  be  carried  on  under  the  present  established  and  well-understood 
system. 

SEC.  XVIIIf. — The  quench-test. — In  these  specifications  there  is 
nothing  said  about  a  quench-test,  for  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  it  is 
an  absurdity  when  applied  to  ordinary  structural  material.  It  was 
defended  by  Mr.  Hunt*  on  the  ground  that  it  would  guard  against 
material  that  would  be  injured  by  careless  heating  and  cooling  in 
the  mill  or  shops,  but  this  suggests  the  query  why  such  carelessness 
should  be  tolerated.  It  is  assumed  that  the  work  is  done  by  mills 
and  shops  that  understand  their  business,  and  the  steel  should  be 
made  to  fit  the  work  in  hand  and  not  the  ignorance  of  middle- 
men. 

It  is  right  to  make  the  most  severe  tests  on  the  cold  properties, 
for  the  derailment  of  a  train  will  subject  certain  members-  to 
great  deformation;  such  an  accident  is  always  a  possibility  which 
human  foresight  seems  powerless  to  avoid,  but  the  carelessness 
in  the  shop  stands  on  a  different  footing,  for  it  is  caused  by  posi- 
tive and  unnecessary  acts  in  error. 

Moreover,  the  quench-test  depends  very  much  upon  slight  differ- 
ences in  the  methods  of  heating  and  cooling,  differences  which  are 
almost  imperceptible  and  unexplainable,  and  the  same  steel  may  be 
made  to  pass  or  fail  under  modes  of  treatment  which  seem  to  be 
inherently  identical.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  no  warrant 
exists  for  the  imposition  of  this  test  upon  the  material  for  a  rail- 
road bridge,  which  is  not  calculated  to  withstand  a  conflagration 
followed  by  a  flood.  This  position  is  being  taken  by  a  very  large 
number  of  engineers,  and  a  quench-test  is  rapidly  becoming  a  thing 
of  the  past. 

*  The  Inspection  of  Materials  of  Construction  in  the  United  States.  Journal 
I.  and  8.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1890,  p.  312. 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   STRUCTURAL   STEELS. 


541 


SEC.  XVIIIg. — Classes  of  Steel  Proposed. — In  the  former  edition 
of  this  work  I  included  several  general  provisions  concerning 
methods  of  testing.  They  are  omitted  here,  not  because  of  any 
change  of  views,  but  because  they  appear  in  the  American  Standard 
Specifications.  I  may  retain  my  own  views  regarding  some  minor 
points  of  special  metallurgy,,  but  there  should  be  agreement  by 
vote  on  the  method  of  testing  materials.  I  also  recommended 
several  classes  of  steel  for  different  purposes,  and  gave  the  speci- 
fications which  they  should  be  called  upon  to  meet.  I  have  seen  no 
reason  to  change  any  views  or  any  figures  in  the  tables,  save  that  I 
have  specified  that  manganese  in  rivet  steels  shall  not  fall  below  a 
certain  minimum. 

I  do  not  offer  these  specifications  for  general  adoption  and  never 
considered  that  they  would  be  adopted.  The  specifications  drawn 
up  by  the  American  Society  for  Testing  Materials  will  be  given 
later,  and  these  are  already  the  recognized  standard  and  should 
be  used,  but  I  offer  these  tables  as  detailed  data  representing  what 
changes  take  place  in  the  physical  qualities  as  the  chemical  composi- 
tion changes  and  as  the  thickness  or  shape  of  the  rolled  member 
varies.  These  pages  have  been  of  use  to  engineers  and  authors 
in  the  past  in  obtaining  such  information.  They  do  not  represent 
random  guesses,  but  the  condensation  of  many  experiments  and 
much  work,  albeit  they  are  too  complicated  for  the  demands  of 
those  who  wish  to  read  as  they  run. 

CLASS  I. 

Extra  Dead  Soft;  for  Common  Eivets,  Wire  Cables,  and  other 
Purposes  where  Exceptional  Toughness  is  Required. 

Method  of  manufacture. — Basic  open-hearth  process. 

Chemical  composition,  in  per  cent. — P  below  .04  ;  S  below  .06 ;  Si  below  .04  ;  Mn 

.35  to  .50. 
Physical  requirements  as  follows  : 


Shape. 

Diameter 
in  inches. 

. 
Ultimate  strength  ; 
pounds  per  square  inch. 

Elastic 
ratio. 

Elonga- 
tion in  8 
inches; 
percent. 

Reduc- 
tion of 
area; 
per  cent. 

Minimum. 

Maximum. 

Hi  vet  rods, 

« 
« 

1 

1/8 
% 

46000 
46000 
45000 
45000 
44000 
44000 

55000 
54000 
54000 
54000 
54000 
54000 

C4.0 
C3.0 
61.5 
60.0 
58.5 
57.0 

28.0 
29.0 
29.25 
29.50 
2975 
30.00 

52 
58 
56 
54 
52 
50 

A   rolled  round   about   three-quarters   inch  in   diameter,   after 
being  nicked  about-  one-quarter  way  through,  shall  bend  completely 


,542 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


double  without  fracture,  with  the  nick  on  the  outer  curve  of  the 
bend. 

Heats  rolled  into  bars  less  than  five-eighths  inch  in  diameter 
may  be  tested  in  trial  rods  of  three-quarters  inch. 

If  any  bar  fails  to  pass  the  physical  tests,  four  more  pieces  shall 
be  taken  from  the  same  heat,  and  the  average  of  all  five  bars  shall 
be  considered  the  true  record. 

Rivets,  when  cut  out  of  the  work  into  which  they  have  been  put, 
shall  show  a  tough  silky  structure,  with  no  crystalline  appearance. 

CLASS  II. 
Bridge  Rivets;  for  Rivets  in  Railroad  Bridges. 

Method  of  manufacture. — Acid  or  basic  open-hearth  process. 

Chemical  composition,  in  per  cent. — P  below  .04  in  acid  steel ;  below  .03  in  basic ; 

S  below  .05  ;  Si  below  .04  ;  Mn  .35  to  .50. 
Physical  requirements  as  follows  : 


Shape. 

Diameter 
in  inches. 

Ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per  square  inch. 

Elastic 
ratio. 

Elongation  in  8  inches  ; 
per  cent. 

<$  O  f-> 

S23 

alS. 
fill 

>TS  a  o 
<1 

Minimum. 

Maximum. 

Average. 

Minimum. 

Rivet  rods, 
if 

« 
u 
ii 

?° 
i 

48000 
48000 
47000 
47000 
46000 
46000 

57000 
56000 
56000 
56000 
56000 
56000 

66.0 
65.0 
63.5 
62.0 
60.5 
59.0 

29.0 
80.0 
80.5 
81.0 
81.0 
31.0 

27.0 
28.0 
28.5 
29.0 
29.0 
29.0 

60 
60 
58 
56 
54 
52 

Two  tons  of  bars  from  the  same  heat  shall  constitute  a  lot,  and 
two  specimens,  each  from  a  different  bar,  shall  be  tested  from 
each  lot.  The  above  table  gives  the  average  required  of  these  two- 
bars,  and  the  minimum  below  which  no  bar  shall  fall.  If  the 
average  elongation  or  reduction  of  area  on  any  one  lot  shall  fall 
below  the  requirement,  two  additional  bars  shall  be  cut  from  the 
same  lot,  and  the  average  of  the  four  pieces  shall  be  considered  the 
average  of  the  lot,  provided  that  no  concession  be  made  in  the 
minimum.  Heats  rolled  into  sizes  less  than  five-eighths  inch  may 
be  tested  in  trial  rods  of  three-quarters  inch. 

A  rolled  round  about  three-quarters  inch  in  diameter,  after 
being  nicked  one-quarter  way  through,  shall  bend  completely  double 
without  fracture,  with  the  nick  on  the  outer  curve  of  the  bend.  A 
piece  of  three-quarter-inch  rod  cut  one-half  inch  long  shall  be  upset 
while  cold  into  a  disc  one-eighth  inch  thick,  without  developing 
extensive  flaws  or  showing  signs  of  cold  shortness. 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    STRUCTURAL    STEELS. 


543 


Rivets,  when  cut  out  of  the  work  into  which  they  have  been  put, 
shall  show  a  tough  silky  structure,  with  no  crystalline  appearance. 

CLASS  III. 

Hard  Bridge  Rivets;  a  Substitute  for  Class  II,  Giving  Greater 
Strength  with  Less  Toughness. 

Method  of  manufacture. — Acid  or  basic  open-hearth  process. 

Chemical  composition,  in  per  cent. — P  below  .04  in  acid  steel ;  below  .03  in  basic ; 

S.  below  .05  ;  Si  below  .04  ;  Mn  .35  to  .60. 
Physical  requirements  as  follows  : 


Shape. 

Diameter 
in  inches. 

Ultimate  strength  ; 
pounds  per  square  inch. 

•So 

11 

K 

.Elongation  in  8  inches; 
per  cent. 

<5>  O  * 
JJJ& 

5§*fa 

®  3  t-,  § 
>"d  a  o 
* 

Minimum. 

Maximum. 

Average. 

Minimum. 

Rivet  rods. 

« 
« 

6/ 

si 

54000 
64000 
53000 
53000 
52000 
52000 

63000 
09000 

62000 
62000 
62000 
62000 

61.0 
60.0 
58.5 
57.0 
55.5 
54.0 

28.0 
29.0 
29.5 
30.0 
30.0 
30.0 

26.0 
27.5 
27.5 

28.0 
28.0 
28.0 

55 
55 
53 

El 
49 

47 

Two  tons  of  bars  from  the  same  heat  shall  constitute  a  lot,  and 
two  specimens,  each  from  a  different  bar,  shall  be  tested  from  each 
lot.  The  above  table  gives  the  average  required  of  these  two  bars, 
and  the  minimum  below  which  no  bar  shall  fall.  If  the  average 
elongation  or  reduction  of  area  on  any  one  lot  shall  fall  below 
the  requirement,  two  additional  bars  shall  be  cut  from  the  same 
lot,  and  the  average  of  the  four  pieces  shall  be  considered  the  aver- 

CLASS  IV. 

Common  Hard  Rivets;  for  Roof  Trusses  and  othe*  Structures  not 
Exposed  to  Shock. 

Method  of  manufacture. — Acid  or  basic  open-hearth  process. 

Chemical  composition,  in  per  cent. — P  below  .06  in  acid  steel;  below  .04  in  basic; 

S.  below  .05  ;  Si  below  .04  ;  Mn.  .35  to  .60. 
Physical  requirements  as  follows  : 


Shape. 

Diameter 
in  inches. 

Ultimate  strength  ; 
pounds  per  square  inch. 

Elastic 
ratio. 

Elonga- 
tion in  8 
inches; 
per  cent. 

Reduc- 
tion of 
area;  per 
cent. 

Minimum. 

Maximum. 

Rivet  rods, 
« 

fa 

64000 
54000 
53000 
53000 
52000 
52000 

63000 
62000 
62000 
62000 
62000 
62000 

61.0 
60.0 
58.5 
57.0 
55.5 
54.0 

27.0 
28.0 
28.5 
29.0 
29.0 
29.0 

55 
55 
53 
51 
40 
47 

544 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 


age  of  the  lot,  provided  that  no  concession  be  made  in  the  minimum. 
Heats  rolled  into  sizes  less  than  five-eighths  inch  may  be  tested  in 
trial  rods  of  three-quarters  inch. 

Rivets,  when  cut  out  of  the  work  into  which  they  have  been  put, 
shall  show  a  tough  silky  structure,  with  no  crystalline  appearance. 


CLASS  V. 

Soft  Bridge  Steel ;  for  Angles,  Plates,  Bars,  etc.,  for  Bridges, 
Cranes,  and  Similar  Structures  Exposed  to  Shock. 

Method  of  manufacture.— Acid  or  basic  open-hearth  process. 

Chemical  composition,  in  per  cent.— P  below  .06  in  acid  steel,  below  .04  in  basic;  S 
below  .07  in  plates  and  angles,  below  .06  in  eye-bars;  Si  below  .04;  Mn  below  .50. 
Physical  requirements  as  follows: 


8 

Ult.  str.; 

Ibs.  per 

-t> 

oT 

§ 

sq.  inch. 

00  g 

03 

"a 

.2 

£n 

CD 

8 

a 

a 

g 

35 

Sj 

Remarks. 

QJ 

^ 

S 

g 

a 

JM 

1 

a 

.2 

*a 

§C,d 

"o  o 

§* 

_o 

"2 

H 

1 

O  § 

•3  «> 

A 

H 

S 

1 

S"  (S* 

. 

^/ 

50000 

58000 

63.0 

29.0 

55 

o> 

i| 

50000 

58000 

61.5 

29.0 

53 

One  piece  of  24-inch  angle  must  open  out 

"Sb 

% 

49000 

58000    60.0 

290 

51 

flat  and  another  close  shut  without   sign  of 

A 

3/ 

49000 

58000    58.5 

29.0 

49 

fracture. 

^ 

% 

48000 

58000 

57.0 

29.0 

47 

On  plates  under  42  inches  wide  the  required 

elongation  shall  be  raised  1.5  per  cent,  and  the 

reduction  of  area  2.0  per  cent.    On  plates  over 

70  inches  wide  the  elongation  shall  be  lowered 

1.5  per  cent,  and  the  reduction  of  area  2.0  per 

6 

53000 

63000 

65.0 

23.0 

44 

cent.    On  tests  cut  crosswise  from  the  sheet, 

00 

|^ 

51000 

61000 

63.0 

26.0 

50 

the  minimum  tensile  strength  shall  be  low- 

1 

i 

50000 
49000 

60000 
59000 

62.0 
60.0 

26.0 
25.0 

50 

48 

ered  3000  pounds,  the  elongation  3  per  cent., 
and  the  reduction  of  area  10  per  cent.     On 

A* 

i  4 

48000 

58000 

58.0 

24.0 

46 

universal-mill  plates  the  allowance  for  trans- 

i^ 

47000 

58000 
«     t 

56.0 

23.0 

44 

verse  tests  shall  be  5000  pounds,  5  per  cent,  and 
15  percent.     Both  longitudinal  and  transverse 
strips  cut  from  plates  shall  bend  double  flat. 
When  every  plate  in  the  heat  is  tested,  the 

minimum  elongation  and  reduction  shall  be 

\ 

lowered  5  per  cent. 

„ 

S4 

50000 

58000 

57.0 

1 

i 

50000 
49000 
49000 
48000 

58000 
58000 
58000 
58000 

56.0 
54.0 
53.0 
52.0 

The  elongation  in  full  length  shall  be  15  per 
cent,  in  bars  from  10  to  20  feet  long,  14  per  cent, 
in  21  to  25  feet,  13.5  per  cent,  in  26  to  30  feet,  and 
13  per  cent,  in  31  to  35  feet. 

::; 

SHAPES.— In  channels,  beams,  etc.,  the  requirements  on  tests  cut  from  the  web 
shall  be  the  same  as  for  plates  between  42  and  70  inches  wide,  with  the  same 
allowance  for  difference  in  thickness.  In  tests  cut  from  the  flange  the  minimum 
tensile  strength  shall  be  lowered  3000  pounds,  the  elongation  3  per  cent.,  and  the 
reduction  of  area  10  per  cent.. 

Four  tests  shall  be  taken  from  each  heat,  and  the  average  of 
these  four  shall  conform  to  the  above  table.  If  the  average  elonga- 
tion or  reduction  of  area  of  any  heat  shall  fall  below  the  require- 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRUCTURAL   STEELS. 


545 


ment,  four  additional  bars  may  be  cut  from  the  same  heat,  and 
the  average  of  the  eight  pieces  shall  be  considered  the  average  of  the 
heat.  Heats  rolled  into  sizes  less  than  five-eighths  inch  may  be 
tested  in  trial  rods  of  three-quarters  inch. 

Rivets,  when  cut  out  of  the  work  into  which  they  have  been  put, 
shall  show  a  tough  silky  structure,  with  no  crystalline  Appearance. 


CLASS  VI. 

Medium  Bridge   Steel;  a   Substitute  for  Class  V  when  Greater 
Strength  and  Less  Toughness  are  Required. 

"Method  of  manufacture. — Acid  or  basic  open-hearth  process. 

Chemical  composition,  in  per  cent.— P  below  .06  in  acid  steel,  below  .04  in  basic;  S 
below  .07  in  plates  and  angles,  below  .06  in  eye-bars;  Si  below  .04;  Mn  below  .60. 
Physical  requirements  as  follows: 


1  • 

Ultimate 

1 

strength  ; 

«* 

"of 

d 

Ibs.  per 
sq.  inch. 

*! 

\ 

d 

0 

«§. 

"o 

X 

a 

a 

g 

M    — 
tS   f/J 

Ofi 

Remarks. 

i 

d 

1 

1 

0 
3 

to 

a® 
**§ 

S   05 

3     »4 

d 

OQ 

2 

H 

1 

3 

08 

H 

W~ 

»  ft 

, 

%    56000 

64000 

63.0 

27.0 

50 

s 

56000 
55000 

64000 
64000 

61.5 
60.0 

27.0 
27.0 

48 
46 

One  piece  of  angle,  not  over  %  inch  thick, 
shall  open  out  flat,  and  another  close  shut 

C3 

% 

55000 

64000 

58.5 

27.0 

44 

without  sign  of  fracture. 

•<! 

Vs 

54000 

64000 

57.0 

27.0 

42 

On  plates  under  42  inches  wide  the  required 

elongation  shall  be  raised  1.5  per  cent.,  and  the 
reduction  of  area  2.0  per  cent.    On  plates  over 

70  inches  wide,  the  elongation  shall  be  lowered 

1.5  per  cent.,  and  the  reduction  of  area  2.0  per 

cent.    On.  tests  cut  crosswise  from  the  sheet, 

T^ 

59000 

69000 

62.0 

22.0 

39 

the  minimum  tensile  strength  shall  be  low- 

n 

g 

57000   67000 
56000   66000 

60.0 
59.0 

25.0 
25.0 

45 
45 

ered  3000  pounds,  the  elongation  3  per  cent., 
and  the  reduction  of  area  10  per  cent.    On 

o3 

% 

55000]  65000 

57.0 

24.0 

43 

universal-mill  plates  the  allowance  for  trans- 

As 

1 

54000 

64000 

55.0 

23.0 

4L 

verse  tests  shall  be  5000  pounds,  5  per  cent,  and 

1& 

53000 

64000 

53.0 

22.0 

3J 

15  per  cent.    Longitudinal  strips  shall  bend 
double     flat;     transverse    strips    shall    bend 

through  180  degrees  around  a  pin  1  inch  in 

diameter.    When  every  plate  in  the  heat  is 

tested,  the  minimum  elongation  and  reduc- 

tion of  area  shall  be  lowered  5  per  cent. 

.1 

•y 

56000 

64000 

56.0 

If 

1 

56000 
55000 
55000 

64000 
64000 
64000 

55.0 
53.0 
52.0 

.   .   . 

The  elongation  in  full  length  shall  be  14  per 
cent,  in  bars  from  10  to  20  feet  long,  18  per  cent, 
in  21  to  25  feet,  12.5  per  cent,  in  26  to  80  feet, 

ri 

2^ 

54000 

64000 

51.0 

and  12  per  cent,  in  31  to  35  feet. 

SHAPES.— In  channels,  beams,  etc.,  the  requirements  on  tests  cut  from  the  web 
shall  be  the  same  as  for  plates  between  42  and  70  inches  wide,  with  the  same 
allowance  in  thickness.  In  tests  cut  from  the  flange,  the  minimum  tensile 
strength  shall  be  lowered  3000 pounds,  the  elongation  3  percent.,  and  the  reduction 
of  area  10  per  cent. 

NOTE.— The  allowable  content  of  phosphorus  may  be  raised  to  .08  per  cent,  for 
acid,  and  .05  per  cent,  for  basic  steel,  if  the  best  quality  is  not  required,  but  other 
specifications  must  remain  the  same. 


546 


METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 


Method  of  manufacture 


CLASS  VII. 
Hard  Bridge  Steel. 

-Acid  or  basic  open-hearth  process. 

-P  below  .06  in  acid  steel,  below  .04  in  basic;  8 


Chemical  composition,  in  per  cent.— P  below  .06  in  acid  steel,  below  .04  in  basic;  8 
below  .07  in  plates  and  angles,  below  .06  in  eye-bars;  Si  below  .05;  Mn  below  .80 
Physical  requirements  as  follows: 


OB 

Ultimate 

S 

^ 

strength  ; 

«l 

eJ 

§ 

Ibs.  per 

2 

D 

sq.  inch. 

B 

c! 

& 

5 

6 

•**  Q3 

"o 

I 

.a 

8 

d 

i 

1 

ofi 

o  d 

Remarks. 

02 

1 

d 

a 

| 

3  tc 

g| 

1 

"d 

B 

1 

d  o 
od 

II 

H 

i 

S 

3 

H 

5 

"—     " 

3 

60000 

68000 

62.0 

26.0 

48 

P 

60000 
59000 

68000 
68000 

60.5 
69.0 

26.0 
26.0 

46 
44 

One  piece  of  angle,  less  than  %  inch  thick, 
shall  open  out  flat,  and  another  piece  close 

P 

58000 

68000 

57.5 

26.0 

42 

shut  without  sign  of  fracture. 

^ 

14 

57000 

68000 

56.0 

26.0 

40 

On  plates  under  42  inches  wide  the  required 

elongation  shall  be  raised  1.5  per  cent.,  and  the 
reduction  of  area  2.0  per  cent.    On  plates  over 
70  inches  wide,  the  elongation  shall  be  Lowered 

1.5  per  cent.,  and  the  reduction  of  area  2.0  per 

cent.    On  tests  cut  crosswise  from  the  sheet, 

5 

63000 

73000 

60.0 

20.0 

34 

the  minimum  tensile  strength  shall  be  low- 

,£ 

L 

61000 

71000 

58.0 

23.0 

40 

ered  3000  pounds,  the  elongation  3  per  cent., 

£ 

i/ 

60000 

70000 

57.0 

23.0 

40 

and  the  reduction  of  area  10  per  cent.     On 

eS 

a/ 

590001  69000 

55.0 

22.0 

38 

universal-mill  plates  the  allowance  for  trans- 

5 

1 

68000 
57000 

68000 
68000 

53.0 
51.0 

21.0 
20.0 

86 
34 

verse  tests  shall  be  5000  pounds,  5  per  cent,  and 
15  per  cent.    Longitudinal  strips  shall  bend 
double   flat.      Transverse    strips    shall    bend 

through  180  degrees  around  a  pin  1  inch  in 

diameter.    When  every  plate  in  the  heat  is  to 
be  tested,  the  minimum  elongation  and  reduc- 

tion of  area  shall  be  lowered  5  per  cent. 

^ 

~F 

60000 

68000 

55.0 

C  Q 

1  "* 

60000 

68000 

54.0 

The  elongation  in  full  length  shall  be  13  per 

Js^ 

59000 

68000 

52.0 

cent,  in  bars  from  10  to  20  feet  long,  12.5  per 

i  $ 

2 

59000 

68000 

51.0 

cent,  in  21  to  25  feet,  12  per  cent,  in  26  to  30  feet, 

Is 

68000 

68000 

60.0 

•  •   • 

and  11.5  per  cent,  in  31  to  35  feet. 

SHAPES.— In  channels,  beams,  etc.,  the  requirements  on  tests  cut  from  the 
web  shall  be  the  same  as  for  plates  between  42  and  70  inches  wide,  with  the  same 
allowance  for  difference  in  thickness.  In  tests  cut  from  the  flange,  the  minimum 
tensile  strength  shall  be  lowered  3000  pounds,  the  elongation  3  per  cent.,  and  the 
reduction  of  area  10  per  cent. 

NOTE.— The  allowable  content  of  phosphorus  may  be  raised  to  .08  per  cent,  in 
acid,  and  .05  per  cent,  in  basic  steel,  if  the  best  quality  is  not  required,  but  other 
specifications  must  remain  the  same. 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   STRUCTURAL   STEELS. 


547 


CLASS  VIII. 

Extra  Hard  Bridge  Steel ;  for  Special  Structures  where  Great  Stiff- 
ness is  Essential. 

Method  of  manufacture.— Acid  or  basic  open-hearth  process. 

Chemical  composition,  in  per  cent. — P  below  .06  in  acid  steel,  below  .04  in  basic;  S 
below  .07  in  plates  and  angles,  below  .06  in  eye-bars;  Si  below  .10;  Mn  below  .80. 
Physical  requirements  as  follows: 


03 

Ultimate 

43 

strength; 

•g 

c8 

o 

Ibs.  per 

ctf  02 

2 

?H 

sq.  inch. 

fi£ 

S 

i 

a 

S 

o 
1 

'-S  05 

0 

Remarks. 

o5 

!H 

a 

g 

o 

wy3 

58 

& 

j» 

d 

a 

1 

0  C 

1* 

$ 

H 

3 

H 

3" 

tfft 

oJ 

3/ 

64000   72000 

61.0 

25.0 

45 

% 

64000 

72000 

59.5 

25.0 

43 

One  piece  of  angle,  about  %  inch  thick,  shall 

"M 

/'ft 

63000 

72000 

58.0 

25.0 

41 

open  out  flat,  and  another  piece  close  shut 

d 

*S 

62000 

72000 

56.5 

25.0 

39 

without  sign  of  fracture. 

^ 

S 

61000 

72000 

55.0 

25.0 

37 

On  plates  under  42  inches  wide,  the  required 

elongation  shall  be  raised  1.5  per  cent,,  and  the 
reduction  of  area  2.0  per  cent.    On  plates  over 
70  inches  wide,  the  elongation  shall  be  lowered 

\ 

1.5  per  cent.,  and  the  reduction  of  area  2.0  per 

6 

67000 

77000!   59.0 

18.0 

32 

cent.    On  tests  cut  crosswise  from  the  sheet, 

«3 

S/ 

65000 

75000:   57.0 

21.0 

38 

the  minimum  tensile  strength  shall  be  low- 

"S 

1 

64000 
69000 

74000;   56.0 
73000    54.0 

21.0 
90.0 

38 
36 

ered  3000  pounds,  the   elongation  3  per  cent., 
and  the  reduction  of   area  10  per  cent.    On 

S 

62000 

72000 

52.0 

19.0 

34 

universal-mill  plates  the  allowance  for  trans- 

1 

61000 

72000 

50.0 

18.0 

32 

verse  tests  shall  be  5000  pounds,  5  per  cent,  and 

15  per  cent.     Longitudinal  strips  shall  bend 
double  flat.     When  every  plate  In  the  heat  is 

•to  be  tested,   the   minimum  elongation  and 

reduction  of  area  shall  be  lowered  5  per  cent. 

oT  * 

x/ 

64000 

720001   54.0 

^"3 

1* 

64000 
63000 

72000    53.0 
721X10    51.0 

The  elongation  in  full  length  shall  be  12.5  per 
cent,  in  bars  from  10  to  20  feet  long,  12.0  per 

0  * 

2  2 

68000 

72(  HH)    50.0 

cent,  in  21  to  25  feet,  11.5  per  cent,  in  26  to  30 

.si 

62000 

72000 

49.0 

•   • 

feet,  and  11.0  per  cent,  in  31  to  35  feet. 

SHAPES.— In  channels,  beams,  etc.,  the  requirements  on  tests  cut  from  the 
web  shall  be  the  same  as  for  plates  between  42  and  70  inches  wide,  with  the  same 
allowances  for  difference  in  thickness.  In  tests  cut  from  the  flange,  the  minimum 
tensile  strength  shall  be  lowered  3000  pounds,  the  elongation  3  per  cent.,  and  the 
reduction  of  area  10  per  cent. 

NOTE. — The  allowable  content  of  phosphorus  may  be  raised  to  .08  per  cent,  for 
acid  steel,  and  .05  per  cent,  for  basic,  if  the  best  quality  is  not  required,  but  other 
specifications  must  remain  the  same. 

Within  the  last  few  years  a  most  important  step  has  been  taken 
in  the  adoption  of  a  set  of  Standard  American  Specifications.  I 
am  indebted  to  Mr.  A.  L.  Colby,  of  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  for  a  brief  but 
accurate  account  of  the  steps  leading  to  this,  and  I  give  the  text  of 
the  specifications  in  full.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  require- 
ments are  far  more  rigid  than  those  in  use  in  foreign  Countries,  antf 
many  foreign  manufacturers  refuse  to  accept  these  specifications, 
claiming  that  they  cannot  be  regularly  filled  by  the  ordinary 
product. 


548  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

AMERICAN   STANDARD  SPECIFICATIONS  AND 

METHODS  OF  TESTING  IRON  AND 

STEEL. 

HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION. 
BY  A.  L.  COLBY. 

The  first  successful  effort  in  America  to  standardize  specifications 
for  iron  and  steel  was  made  in  August,  1895,  by  the  Association  of 
American  Steel  Manufacturers,  a  technical  organization  formed  to 
discuss  matters  pertaining  to  the  manufacture  and  use  of  steel. 
These  specifications  were  revised  by  the  Association  on  July  17, 
1896,  and  October  23,  1896.  They  included  specifications  for  struc- 
tural steel,  special  open-hearth  plate  and  rivet  steel,  and  structural 
cast  iron. 

Although  these  specifications  were  criticized  and  referred  to  by 
the  technical  press  and  engineers  as  "manufacturers' "  specifica- 
tions, they  nevertheless  grew  in  favor  among  engineers  and  con- 
sumers when  it  was  appreciated  that  just  as  good  steel  for  the 
various  purposes  intended  was  furnished  on  these  specifications  as 
on  engineers'  specifications  containing  numerous  other  stipulations 
unnecessary  in  the  present  state  of  the  art  of  making  steel.  These 
specifications  also  accomplished  the  important  work  of  convincing 
engineers  and  customers  that  more  prompt  deliveries,  and  more  close 
competition  among  manufacturers,  were  possible  on  standard  speci- 
fications containing  only  such  requirements  and  tests  as  were  neces- 
sary to  ascertain  that  a  satisfactory  steel  was  being  furnished,  and 
omitting  many  useless  tests  which  only  serve  to  add  to  the  expense  or 
cause  delay  in  manufacturing  operations. 

The  formation  of  the  American  Section  of  the  International  As- 
sociation for  Testing  Materials  on  June  16,  1898,  gave  an  excellent 
opportunity  for  engineers,  consumers,  and  manufacturers  to  come 
together  with  a  view  of  framing  American  standard  specifications 
covering  all  the  various  kinds  of  iron  and  steel,  for  among  the 
twenty-two  problems  which  were  presented  by  the  parent  associa- 
tion, Problem  No.  1  asked  the  American  section  to  co-operate  in 
establishing  "international  rules  and  specifications  for  testing  and 
inspecting  iron  and  steel." 

Under  authorization  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Ameri- 
can Section  the  American  branch  of  Committee  No.  1  was  in- 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  549 

creased  to  thirty-four  members,  half  of  whom  were  engineers,  pro- 
fessors in  technical  schools,  consumers  of  steel,  or  delegates  from 
scientific  societies,  and  half  were  representatives  from  the  lead- 
ing American  manufacturers  of  the  various  kinds  of  iron  and  steel. 
This  committee  held  frequent  meetings  beginning  March  9,  1899. 
Its  sub-committees  collected  and  tabulated  the  requirements  of 
existing  American  specifications  which  were  used  as  a  basis  in 
framing  the  ten  proposed  American  standard  specifications  in- 
dorsed as  representative  of  the  best  American  practice  by  a  let- 
ter ballot  of  the  committee  and  published  in  May,  1900.  These 
proposed  standards  have  been  discussed  by  some  of  the  leading 
American  technical  societies  and  journals,  as  well  as  by  the  Inter- 
national Congress  on  Testing  Materials  of  Construction  held  in 
Paris  in  July,  1900,  and  by  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  in  Sep- 
tember, 1900. 

The  American  Section  of  I.  A.  T.  M.,  at  its  third  annual  meet- 
ing held  in  October,  1900,  after  a  detailed  discussion,  referred 
the  ten  proposed  standard  specifications  back  to  Committee  No. 
1.  The  committee,  after  frequent  meetings,  again  presented  them 
with  some  modifications  at  the  fourth  annual  meeting  of  the 
American  Section,  June  29,  1901.  They  were  then  adopted  sub- 
ject to  a  letter  ballot  of  the  full  membership  of  the  section.  This 
letter  ballot,  canvassed  in  August,  1901,  indorsed  the  action  of  the 
American  Section  in  adopting  as  American  standards  the  ten  re- 
vised specificaions,  which  are  given  in  full  herewith.* 

XOTE  :  Since  the  above  was  written  by  Mr.  Colby  the  situation 
has  been  somewhat  changed.  The  American  members  of  the  Inter- 
national Society  have  organized  a  new  body,  which  has  been  duly 
incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania,  under  the  title :  The 
American  Society  for  Testing  Materials.  Each  member  of  this 
society,  by  virtue  of  his  membership,  becomes  also  a  member  of  the 
International  Society. 

This  movement  was  made  advisable  by  two  conditions : 

(1)  The  American  members  deem  of  first  importance  the  con- 
struction of  a  uniform  set  of  specifications  for  the  use  of  buyer  and 
seller,  while  the  foreign  members  wish  to  discuss  the  refinements  in 
methods  of  testing,  postponing  to  the  future  the  construction  of  a 
set  of  specifications. 

(2)  The  results  thus  far  obtained  in  America  toward  making 

*  These  specifications  have  been  issued  by  Mr.  Colby  in  convenient  book  form. 


550  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

working  specifications  render  it  very  desirable  that  the  work  be  pur- 
sued under  some  definite  organization,,  representing  engineers, 
manufacturers,  inspectors  and  investigators. 

The  society  was  definitely  organized  at  Atlantic  City,  on  June 
12,  1902,  and  elected  as  its  secretary  Prof.  Edgar  Marburg,  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  The  society  will 
continue  without  interruption  the  work  begun  by  the  so-called 
American  Branch. 

AMERICAN  STANDARD  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

STRUCTURAL  STEEL  FOR  BRIDGES  AND  SHIPS. 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

1.  Steel  shall  be  made  by  the  open-hearth  process. 

CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES. 

2.  Each  of  the  three  classes  of  structural  steel  for  bridges  and 
ships  shall  conform  to  the  following  limits  in  chemical  composi- 
tion: 

Steel  made  by  Steel  made  by 

the  acid  process,  the  basic  process. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

Phosphorus  shall  not  exceed 0.08  0.06 

Sulphur  shall  not  exceed 0.06  0.06 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

3.  There  shall  be  three  classes  of  structural  steel  for  bridges 

and  ships,  namely,  RIVET  STEEL,  SOFT  STEEL  and 
MEDIUM  STEEL,  which  shall  conform  to  the  follow- 
ing physical  qualities: 

^ 

4. 

Tensile  Tests  Rivet  Steel.  Soft  Steel.  Medium  Steel. 

Tensile      strength,      pounds 

per  square  inch 50,000  to  60,000     52,000  to  62,000     60,000  to  70,000 

Yield   point,   in   pounds    per 

square    Inch,    shall    not 

be   less   than 1/2  T.  S.  1/2  T.  S.  1/2  T.  S. 

Elongation  per  cent,  in  eight 

inches     shall     not     be 

less  than  26  25  22 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  551 

5.  For  material  less  than  five-sixteenths  inch    (5/16"),  and 
more  than  three  fourths  inch  (3/4")  in  thickness,  the  following 

modifications  shall  be  made  in  the  requirements  for 

Modifications  in 
elongation  for  thin  elongation  : 

and  thick  material.  (a)  For  eacn  increase  of  one-eighth-inch  (i/8") 
in  thickness  above  three-fourths  inch  (3/4"),  a  deduction  of  one 
per  cent.  (1%)  shall  be  made  from  the  specified  elongation. 

(&)  For  each  decrease  of  one-sixteenth-inch  (1/16")  in  thick- 
ness below  five-sixteenths  inch  (5/16"),  a  deduction  of  two  and 
one-half  per  cent.  (2y2%)  shall  be  made  from  the  specified  elon- 
gation. 

(c)  For  pins  made  from  any  of  the  three  classes  of  steel,  the 
required  elongation  shall  be  five  per  cent.   (5%)   less  than  that 
specified  in  paragraph  No.  4,  as  determined  on  a  test  specimen, 
the  center  of  which  shall  be  one  inch  (1")  from  the  surface. 

6.  Eye-bars  shall  be  of  medium  steel.     Full-sized  tests  shall 
show  121/2  per  cent,  elongation  in  fifteen  feet  of  the  body  of  the 
Tensile  Tests  for    eye-bar,  and  the  tensile  strength  shall  not  be  less 

eye-bars.  than  55^000  pounds  per  square  inch.  Eye-bars  shall 
be  required  to  break  in  the  body,  but  should  an  eye-bar  break  in 
the  head,  and  show  twelve  and  one-half  per  cent.  (12M>%)  elonga- 
tion in  fifteen  feet  and  the  tensile  strength  specified,  it  shall  not 
be  cause  for  rejection,  provided  that  not  more  than  one-third  (1/3) 
of  the  total  number  of  eye-bars  tested  break  in  the  head. 

7.  The  three  classes  of  structural  steel  for  bridges  and  ships 
shall  conform  to  the  following  bending  tests ;  and  for  this  purpose 

the  test  specimen  shall  be  one  and  one-half  inches 
Bending  Tests.      w{^  if  possible^  and  for  all  material  three-fourths 

inch  (%")  or  less  in  thickness  the  test  specimen  shall  be  of  the 
same  thickness  as  that  of  the  finished  material  from  which  it  ia 
cut,  but  for  material  more  than  three-fourths  inch  (%")  thick  the 
bending  test  specimen  may  be  one-half  inch  (%")  thick: 
Rivet  rounds  shall  be  tested  of  full  size  as  rolled. 

(d)  Rivet  steel  shall  bend  cold  180°  flat  on  itself  without  frac- 
ture on  the  outside  of  the  bent  portion. 

(e)  Soft  steel  shall  bend  cold  180°  flat  on  itself  without  frac- 
ture on  the  outside  of  the  bent  portion. 

(f)  Medium  steel  shall  bend  cold  180°  around  a  diameter  equal 
to  the  thickness  of  the  specimen  tested,  without  fracture  on  the 
outside  of  the  bent  portion. 


552  METALLURGY  OF  IRON  AND  STEEL. 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS  OF  TESTING. 

8.     The   standard   test   specimen    of   eight-inch    (8")    gauged 
length,  shall  be  used  to  determine  the  physical  properties  specified 
in  paragraphs  Nos.  4  and  5.     The  standard  shape 
r   of  the  test  specimen  for  sheared  plates  is  shown  in 
Fig.  XVIII-A.     For  other  material  the  test  speci- 
men may  be  the  same  as  for  sheared  plates,  or  it  may  be  planed 
or  turned  parallel  throughout  its  entire  length,  and  in  all  cases 
where  possible,  two  opposite  sides  of  the  test  specimens  shall  be 
the  rolled  surfaces.     Eivet  rounds  and  small  rolled  bars  shall  be 
tested  of  full  size  as  rolled. 


PARALLEL  SECTION  „ 


«M 


I 

NOT  LESS  THAN  9—228.60 

i,,^* 

r^CTjj  ,  , 

MM 

.70 

ft 

••• 

-i- 

~f- 

*--• 

MM                             9t 

25.40 

•r                           MM 

^ 

18—457.20- 

ABOUT 


PIECE  TO   BE  OF  SAME  THICKNESS  AS  THE  PLATE. 
FIG.  XVIII-A. — EIGHT-INCH  TEST  PIECE. 

0.  One  tensile  test  specimen  shall  be  taken  from  the  finished 
Number  of  material  of  each  melt,  but  in  case  this  develops 

Tensile  Tests.  flaws^  or  breaks  outside  of  the  middle  third  of  its 
gauged  length,  it  may  be  discarded  and  another  test  specimen  sub- 
stituted therefor. 

10.  One  test  specimen  for  bending  shall  be  taken  from  the 
finished  material  of  each  melt  as  it  comes  from  the  rolls,  and  for 
Tests  specimen  material  three-fourths  inch  (%")  and  less  in  thick- 
ness this  specimen  shall  have  the  natural  rolled  sur- 
face on  two  opposite  sides.  The  bending  test  specimen  shall  be  one 
and  one-half  inches  (l1/^")  wide,  if  possible,  and  for  material  more 
than  three-fourths  inch  (%")  thick  the  bending  test  specimen 
may  be  one-half  inch  {%")  thick.  The  sheared  edges  of  bending 
test  specimens  may  be  milled  or  planed. 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  553 

(g)     The  bending  test  may  be  made  by  pressure  or  by  blows. 

11.  Material  which  is  to  be  used  without  annealing  or  further 
treatment  shall  be  tested  for  tensile  strength  in  the  condition  in 
Annealed  Test        which  it  comes  from  the  rolls.     Where  it  is  imprac- 
specimens  ticable  to  secure  a  test  specimen  from  material  which 
has  been  annealed  or  otherwise  treated,  a  full-sized  section  of  ten- 
sile test  specimen  lengthy  shall  be  similarly  treated  before  cutting 
the  tensile  specimen  therefrom. 

12.  For  the  purpose  of  this  specification,  the  yield  point  shall 

be  determined  by  the  careful  observation  of  the  drop 
Yield  Point.  of  the  beam  or  halt  in  the  gauge  of  the  testing  ma- 

chine. 

13.  In  order  to  determine  if  the  material  conforms  to  the 
Sam  ie  for  chemical  limitations  prescribed  in  paragraph  No.  2 
chemical  herein,  analysis  shall  be  made  of  drillings  taken 

from  a  small  test  ingot. 

VARIATIONS  IN  WEIGHT. 

14.  The  variation  in  cross  section  or  weight  of  more  than  2% 
per  cent,  from  that  specified  will  be  sufficient  cause  for  rejection, 
except  in  the  case  of  sheared  plates,  which  will  be  covered  by  the 
following  permissible  variations : 

(h)  Plates  12!/2  pounds  per  square  foot  or  heavier,  up  to  100 
inches  wide,  when  ordered  to  weight,  shall  not  average  more  than 
2%  per  cent,  variation  above  or  2%  per  cent,  below  the  theoretical 
weight.  When  100  inches  wide  and  over,  5  per  cent,  above  or  5 
per  cent,  below  the  theoretical  weight. 

(i)  Plates  under  2l/2  pounds  per  square  foot,  when  ordered  to 
weight,  shall  not  average  a  greater  variation  than  the  following : 

Up  to  75  inches  wide,  2%  per  cent,  above  or  2%  per  cent,  below 
the  theoretical  weight.  75  inches  wide  up  to  100  inches  wide, 
5  per  cent,  above  or  3  per  cent,  below  the  theoretical  weight.  When 
100  inches  wide  and  over,  10  per  cent,  above  or  3  per  cent,  below 

the  theoretical  weight. 
********** 

(/)  For  all  plates  ordered  to  gauge,  there  will  be  permitted  an 
average  excess  of  weight  over  that  corresponding  to  the  dimensions 
on  the  order  equal  in  amount  to  that  specified  in  the  following 
table: 


554  METALLURGY   OF   IKON   AND   STEEL. 

TABLE  OF  ALLOWANCES  FOR  OVER  WEIGHT  FOR  RECTANGULAR  PLATES  WHEN 
ORDERED  TO  GAUGE. 

Plates  will  be  considered  up  to  gauge  if  measuring  not  over  1/100  inch  le 
than  the  ordered  gauge. 
The  weight  of  1  cubic  inch  of  rolled  steel  is  assumed  to  be  0.2833  pound. 

PLATES    14    INCH    AND   OVER   IN    THICKNESS. 

Width  of  plate. 


Thickness  of  plate.     'UP  to  75  inches        75  to  100  inches. 
Inch.                      Percent.                 Per  cent. 

Over  100  inches. 
Per  cent. 

1/4 

10 

14 

18 

5/16 

8 

12 

16 

3/8 

7 

10 

13 

7/16 

6 

8 

10 

1/2 

5 

7 

9 

9/16 

4% 

6% 

8% 

5/8 

4 

6 

8 

Over  5/8 

3% 

5 

6% 

PLATES    UNDER    %    INCH   IN   THICKNESS. 

Width  of  plate. 


Thickness  of  plate. 

Up  to  50  inches. 

50  inches  and  abor«. 

Inch. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

1/8  up  to  5/32 

10 

15 

5/32    "    3/16 

8% 

12% 

3/16    •"    1/4 

7 

10 

FINISH. 

15.  Finished  material  must  be  free  from  injurious  seams,  flaws 
or  cracks,  and  have  a  workmanlike  finish. 

BRANDING. 

16.  Every  finished  piece  of  steel  shall  be  stamped  with  the 
melt  number,  and  steel  for  pins  shall  have  the  melt  number  stamped 
on  the  ends.     Eivets  and  lacing  steel,  and  small  pieces  for  pin 
plates  and  stiffeners,  may  be  shipped  in  bundles,  securely  wired 
together,  with  the  melt  number  on  a  metal  tag  attached. 

INSPECTION. 

17.  The  inspector  representing  the  purchaser,  shall  have  all 
reasonable  facilities  afforded  to  him  by  the  manufacturer  to  satisfy 
him  that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with 
these  specifications.     All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at  the 
place  of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment . 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  555 

AMERICAN  STANDARD  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

STRUCTURAL  STEEL  FOR  BUILDINGS., 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

1.  Steel  may  be  made  by  either  the  open-hearth  or  Bessemer 
process. 

CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES. 

2.  Neither  of  the  two  classes  of  structural  steel  for  buildings 
shall  contain  more  than  0.10  per  cent,  of  phosphorus. 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

3.  There  shall  be  two  classes  of  structural  steel  for  buildings, 
classes.  namely :  RIVET  STEEL  and  MEDIUM  STEEL  which  shall 
conform  to  the  following  physical  qualities : 

Rivet  Steel.  Medium  Steel. 

Tensile   strength,    pounds    per   square 

inch 50,000  to  60,000  60,000  to  70,000 

Yield    point,    in    pounds    per    square 

inch  shall  not  be  less  than 1/2  T.  S.  1/2  T.  8. 

Elongation,  per  cent,  in  eight  inches 

shall  not  be  less  than 26  22 

5.  For  material  less  than  five-sixteenths  inch  (5/16"),  and 
more  than  three-fourths  inch  (%")  in  thickness,  the  following 
Modifications  in  modifications  shall  be  made  in  the  requirements  for 
SZSfSS  elongation: 

material.  (a)     For  each  increase  of  one-eighth  inch  (%") 

in  thickness  above  three-fourths  inch   (%")   a  deduction  of  one 
per  cent.  (1%)  shall  be  made  from  the  specified  elongation. 

(&)  For  each  decrease  of  one-sixteenth  inch  (1/16")  in  thick- 
ness below  five-sixteenths  inch  (5/lte")  a  deduction  of  two  and 
one-half  per  cent.  (2%%)  shall  be  made  from  the  specified  elon- 
gation. 

(c)  For  pins  the  required  elongation  shall  be  five  per  cent. 
(5%)  less  than  that  specified  in  paragraph  No.  4,  as  determined  on 
a  test  specimen,  the  center  of  which  shall  be  one  inch  (1")  from 
the  surface. 


656  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND    STEEL. 

i 

6.  The  two  classes  of  structural  steel  for  buildings  shall  con- 
form to  the  following  bending  tests;  and  for  this  purpose  the 
Bending  test    specimen   shall   be   one   and    one-half   inches 
Tests-  (ll/2ff)  widej  if  possible,  and  for  all  material  three- 
fourths  inch  (%")  or  less  in  thickness  the  test  specimen  shall  be  of 
the  same  thickness  as  that  of  the  finished  material  from  which  it  is 
cut,  but  for  material  more  than  three-fourths  inch  (%")  thick  the 
bending  test  specimen  may  be  one-half  inch  (%")  thick: 

Rivet  rounds  shall  be  tested  of  full  size  as  rolled. 

(d)  Rivet  steel  shall  bend  cold  180°  flat  on  itself  without  frac- 
ture on  the  outside  of  the  bent  portion. 

(e)  Medium  steel  shall  bend  cold  180°  around  a  diameter  equal 
to  the  thickness  of  the  specimen  tested,  without  fracture  on  the 
outside  of  the  bent  portion. 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS  OF  TESTING. 

7.  The  standard  test  specimen  of  eight-inch  (8")  gauged  length 
shall  be  used  to  determine  the  physical  properties  specified  in  para- 
graphs Nos.  4  and  5.     The  standard  shape  of  the 
test  sPecimen  for  sheared  plates  shall  be  as  before 
shown  by  Fig.  XVI 1 1- A.     For  other  material  the 

test  specimen  may  be  the  same  as  for  sheared  plates,  or  it  may  be 
planed  or  turned  parallel  throughout  its  entire  length,  and  in  all 
cases  where  possible  two  opposite  sides  of  the  test  specimen  shall 
be  the  rolled  surfaces.  Rivet  rounds  and  small  rolled  bars  shall 
be  tested  of  full  size  as  rolled. 

8.  One  tensile  test  specimen  shall  be  taken  from  the  finished 
material  of  each  melt  or  blow,  but  in  case  this  develops  flaws,  or 

breaks  outside  of  the  middle  third  of  its  gauged 

Number  of  .         , ,      . ,  ,        -,.  ,    ,          ,  . .  &  . 

Tensile  Tests.          length,  it  may  be  discarded  and  another  test  speci- 
men substituted  therefor. 

9.  One  test  specimen  for  bending  shall  be  taken  from  the  fin- 
ished material  of  each  melt  01*  blow  as  it  comes  from  the  rolls  and 
Test  specimen         for  material  three-fourths  inch   (%")   and  less  in 

Bending.  thickness  this  specimen  shall  have  the  natural  rolled 

surface  on  two  opposite  sides.  The  bending  test  specimen  shall  be 
one  and  one-half  inches  (iy2")  wide,  if  possible,  and  for  material 
more  than  three-fourths  inch  (%")  thick  the  bending  test  speci- 
men may  be  one-half  inch  (i/2")  thick.  The  sheared  edges  of  bend- 
ing test  specimens  may  be  milled  or  planed. 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  557 

Eivet  rounds  shall  be  tested  of  full  size  as  rolled. 

(/)     The  bending  test  may  be  made  by  pressure  or  by  blows. 

10.  Material  which  is  to  be  used  without  annealing  or  further 
treatment  shall  be  tested  for  tensile  strength  in  the  condition  in 
Annealed  Test        which  it  comes  from  the  rolls.    Where  it  is  imprac- 
specimena.  ticable  to   secure  a  test   specimen  from  material 
which  has  been  annealed  or  otherwise  treated,  a  full-sized  section 
of  tensile  test  specimen  length    shall  be  similarly  treated  before 
cutting  the  tensile  test  specimen  therefrom. 

11.  For  the  purpose  of  this  specification,  the  yield  point  shall 
Yield  be  determined  by  the  careful  observation  of  the  drop 
Point-  of  the  beam  or  halt  in  the  gauge  of  the  testing 
machine. 

12.  In  order  to   determine  if  the  material  conforms  to  the 
samples  for  chemical  limitations  prescribed  in  paragraph  No.  2 
chemical  herein,  analysis  shall  be  made  of  drillings  taken 

from  a  small  test  ingot. 

VARIATION  IN  WEIGHT. 

13.  The  variation  in  cross  section  or  weight  of  more  than  2^/2 
per  cent.,  from  that  specified  will  be  sufficient  cause  for  rejection, 
except  in  the  case  of  sheared  plates,  which  will  be  covered  by  the 
following  permissible  variations : 

(g)  Plates  12y2  pounds  per  square  foot  or  heavier,  up  to  100 
inches  wide,  when  ordered  to  weight,  shall  not  average  more  than 
2%  per  cent,  variation  above  or  2~y2  Per  cent,  below  the  theoretical 
weight.  When  100  inches  wide  and  over,  5  per  cent,  above  or  5 
per  cent,  below  the  theoretical  weight. 

(h)  Plates  under  12%  pounds  per  square  foot,  when  ordered 
to  weight,  shall  not  average  a  greater  variation  than  the  following : 

Up  to  75  inches  wide,  2%  per  cent,  above  or  2%  per  cent,  below 
the  theoretical  weight.  75  inches  wide  up  to  100  inches  wide, 
5  per  cent,  above  or  3  per  cent,  below  the  theoretical  weight.  When 
100  inches  wide  and  over,  10  per  cent,  above  or  3  per  cent,  below 

the  theoretical  weight. 
******** 

(i)  For  all  plates  ordered  to  gauge,  there  will  be  permitted  an 
average  excess  of  weight  over  that  corresponding  to  the  dimen- 
sions on  the  order  equal  in  amount  to  that  specified  in  the  follow- 
ing table : 


558  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

TABLE  OP  ALLOWANCES  FOB  OVERWEIGHT  FOR  RECTANGULAR  PLATES  WHEN 
ORDERED  TO  GAUGE. 

Plates  will  be  considered  up  to  gauge  if  measuring  not  over  1/100  inch  less 
than  the  ordered  gauge. 

The  weight  of  1  cubic  inch  of  rolled  steel  is  assumed  to  be  0.2833  pound. 

PLATES    }4    INCH   AND    OVER    IN    THICKNESS. 

Width  of  plate. 


Thickness  of  plate. 

Up  to  50  inches 

75  to  100  inches. 

Over  100  inches. 

Inch. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

1/4 

10 

14 

18 

5/16 

8 

12 

16 

3/8 

7 

10 

13 

7/16 

6 

8 

10 

1/2 

5 

7 

9 

9/16 

4% 

6% 

8% 

6/8 

4 

6 

8 

Over  5/8 

3% 

5 

6% 

PLATES   UNDER    %    INCH    IN    THICKNESS. 

Width  of  plate. 


Thickness  of  plate.  Up  to  50  inches  50  inches  and  above. 

Inch.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

1/8  up  to  5/32  10  15 

5/32    "    3/16  8%  12% 

3/16    "    1/4  7  10 

FINISH. 

14.  Finished  material  must  be  free  from  injurious  seams,  flaws 
or  cracks,  and  have  a  workmanlike  finish. 

BRANDING. 

15.  Every  finished  piece  of  steel  shall  be  stamped  with  the  melt 
or  blow  number,  except  that  small  pieces  may  be  shipped  in  bundles 
securely  wired  together  with  the  melt  or  blow  number  on  a  metal 
tag  attached. 

INSPECTION. 

16.  The  inspector  representing  the  purchaser  shall  have  all 
reasonable  facilities  afforded  to  him  by  the  manufacturer  to  sat- 
isfy him  that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with 
these  specifications.    All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at  the 
place  of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment. 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  559 

AMEKICAN  STANDAKD  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

OPEN-HEAKTH  BOILEE  PLATE  AND  EIVET  STEEL. 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

1.  Steel  shall  be  made  by  the  open-hearth  process. 

CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES. 

2.  There  shall  be  three  classes  of  open-hearth  boiler  plate  and 
rivet  steel,  namely :    FLANGE  OR  BOILER  STEEL,  FIRE  BOX  STEEL  and 
EXTRA  SOFT  STEEL,  which  shall  conform  to  the  following  limits  in 
chemical  composition: 


* 

Flange  or 

Fire  box 

Extra  soft 

Boiler  steel. 

steel. 

steel. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Phosphorus  shall  not  exceed.... 

(  Basic  0.04 

Basic  0.03 

(  Acid     0.06 

Acid     0.04 

0.04 

Sulphur  shall  not  exceed  

0.05 

0.04 

0.04 

Manganese    . 

0.30  to  0.60 

0.30  to  0.50 

0.30  to  0.50 

3.  Steel  for  boiler  rivets  shall  be  of  the  EXTRA  SOFT  class,  as 
8^^ RiV6t  specified  in  paragraphs  Nos.  2  and  4. 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

4.  The  three  classes  of  open-hearth  boiler  plate  and  rivet  steel,, 
namely:     FLANGE  OR  BOILER  STEEL,  FIRE  BOX  STEEL  and  EXTRA 
SOFT  STEEL,  shall  conform  to  the  following  physical  qualities: 

Flange  or  Fire  box  Extra  soft 

boiler  steel.  steel.  steel. 

Tensile      strength,      pounds 

per  square   inch 55,000  to  65,000     52,000  to  62,000     45,000  to  55,000 

Yield   point,   in   pounds    per 

square    inch    shall    not 

be   less   than 1/2  T.  S.  1/2  V.  S.  1/2  T.  S. 

Elongation,  per  cent,  in  eight 

inches     shall     not     be 

less  than 25  26  28 

5.  For  material  less  than  five-sixteenths  inch   (5/16"),  and 
more  than  three-fourths  inch   (%")   in  thickness,  the  following 
Modifications  in      modifications  shall  be  made  in  the  requirements  for 
SSS35S         elongation: 

material.  (a)     For  each  increase  of  one-eighth  inch  (%"} 


5GO  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL. 

in  thickness  above  three-fourths  inch  (%"),  a  deduction  01  one 
per  cent.  (1%)  shall  be  made  from  the  specified  elongation. 

(b)  For  each  decrease  of  one-sixteenth-inch  (1/16")  in  thick- 
ness below  five-sixteenths  inch   (5/16")   a  deduction  of  two  and 
one-half  per  cent.  (2y2%)  shall  be  made  from  the  specified  elon- 
gation. 

6.  The  three  classes  of  open-hearth  boiler  plate  and  rivet  steel 
shall  conform  to  the  following  bending  tests  •  and  for  this  purpose 
Bending  the  test  specimen  shall  be  one  and  one-half  inches 
Tests.  (!%")  wide  if  possible,  and  for  all  material  three- 
fourths  inch  (%")  or  less  in  thickness  the  test  specimen  shall  be 
of  the  same  thickness  as  that  of  the  finished  material  from  which 
it  is  cut;  but  for  material  more  than  three-fourths  inch    (%") 
thick,  the  bending  test  specimen  may  be  one-half  inch  (%")  thick. 

Rivet  rounds  shall  be  tested  of  full  size  as  rolled. 

(c)  Test  specimens  cut  from  the  rolled  material  as  specified 
above,  shall  be  subjected  to  a  cold  bending  test,  and  also  to  a 
quenched  bending  test.     The  cold  bending  test  shall  be  made  on 
the  material  in  the  condition  in  which  it  is  to  be  used,  and  prior  to 
the  quenched  bending  test,  the  specimen  shall  be  heated  to  a  light 
cherry-red  as  seen  in  the  dark  and  quenched  in  water,  the  tem- 
perature of  which  is  between  80°  and  90°  Fahrenheit. 

(d)  Flange  or  boiler  steel,  fire  box  steel  and  rivet  steel,  both 
before  and  after  quenching,  shall  bend  cold  one  hundred  and  eighty 
degrees  (180°)  flat  on  itself  without  fracture  on  the  outside  of  the 
bent  portion. 

7.  For  fire  box  steel  a  sample  taken  from  a  broken  tensile  test 
specimen,  shall  not  show  any  single  seam  or  cavity  more  than  one- 
Homogeneity          fourth  inch  (y±")  long  in  either  of  the  three  frac- 
tures obtained  on  the  test  for  homogeneity  as  de- 
scribed below  in  paragraph  12. 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS/ or  TESTING. 

8.  The  standard  test  specimen  of  eight-inch  (8")  gauged  length 
shall  be  used  to  determine  the  physical  properties   specified   in 

paragraphs  Nos.  4  and  5.     The  standard  shape  of 

Test  Specimen  for      ,-, 

Tensile  Test.  the  test  specimen  for  sheared  plates  shall  be  as  be- 

fore shown  by  Fig.  XVIII-A.     For  other  material 
the  test  specimen  may  be  the  same  as  for  sheared  plates,  or  it  may 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  561 

be  planed  or  turned  parallel  throughout  its  entire  length  and  in 
all  cases  where  possible  two  opposite  sides  of  the  test  specimens 
c-hall  be  the  rolled  surfaces.  Kivet  rounds  and  small  rolled  bars 
shall  be  tested  of  full  size  as  rolled. 

9.  One  tensile  test  specimen  will  be  furnished  from  each  plate 
as.  it  is  rolled,  and  two  tensile  test  specimens  will  be  furnished 
Number  of  from  each  melt  of  rivet  rounds.     In  case  any  one  of 
Tensile  Tests.          these  develops  flaws  or  breaks  outside  of  the  middle 
third  of  its  gauged  length,  it  may  be  discarded  and  another  test 
specimen  substituted  therefor. 

10.  For  material  three-fourths  inch  (%")  or  less  in  thickness, 
the  bending  test  specimen  shall  have  the  natural  rolled  surface  on 
Test  specimens        two  opposite  sides.    The  bending  test  specimens  cut 
for  Bending.  from  plates  shall  be  one  and  one-half  inches  (l1/^") 
wide  and  for  material  more  than  three-fourths    (%")   thick  the 
bending  test  specimens  may  be  one-half  inch   (%")   thick.     The 
sheared  edges  of  bending  test  specimens  may  be  milled  or  planed. 
The  bending  test  specimens  for  rivet  rounds  shall  be  of  full  size 
as  rolled.     The  bending  test  may  be  made  by  pressure  or  by  blows. 

11.  One  cold  bending  specimen  and  one  quenched  bending  spec- 
imen will  be  furnished  from  each  plate  as  it  is  rolled.     Two  cold 

bending  specimens  and  two  quenched  bending  speci- 
mens  will  be   furnished  from  each  melt  of  rivet 


rounds.  The  homogeneity  test  for  fire  box  steel 
shall  be  made  on  one  of  the  broken  tensile  test  specimens. 

12.  The  homogeneity  test  for  fire  box  steel  is  made  as  follows  : 
A  portion  of  the  broken  tensile  test  specimen  is  either  nicked  with 
Homogeneity  Tests  a  ^isel  or  grooved  on  a  machine,  transversely  about 
for  Fire  BOX  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  (1/16")  deep,  in  three  places 

about  two  inches  (2")  apart.  The  first  groove 
should  be  made  on  one  side,  two  inches  (2")  from  the  square  end 
of  the  specimen;  the  second,  two  inches  (2")  from  it  on  the  oppo- 
site side;  and  the  third,  two  inches  (2")  from  the  last,  and  on  the 
opposite  side  from  it.  The  test  specimen  is  then  put  in  a  vise,  with 
the  first  groove  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  (%")  above  the  jaws, 
care  being  taken  to  hold  it  firmly.  The  projecting  end  of  the  test 
specimen  is  then  broken  off  by  means  of  a  hammer,  a  number  of 
light  blows  being  used,  and  the  bending  being  away  from  the 
groove.  The  specimen  is  broken  at  the  other  two  grooves  in  the 
same  way.  The  object  of  this  treatment  is  to  open  and 


562  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

visible  to  the  eye  any  seams  due  to  failure  to  weld  up,  or  to  foreign 
interposed  matter,  or  cavities  due  to  gas  bubbles  in  the  ingot. 
After  rupture,  one  side  of  each  fracture  is  examined,  a  pocket  lens 
being  used  if  necessary,  and  the  length  of  the  seams  and  cavities  is 
determined. 

13.  For  the  purposes  of  this  specification,  the  yield  point  shall 
Yield  be  determined  by  the  careful  observation  of  the  drop 
Point.  of  the  beam  or  halt  in  the  gauge  of  the  testing 
machine. 

14.  In  order  to  determine  if  the  material  conforms  to  the- 
chemical  limitations  prescribed  in  paragraph  No.  2  herein,  analy- 
sam  i  for  s*s  sna^  be  ma(le  of  drillings  taken  from  a  small 
chemical               test  ingot.     An  additional  check  analysis  may  be 

made  from  a  tensile  specimen  of  each  melt  used  on 
an  order,  other  than  in  locomotive  fire  box  steel.  In  the  case  of 
locomotive  fire  box  steel  a  check  analysis  may  be  made  from  the 
tensile  specimen  from  each  plate  as  rolled. 

VARIATION  IN  WEIGHT. 

15.  The  variation  in  cross  section  or  weight  of  more  than  2%- 
per  cent,  from  that  specified  will  be  sufficient  cause  for  rejection, 
except  in  the  case  of  sheared  plates,  which  will  be  covered  by  the 
following  permissible  variations: 

(e)  Plates  I2y2  pounds  per  square  foot  or  heavier,  up  to  100 
inches  wide,  when  ordered  to  weight,  shall  not  average  more  than 
2!/2  per  cent,  variation  above  or  %y2  Per  cent-  below  the  theoretical 
weight.  When  100  inches  wide  and  over,  5  per  cent,  above  or  5  per 
cent,  below  the  theoretical  weight. 

(/)  Plates  under  12%  pounds  per  square  foot,  when  ordered 
to  weight,  shall  not  average  a  greater  variation  than  the  following : 

Up  to  75  inches  wide,  2%  per  cent,  above  or  2%  per  cent,  below 
the  theoretical  weight.  75  inches  wide  up  to  100  inches  wide,  5 
per  cent,  above  or  3  per  cent,  below  the  theoretical  weight.  When 
100  inches  wide  and  over,  10  per  cent,  above  or  3  per  cent,  below 
the  theoretical  weight. 
******** 

(g)  For  all  plates  ordered  to  gauge,  there  will  be  permitted  an 
average  excess  of  weight  over  that  corresponding  to  the  dimensions 
on  the  order  equal  in  amount  to  that  specified  in  the  following 
table: 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  563 

TABLE  OF  ALLOWANCES  FOB  OVERWEIGHT  FOE  RECTANGULAR  PLATES  WHEN 

ORDERED  TO  GAUGE. 

•     Plates  will  be  considered  up  to  gauge  if  measuring  not  over  1/100  inch  less 
than  the  ordered  gauge. 

The  weight  of  1  cubic  inch  of  rolled  steel  is  assumed  to  be  0.2833  pound. 

PLATES    %    INCH  AND   OVER   IN   THICKNESS. 

Width  of  plate. 


Thickness  of  plate. 

Up  to  75  inches. 

75  to  100  inches. 

Over  100  inches. 

Inch. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

1/4 

10 

14 

18 

5/16 

8 

12 

16 

3/8 

7 

10 

13 

7/16 

6 

8 

10 

1/2 

5 

7 

9 

9/16 

4% 

ey2 

8% 

5/8 

4 

6 

8 

Over  5/8 

3% 

5 

6% 

PLATES  UNDER   ^4    INCH   IN  THICKNESS. 

Width  of  plate. 


Thickness  of  plate. 

Up  to  50  inches. 

50  inches  and  above. 

Inch. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

1/8  up  to  5/32 

10 

15 

5/32    "    3/16 

sy2 

12  ya 

3/16    "    1/4 

7 

10 

FINISH. 

16.  All  finished  material  shall  be  free  from  injurious  surface 
defects  and  laminations,  and  must  have  a  workmanlike  finish. 

BRANDING. 

1.7.  Every  finished  piece  of  steel  shall  be  stamped  with  the  melt 
number,  and  each  plate,  and  the  coupon  or  test  specimen  cut  from 
it,  shall  be  stamped  with  a  separate  identifying  mark  or  number. 
Rivet  steel  may  be  shipped  in  bundles  securely  wired  together  with 
the  melt  number  on  a  metal  tag  attached. 

0, 

INSPECTION. 

18.  The  inspector  representing  the  purchaser,  shall  have  all 
reasonable  facilities  afforded  to  him  by  the  manufacturer  to  satisfy 
him  that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with 
these  specifications.  All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at 
the  place  of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment. 


564  METALLURGY    OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

AMERICAN  STANDARD  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

STEEL  RAILS. 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

1.  (a)   Steel  may  be  made  by  the  Bessemer  or  open-hearth 
process. 

(&)  The  entire  process  of  manufacture  and  testing  shall  be  in 
accordance  with  the  best  standard  current  practice,  and  special 
care  shall  be  taken  to  conform  to  the  following  instructions. 

(c)  Ingots  shall  be  kept  in  a  vertical  position  in  pit  heating 
furnaces. 

(d)  No  bled  ingots  shall  be  used. 

(e)  Sufficient  material  shall  be  discarded  from  the  top  of  the 
ingots  to  insure  sound  rails. 

CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES. 

2.  Rails  of  the  various  weights  per  yard  specified  below  shall 
conform  to  the  following  limits  in  chemical  composition : 

50  to  59+  60  to  69+  70  to  79+  80  to  89+  90  to  100 

pounds.  pounds.  pounds.  pounds.  pounds. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

Carbon 0.35--0.45  0.38--0.48  0.40--0.50  0.43--0.53  0.45--0.55 

Phosphorus   shall 

not  exceed   0.10  0.10  0.10  0.10  0.10 

Silicon   shall    not 

exceed 0.20  0.20  0.20  0.20  0.20 

Manganese     0.70-1.00  0.70--1.00  0.75--1.05  0.80-1.10  0.80-1.10 


PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

3.  One  drop  test  shall  be  made  on  a  piece  of  rail  not  more  than 
six  feet  long,  selected  from  every  fifth  blow  of  steel.  The  rail 
Drop  shall  be  placed  head  upwards  on  the  supports  and 

the  various  sections  shall  be  subjected  to  the  follow- 
ing impact  tests: 

Weight  of  rail.  Height  of  drop. 

Pounds  per  yard.  Feet. 

45  to  and  including    55 15 


More  than  55 

65 

75 

M         85 


65. 

75. 

85. 

100. 


16 
17 
18 
19 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  565 

r- 

If  any  rail  break  when  subjected  to  the  drop  test,  two  additional 
tests  will  be  made  of  other  rails  from  the  same  blow  of  steel,  and 
if  either  of  these  latter  tests  fail  all  the  rails  of  the  blow  which 
they  represent  will  be  rejected,  but  if  both  of  these  additional  test 
pieces  meet  the  requirements,  all  the  rails  of  the  blow  which  they 
represent  will  be  accepted.  If  the  rails  from  the  tested  blow  shall 
be  rejected  for  failure  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  drop  test 
as  above  specified,  two  other  rails  will  be  subjected  to  the  same  tests, 
one  from  the  blow  next  preceding,  and  one  from  the  blow  next  suc- 
ceeding the  rejected  blow.  In  case  the  first  test  taken  from  the 
preceding  or  succeeding  blow  shall  fail,  two  additional  tests  shall 
be  taken  from  the  same  blow  of  steel,  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of 
which  shall  also  be  determined  as  specified  above,  and  if  the  rails 
of  the  preceding  or  succeeding  blow  shall  be  rejected,  similar  tests 
may  be  taken  from  the  previous  or  following  blows,  as  the  case  may 
be,  until  the  entire  group  of  five  blows  is  tested,  if  necessary. 

The  acceptance  or  rejection  of  all  the  rails  from  any  blow  will 
depend  upon  the  result  of  the  tests  thereof. 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS  OF  TESTING. 

4.  The  drop  test  machine  shall  have  a  tup  of  two  thousand 
(2000)  pounds  weight,  the  striking  face  of  which  shall  have  a  radius 
Drop  Testing          of  not  more  than  five  inches    (5"),  and  the  test 
Machine.  raj]i  ^n  De  placed  head  upwards  on  solid  supports 
three  feet  (3')  apart.     The  anvil  block  shall  weigh  at  least  twenty 
thousand  (20,000)  pounds,  and  the  supports  shall  be  a  part  of,  or 
firmly  secured  to,  the  anvil.     The  report  of  the  drop  test  shall  state 
the  atmospheric  temperature  at  the  time  the  tests  were  made. 

5.  The  manufacturer  shall  furnish  the  inspector,  daily,  with 
carbon  determinations  of  each  blow,  and  a  complete  chemical  analy- 
Sampiefor  s^s  everj  twenty-four  hours,  representing  the  aver- 
chemicai  age  of  the  other  elements  contained  in  the  steel. 

These  analyses  shall  be  made  on  drillings  taken  from 
a  small  test  ingot. 

FINISH. 

6.  Unless  otherwise  specified,  the  section  of  rail  shall  be  the 
American   Standard,  recommended  by  the  American  Society  of 

Civil  Engineers,  and  shall  conform,  as  accurately  as 
possible,  to  the  templet  furnished  by  the  railroad 
company,  consistent  with  paragraph  No.  7,  relative  to  specified 


566  METALLURGY    OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

weight.  A  variation  in  height  of  one  sixty-fourth  of  an  inch 
(1/64")  less  and  one  thirty-second  of  an  inch  (1/32")  greater  than 
the  specified  height  will  be  permitted.  A  perfect  fit  of  the  splice 
bars,  however,  shall  be  maintained  at  all  times. 

7.  The  weight  of  the  rails  shall  be  maintained  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible after  complying  with  paragraph  No.  6,  to  that  specified  in 

contract.     A  variation  of  one-half  of  one  per  cent. 
(1/2%)  for  an  entire  order  will  be  allowed.     Rails 
shall  be  accepted  and  paid  for  according  to  actual  weights. 

8.  The  standard  length  of  rails  shall  be  thirty  feet  (30').    Ten 
.per  cent.   (10%)  of  the  entire  order  will  be  accepted  in  shorter 

lengths,  varying  by  even  feet  down  to  twenty-four 
feet   (24:').     A  variation  of  one-fourth  of  an  inch 
(i/i")  in  length  from  that  specified  will  be  allowed. 

9.  Circular  holes  for  splice  bars  shall  be  drilled  in  accordance 
with  the  specifications  of  the  purchaser.     The  holes  shall  accurately 

conform  to  the  drawing  and  dimensions  furnished  in 
every  respect,  and  must  be  free  from  burrs. 

10.  Rails  shall  be  straightened  while  cold,  smooth  on  head,  sawed 
square  at  ends,  and,  prior  to  shipment,  shall  have  the  burr  oc- 
casioned by  the  saw  cutting,  removed,  and  the  ends 
made  clean.    Number  1  rails  shall  be  free  from  in- 
jurious defects  and  flaws  of  all  kinds. 

BRANDING. 

11.  The  name  of  the  maker,  the  month  and  year  of  manufac- 
ture, shall  be  rolled  in  raised  letters  on  the  side  of  the  web,  and  the 
number  of  the  blow  shall  be  stamped  on  each  rail. 

INSPECTION. 

12.  The  inspector  representing  the  purchaser  shall  have  all  rea- 
sonable facilities  afforded  to  him  by  the  manufacturer  to  satisfy 
him  that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with  these 
specifications.     All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at  the  place 
of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment. 

No.  2  RAILS. 

13.  Rails  that  possess  any  injurious  physical  defects,  or  which 
for  any  other  cause  are  not  suitable  for  first  quality,  or  No.  1  rails, 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  567 

shall  be  considered  as  No.  2  rails,  provided,  however,  that  rails 
which  contain  any  physical  defects  which  seriously  impair  their 
strength  shall  be  rejected.  The  ends  of  all  No.  2  rails  shall  be 
painted  in  order  to  distinguish  them. 


AMEEICAN  STANDAED  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

STEEL  SPLICE  BAES. 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

1.  Steel  for  splice  bars  may  be  made  by  the  Bessemer  or  open- 
hearth  process. 

CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES.          =   , 

2.  Steel  for  splice  bars  shall  conform  to  the  following  limits  in 
chemical  composition : 

Per  cent. 

Carbon  shall  not  exceed 0.15 

Phosphorus  shall  not  exceed 0.10 

Manganese 0.30  to  0.60 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

3.  Splice  bar  steel  shall   conform  to  the  following  physical 
Tensile  qualities : 

Tests. 

Tensile  strength,  pounds  per  square  inch 54,000  to  64,000 

Yield  point,  pounds  per  square  inch 32,000 

Elongation,  per  cent,   in  eight  inches  shall  not  be  less  than  25 

4.  (a)  A  test  specimen  cut  from  the  head  of  the  splice  bar  shall 
Bending  bend  180°  flat  on  itself  without  fracture  on  the  out- 
Tcsts-  side  of  the  bent  portion. 

(b)  If  preferred  the  bending  tests  may  be  made  on  an  un- 
punched  splice  bar,  which,  if  necessary,  shall  be  first  flattened,  and 
shall  then  be  bent  180°  flat  on  itself  without  fracture  on  the  outside 
of  the  bent  portion. 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS  OF  TESTING. 

5.  A  test  specimen  of  eight-inch  (8")  gauged  length,  cut  from 
Test  specimen  tor     the  head  of  the  splice  bar,  shall  be  used  to  determine 
Tensile  Tests,          £ne  physical  properties  specified  in  paragraph  No.  3. 


568  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

6.  One  tensile  test  specimen  shall  be  taken  from  the  rolled  splice 

bars  of  each  blow  or  melt,  but  in  case  this  develops 
Number  of  flaws,  or  breaks  outside  of  the  middle  third  of  its 

Tensile  Tests 

gauged  length,  it  may  be  discarded  and  another  test 
specimen  substituted  therefor. 

7.  One  test  specimen  cut  from  the  head  of  the  splice  bar  shall 
Test  specimen         be  taken  from  a  rolled  bar  of  each  blow  or  melt,  or 
for  Bending.  jf  preferred  the  bending  test  may  be  made  on  an  un- 
punched  splice  bar,  which,  if  necessary,  shall  be  flattened  before 
testing.     The  bending  test  may  be  made  bv  pressure  or  by  blows. 

8.  For  the  purposes  of  this  specification,  the  yield  point  shall 
Yieid  be  determined  by  the  careful  observation  of  the  drop 
Point-  of  the  beam  or  halt  in  the  gauge  of  the  testing  ma- 
chine. 

9.  In  order  to  determine  if  the  material  conforms  to  the  chemi- 
sampiefor          '   ca^  limitations  prescribed  in  paragraph  No.  2  herein, 
chemical  analysis  shall  be  made  of  drillings  taken  from  a 

small  test  ingot. 

FINISH. 

10.  All  splice  bars  shall  be  smoothly  rolled  and  true  to  templet. 
The  bars  shall  be  sheared  accurately  to  length  and  free  from  fins 
and  cracks,  and  shall  perfectly  fit  the  rails  for  which  they  are  in- 
tended.    The  punching  and  notching  shall  accurately  conform  in 
every  respect  to  the  drawing  and  dimensions  furnished.     A  vari- 
ation in  weight  of  more  than  2%  per  cent,  from  that  specified  will 
be  sufficient  cause  for  rejection. 

BRANDING. 

11.  The  name  of  the  maker  and  the  year  of  manufacture  shall 
be  rolled  in  raised  letters  on  the  side  of  the  splice  bar. 

INSPECTION. 

12.  Tht  inspector  representing  the  purchaser,  shall  have  all 
reasonable  facilities  afforded  to  him  by  the  manufacturer,  to  satisfy 
him  that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with  these 
specifications.     All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at  the  place 
of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment. 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  569 

AMERICAN  STANDARD  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

STEEL  AXLES. 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE. 
.    1.     Steel  for  axles  shall  be  made  by  the  open-hearth  process. 

CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES. 

2.  There  will  be  three  classes  of  steel  axles  which  shall  conform 
to  the  following  limits  in  chemical  composition : 

Car,  engine  truck  Driving  wheel  Driving  wheel 
and  tender  truck            axles.  axles. 

axles.  (Carbon  steel.)  (Nickel  steel.) 
Per  cent.                 Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

Phosphorus  shall  not  exceed. ..          0.06  0.06  0.04 

Sulphur          "     "          "      0.06  0.06  0.04 

Nickel  ....  3.00-4.00 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

3.  For  car,  engine  truck,  and  tender  truck  axles  no  tensile  test 
TeTtsile  shall  be  required. 

4.  The  minimum  physical  qualities  required  in  the  two  classes 
of  driving  wheel  axles  shall  be  as  follows : 

Driving  wheel  Driving  wheel 

axles.  axles. 

( Carbon  steel. )  ( Nickel  steel. ) 

Tensile  strength,  pounds  per  square  inch.  .          80,000  80,000 

Yield  point,  pounds  per  square  inch 40,000  50,000 

Elongation,  per  cent,  in  two  inches 18  25 

Contraction  of  area  per  cent . .  45 

5.  One  axle  selected  from  each  melt,  when  tested  by  'the  drop 
test  described  in  paragraph  No.  9,  shall  stand  the  number  of  blows 
Drop  at  the  height  specified  in  the  following  table  with- 
Test-  out  rupture  and  without  exceeding,  as  the  result  of 
the  first  blow,  the  deflection  given.     Any  melt  failing  to  meet  these 
requirements  will  be  rejected. 

Height  of 

Deflection. 
Inches. 

81/4 

81/4 

81/4 

8 

8 

7 

51/2 


Diameter  of 

Height  of 

axle  at  center. 

Number  of 

drop. 

Inches. 

blows. 

Feet. 

41/4 

5 

24 

43/8 

5 

26 

4  7/16 

5 

281/2 

45/8 

5 

31 

43/4 

5 

34 

53/8 

5 

43 

57/8 

•      7 

43 

570 


METALLURGY  OF  IRON  AND  STEEL. 


6.  Carbon  steel  and  nickel  steel  driving  wheel  axles  shall  not 
be  subject  to  the  above  drop  test. 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS  OF  TESTING. 

7.  The  standard  turned  test  specimen  one-half  inch  (%")  di- 

ameter and  two-inch  (2")  gauged  length,  shall  be 
used  to  determine  the  physical  properties  specified  in 
paragraph  No.  4.    It  is  shown  in  Fig.  XVIII-B. 
For  driving  axles  one  longitudinal  test  specimen  shall  be  cut 
„    .  from  one  axle  of  each  melt.     The  center  of  this  test 

Number  and  Loca- 
tion of  Tensile         specimen  shall  be  half  way  between  the  center  and 
specimens  outside  of  the  axle. 


T«§t  Specimen  for 
Tensile  Tests. 


8. 


FIG.  XVIII-B.— TWO-INCH  TEST  PIECE. 

9.  The  points  of  supports  on  which  the  axle  rests  during  tests 
must  be  three  feet  apart  from  center  to  center ;  the  tup  must  weigh 
Drop  Test  1640  pounds ;  the  anvil,  which  is  supported  on 

springs,  must  weigh  17,500  pounds ;  it  must  be  free 
to  move  in  a  vertical  direction;  the  springs  upon  which  it  rests 
must  be  twelve  in  number,  of  the  kind  described  on  drawing;  and 
the  radius  of  supports  and  of  the  striking  face  on  the  tup  in  the 
direction  of  the  axis  of  the  axle  must  be  five  (5)  inches.  When  an 
axle  is  tested  it  must  be  so  placed  in  the  machine  that  the  tup  will 
strike  it  midway  between  the  ends,  and  it  must  be  turned  over  after 
the  first  and  third  blows,  and  when  required,  after  the  fifth  blow. 
To  measure  the  deflection  after  the  first  blow  prepare  a  straight 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL. 

edge  as  long  as  the  axle,  by  reinforcing  it  on  one  side,  equally  at 
each  end,  so  that  when  it  is  laid  on  the  axle,  the  reinforced  parts 
will  rest  on  the  collars  or  ends  of  the  axle,  and  the  balance  of  the 
straight  edge  not  touch  the  axle  at  any  place.  Next  place  the  axle 
in  position  for  test,  lay  the  straight  edge  on  it,  and  measure  the  dis- 
tance from  the  straight  edge  to  the  axle  at  the  middle  point  of  the 
latter.  Then  after  the  first  blow,  place  the  straight  edge  on  the  now 
bent  axle  in  the  same  manner  as  before,  and  measure  the  distance 
from  it  to  that  side  of  the  axle  next  to  the  straight  edge  at  the  point 
farthest  away  from  the  latter.  The  difference  beween  the  two  meas- 
urements is  the  deflection.  The  report  of  the  drop  test  shall  state 
the  atmospheric  temperature  at  the  time  the  tests  were  made. 

10.  The  yield  point  specified  in  paragraph  No.  4  shall  be  deter- 
Yieid  mined  by  the  careful  observation  of  the  drop  of  the 
Point-  beam,  or  halt  in  the  gauge  of  the  testing  machine. 

11.  Turnings  from  the  tensile  test  specimen  of  driving  axles, 
or  drillings  taken  midway  between  the  center  and  outside  of  car, 
Sam  lefor  engine,  and  tender  truck  axles,  or  drillings  from 
chemical               the  small  test  ingot  if  preferred  by  the  inspector, 

shall  be  used  to  determine  whether  the  melt  is  with- 
in the  limits  of  chemical  composition  specified  in  paragraph  No.  2. 

FINISH. 

12.  Axles  shall  conform  in  sizes,  shapes  and  limiting  weights 
to  the  requirements  given  on  the  order  or  print  sent  with  it.    They 
shall  be  made  and  finished  in  a  workmanlike  manner,  and  shall  be 
free  from  all  injurious  cracks,  seams  or  flaws.    In  centering,  sixty 
(60)  degree  centers  must  be  used,  with  clearance  given  at  the  point 
to  avoid  dulling  the  shop  lathe  centers. 

BRANDING. 

13.  Each  axle  shall  be  legibly  stamped  with  the  melt  number 
and  initials  of  the  maker  at  the  places  marked  on  the  print  or  in- 
dicated by  the  inspector. 

INSPECTION. 

14.  The  inspector  representing  the  purchaser,  shall  have  all  rea- 
sonable facilities  afforded  to  him  by  the  manufacturer  to  satisfy 
him  that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with  these 


572  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND  STEEL. 

specifications.    All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at  the  place 
of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment. 


AMERICAN  STANDARD  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

STEEL  TIRES. 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

1.  Steel  for  tires  may  be  made  by  either  the  open-hearth  or 
crucible  process. 

CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES. 

2.  There  will  be  three  classes  of  steel  tires  which  shall  conform 
to  the  following  limits  in  chemical  composition  : 

Passenger  Freight  engine  Switching 

engines.  and  car  wheels.         engines. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

Manganese  shall  not  exceed  ____         0.80  0.80                     0.80 

Silicon  shall  not  be  less  than...         0.20  0.20                     0.20 

Phosphorus  shall  not  exceed  ____          0.05  0.05                     0.05 

Sulphur  shall  not  exceed  .......          0.05  0.05                     0.05 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

3.  The  minimum  physical  qualities  required  in  each  of  the 

three  classes  of  steel  tires  shall  be  as  follows  : 


Pas-  Freight  engine  Switch- 

.                                                                                 senger              and  car  Ing  en- 

engines.             wheels.  gines. 

Tensile  strength,  pounds  per  square  inch.      100,000             110,000  120,000 

Elongation,  per  cent,  in  two  inches  .......               12                      10  8 

4.  In  the  event  of  the  contract  calling  for  a  drop  test,  a  test  tire 
from  each  melt  will  be  furnished  at  the  purchaser's  expense,  pro- 
Drop  vided  it  meets  the  requirements.  This  test  tire  shall 

stand  the  drop  test  described  in  paragraph  No.  7, 
without  breaking  or  cracking,  and  shall  show  a  minimum  deflection 
equal  to  D2-f-(40T2+2D),  the  letter  "D"  being  internal  diameter 
and  the  letter  "T"  thickness  of  tire  at  center  of  tread. 


CLASSIFICATION    6F    STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  573 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS  OF  TESTING. 

5.  The  standard  turned  test  specimen,  one-half  inch  (%")  di- 
Tist  specimen  for     ameter  and  two-inch  (2")  gauged  length,  shall  be 
Tensile  Tests.          used  to  determine  the  physical  properties  specified 
in  paragraph  No.  3.    It  has  been  already  shown  in  Fig.  XV1II-B. 

6.  When  the  drop  test  is  specified,  this  test   specimen  shall 
be  cut  cold  from  the,  tested  tire  at  the  point  least  affected  by  the 

drop  test.  If  the  diameter  of  the  tire  is  such  that 
^ne  wn°le  circumference  of  the  tire  is  seriously  af- 
fected by  the  drop  test,  or  if  no  drop  test  is  required, 
the  test  specimen  shall  be  forged  from  a  test  ingot  cast  when  pour- 
ing the  melt,  the  test  ingot  receiving,  as  nearly  as  possible,  the  same 
proportion  of  reduction  as  the  ingots  from  which  the  tires  are  made. 

7.  The  test  tire  shall  be  placed  vertically  under  the  drop  in  a 
running  position  on  a  solid  foundation  of  at  least  ten  tons  in  weight 
Drop  Test  and  subjected  to  successive  blows  from  a  tup  weigh- 
Described.  jng  2240  pounds,  falling  from  increasing  heights 
until  the  required  deflection  is  obtained. 

8.  Turnings  from  the  tensile  specimen,  or  drillings  from  the 
small  test  ingot,  or  turnings  from  the  tire  if  preferred  by  the  in- 
chTmica'r  spector,  shall  be  used  to  determine  whether  the  melt 
Analysis.  is  within  the  limits  of  chemical  composition  speci- 
fied in  paragraph  No.  2. 

FINISH. 

9.  All  tires  shall  be  free  from  cracks,  flaws,  or  other  injurious 
imperfections,  and  shall  conform  to  dimensions  shown  on  draw- 
ings furnished  by  the  purchaser. 

BRANDING. 

10.  Tires  shall  be  stamped  with  the  maker's  brand  and  number 
in  such  a  manner  that  each  individual  tire  may  be  identified. 

INSPECTION. 

11.  The  inspector  representing  the  purchaser,  shall  have  all  rea- 
sonable facilities  afforded  to  him  by  the  manufacturer  to  satisfy  him 
that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with  these 
specifications.    All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at  the  place 
of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment. 


574  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND  STEEL. 

AMEEICAN  STANDAKD  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

STEEL  FOKGINGS. 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURED 

1.  Steel  for  forgings  may  be  made  by  the  open-hearth,  crucible 
or  Bessemer  process. 

CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES. 

2.  There  will  be  four  classes  of  steel  forgings  which  shall  con- 
form to  the  following  limits  in  chemical  composition : 


II! 


a  fl 

•a  5  * 

b  "6  -H 

°    eS  O 

fa  5  d 


a«|l 

a  a  S  a 

|I5S 

r°    cS  ~    fc. 
fa    o    O    O 


a 


"     ' 


Phosphorus  shall  not  exceed. 

Sulphur 

Nickel 


fa  a  o  o 

Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

0.10  0.06  0.04  0.04 

0.10  0.06  0.04  0.04 

3.00-4.00 


3. 

Tensile 
Tests. 


PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

The  minimum  physical  qualities  required  of  the  different 
sized  forgings  of  each  class  shall  be  as  follows: 


Pounds  per 

square  inch. 

58,000         29,000 


75,000      -  37,500 


§       | 

S        tJ    • 

1    ss 

g^  flS 

•S  a   o  o 

Per 

cent. 

28     35 


SOFT   STEEL  OR  Low   CARBON   STEEL. 
For  solid  or  hollow  forgings,  no  diameter  or 
thickness  of  section  to  exceed  10". 


18 


CARBON  STEEL  NOT  ANNEALED. 
For  solid  or  hollow  forgings,  no  diameter  or 
30       thickness  of  section   to  exceed  10". 


Elastic  CARBON  STEEL  ANNEALED. 

limit  For  solid  or  hollow  forgings,  no  diameter  or 

80,000         40,000  22     35       thickness  of  section  to  exceed  10". 

For  solid  forgings,  no  diameter  to  exceed  20" 
75,000         37,500  23     35       or  thickness  of  section  15". 

70,000         35,000  24     30  For  solid  forgings,  over  20"  diameter. 

CARBON  STEEL,  OIL  TEMPERED. 
For  solid  or  hollow  forgings,  no  diameter  or 
90,000         55,000  20     45       thickness  of  section  to  exceed  3". 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL. 


575 


£S  a 
Pounds  per 
square  inch. 

^5,000    50,000 


80,000    45,000 


80,000    50,000 

80,000    45,000 
80,000    45,000 


95,000    65,000 


90,000    60,000 


85,000    55,000 


g  fl  o  o  CARBON  STEEL,  OIL  TEMPERED. 

Per  For  solid  forgings  of  rectangular  sections  not 

cent.          exceeding   6"   in   thickness   or   hollow   forgings, 

the  walls  of  which  do  not  exceed  6"  in  thick- 

22  45       ness. 

For  solid  forgings  of  rectangular  sections  not 
exceeding  10"  in  thickness  or  hollow  forgings, 
the  walls  of  which  do  not  exceed  10"  in  thick- 

23  40       ness. 

NICKEL  STEEL  ANNEALED. 

For  solid  or  hollow  forgings,  no  diameter  or 
25  45  thickness  of  section  to  exceed  10". 

For  solid  forgings,  no  diameter  to  exceed  20" 
25  45  or  thickness  of  section  15". 

24  40  For  solid  forgings,  over  20"  diameter. 

NICKEL  STEEL,  OIL  TEMPERED. 
For  solid  or  hollow  forgings,  no  diameter  or 

21  50       thickness  of  section  to  exceed  3". 

For  solid  forgings  of  rectangular  sections  not 
exceeding  6"  in  thickness  or  hollow  forgings, 
the  walls  of  which  do  not  exceed.  6"  in  thick- 

22  50       ness. 

For  solid  forgings  of  rectangular  sections  not 
exceeding  10"  in  thickness  or  hollow  forgings, 
the  walls  of  which  do  not  exceed  10"  in  thick- 
24     45       ness. 


4.  A  specimen  one  inch  by  one-half  inch  (I"xy2")  shall  bend 
Bending  cold  180°  without  fracture  on  outside  of  bent  por- 

Test-  tion,  as  follows: 

Around  a  diameter  of  y2",  f°r  forgings  of  soft  steel. 

Around  a  diameter  of  1%",  for  forgings  of  carbon  steel  not  an- 
nealed. 

Around  a  diameter  of  1%",  for  forgings  of  carbon  steel  if  20" 
in  diameter  or  over. 

Around  a  diameter  of  1",  for  forgings  of  carbon  steel  annealed, 
if  under  20"  diameter. 

Around  a  diameter  of  I"  for  forgings  of  carbon  steel  oil-tem- 
pered. 

Around  a  diameter  of  %",  for  forgings  of  nickel  steel  annealed. 

Around  a  diameter  of  1",  for  forgings  of  nickel  steel  oil-tem- 
pered. 


576  METALLURGY  OF  IRON  AND  STEEL. 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS  OF  TESTING. 

5.  The  standard  turned  test  specimen,  one-half  inch  (i/2")  di- 
ameter and  two-inch  (2")  gauged  length,  shall  be  used  to  deter- 
Test  specimen  for    mine  the  physical  properties  specified  in  paragraph 
Tensile  Test.  No.  3.    It  has  already  been  shown  in  Fig.  XYI1I-B. 

6.  The  number  and  location  of  test  specimens  to  be  taken  from 
a  melt,  blow,  or  a  forging  shall  depend  upon  its  character  and  im- 

d  portance  and  must  therefore  be  regulated  by  indi- 

Locationof  vidual  cases.     The  test  specimens  shall  be  cut  cold 

Tensile  specimens.   from  the  forging  or  full-sized  prolongation  of  same, 

parallel  to  the  axis  of  the  forging  and  half  way  between  the  center 
and  outside,  the  specimens  to  be  longitudinal,  i.e.,  the  length  of  the 
specimen  to  correspond  with  the  direction  in  which  the  metal  is 
most  drawn  out  or  worked.  When  f  orgings  have  large  ends  or  col- 
lars, the  test  specimens  shall  be  taken  from  a  prolongation  of  the 
same  diameter  or  section  as  that  of  the  forging  back  of  the  large 
end  or  collar.  In  the  case  of  hollow  shafting,  either  forged  or 
bored,  the  specimen  shall  be  taken  within  the  finished  section  pro- 
longed, half  way  between  the  inner  and  outer  surface  of  the  wall  of 
the  forging. 

7.  The  specimen  for  bending  test  one  inch  by  one-half  inch 
Test  specimen         (r'x1/^")  shall  be  cut  as  specified  in  paragraph  No. 
for  Bending.  Q     rpke  ken(}jng  ^est  may  be  made  by  pressure  or  by 
blows. 

8.  The  yield  point  specified  in  paragraph  No.  3  shall  be  deter- 
Yieid  mined  by  the  careful  observation  of  the  drop  of  the 

beam,  or  halt  in  the  gauge  of  the  testing  machine. 

9.  The  elastic  limit  specified  in  paragraph  No.  3  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  means  of  an  extensometer,  which  is  to  be  attached  to  the 
Elastic  test  specimen  in  such  manner  as  to  show  the  change 

in  rate  of  extension  under  uniform  rate  of  loading, 
and  will  be  taken  at  that  point  where  the  proportionality  changes. 

10.  Turnings  from  the  tensile  specimen  or  drillings  from  the 
sample  for  bending  specimen  or  drillings  from  the  small  test 
A^aTlrif  in£ot>  if  preferred  by  the  inspector,  shall  be  used  to 

determine  whether  or  not  the  steel  is  within  the  lim- 
its in  chemical  composition  specified  in  paragraph  No.  2. 

FINISH. 

11.  Forgings  shall  be  free  from  cracks,  flaws,  seams  or  other 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRUCTURAL  STEEL.  577 

injurious  imperfections,  and  shall  conform  to  dimensions  shown  on 
drawings  furnished  by  the  purchaser,  and  be  made  and  finished  in 
a  workmanlike  manner. 

INSPECTION. 

12.  The  inspector  representing  the  purchaser  shall  have  all  rea- 
sonable facilities  afforded  to  him  by  the  manufacturer  to  satisfy 
him  that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with  these 
specifications.  All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at  the  place 
of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment. 

AMERICAN  STANDARD  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

STEEL  CASTINGS. 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

1.  Steel  for  castings  may  be  made  by  the  open-hearth,  crucible 
or  Bessemer  process.     Castings  to  be  annealed  or  unannealed  as 
specified. 

CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES. 

2.  Ordinary  castings,  those  in  which  no  physical  requirements 
rdinary  are  specified,  shall  not  contain  over  0.40  per  cent,  of 

castings.  carbon,  nor  over  0.08  per  cent,  of  phosphorus. 

3.  Castings  which  are  subjected  to  physical  test  shall  not  con- 
Tested  tain  over  0.05  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  nor  over  0.05 

Castings.  per  cen^  Of  sulphur. 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

4.  Tested  castings  shall  be  of  three  classes :  "HARD/'  "MEDIUM" 
Tensile  and  "SOFT."     The  minimum  physical  qualities  re- 
Tests-  quired  in  each  class  shall  be  as  follows : 

Hard  Medium  Soft 

castings.  castings.  castings. 

Tensile  strength,  pounds  per  square  inch 85,000  70,000  60,000 

Yield  point,  pounds  per  square  inch 38,250  31,500  27,000 

Elongation,  per  cent,  in  two  inches 15  18  22 

Contraction  of  area,  per  cent 20  25  30 

5.  A  test  to  destruction  may  be  substituted  for  the  tensile  test, 


578  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

in  the  case  of  small  or  unimportant  castings,  by  selecting  three  cast- 
Drop  ings  from  a  lot.  This  test  shall  show  the  material 
Test-  to  be  ductile  and  free  from  injurious  defects,  and 
suitable  for  the  purposes  intended.  A  lot  shall  consist  of  all  cast- 
ings from  the  same  melt  or  blow,  annealed  in  the  same  furnace 
charge. 

6.  Large  castings  are  to  be  suspended  and  hammered  all  over. 
Percussive  No  cracks,  flaws,  defects,  nor  weakness  shall  appear 
Test-                     after  such  treatment. 

7.  A  specimen  one  inch  by  one-half  inch  (l"x%")  shall  bend 
cold  around  a  diameter  of  one  inch  (1")  without  fracture  on  out- 
Bending  side  of  bent  portion,  through  an  angle  of  120°  for 
Te8t-                   "SOFT"  castings,  and  of  90°  for  "MEDIUM"  castings. 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS  OF  TESTING. 

8.  The  standard  turned  test  specimen,  one-half  inch  (%")  Di- 

ameter and  two-inch  (2")  gauged  length,  shall  be 
use(^  *o  determine  the  physical  properties  specified  in 
paragraph  No.  4.     It  has  already  been  shown  in 
Fig.  XVIII-B. 

9.  The  number  of  standard  test  specimens  shall  depend  upon 
the  character  and  importance  of  the  castings..   A  test  piece  shall 
Number  and          be  cut  cold  f  rom  a  couPon  to  be  molded  and  cast  on 
Location  of  some  portion  of  one  or  more  castings  from  each  melt 

Tensile  Specimens.      •   ,,  »  .,        .,,        -,      ,.  ,        -, 

or  blow  or  from  the  sink-heads  (in  case  heads  of  suf- 
ficient size  are  used).  The  coupon  or  sink-head  must  receive  the 
same  treatment  as  the  casting  or  castings,  before  the  specimen  is 
cut  out,  and  before  the  coupon  or  sink-head  is  removed  from  the 
casting. 

10.  One  specimen  for  bending  test  one  inch  by  one-half  inch 
(l"xl/2")  shall  be  cut  cold  from  the  coupon  or  sink-head  of  the 

Test  specimen         casting  or  castings  as  specified  in  paragraph  No.  9. 
or  Bending.  The  bending  tegt  may  be  made  by  pressure,  or  by 

blows. 

11.  The  yield  point  specified  in  paragraph  No.  4  shall  be  deter- 
Yield  mined  by  the  careful  observation  of  the  drop  of  the 

beam  or  halt  in  the  gauge  of  the  testing  machine. 

12.  Turnings  from  the  tensile  specimen,   drillings  from  the 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL.  5i9 

bending  specimen,  or  drillings  from  the  small  test  ingot,  if  pre- 
sampiefor  f erred  by  the  inspector,  shall  be  used  to  determine 

chemical  whether  or  not  the  steel  is  within  the  limits  in  phos- 

phorus and  sulphur  specified  in  paragraphs  Nos.  2 
and  3. 

FINISH. 

13.  Castings  shall  be  true  to  pattern,  free  from  blemishes,  flaws 
or  shrinkage  cracks.    Bearing  surfaces  shall  be  solid,  and  no  poros- 
ity shall  be  allowed  in  positions  where  the  resistance  and  value  of 
the  casting  for  the  purpose  intended,  will  be  seriously  affected 
thereby. 

INSPECTION. 

14.  The  inspector  representing  the  purchaser,  shall  have  all  rea- 
sonable facilities  afforded  to  him  by  the  manufacturer  to  satisfy  him 
that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with  these 
specifications.    All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at  the  place 
of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment. 


AMEEICAN  STANDAED  SPECIFICATIONS 

FOR 

WKOTJGHT  IKON. 

PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE. 

1.  Wrought-iron  shall  be  made  by  the  puddling  or  by  the  char- 
coal hearth  process  or  rolled  from  fagots  or  piles  made  from 
wrought-iron  scrap,  alone  or  with  muck  bar  added. 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES. 

2.  The  minimum  physical  qualities  required  in  the  four  classes 
Tensile  of  wrought-iron  shall  be  as  follows : 

Merchant  Merchant  Merchant 

Stay-bolt  iron.  iron.  iron. 

iron.  Grade  "A."  Grade  "B."  Grade  "C." 
Tensile   strength,    pounds   per 

square   inch    46,000  50,000  48,000  48,000 

Yield       point,  '    pounds       per 

square  inch    . '. 25,000  25,000  25,000  25,000 

.Elongation,  per  cent,  in  eight 

Inches    .             28  25  20  20 


580  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

3.  In  sections  weighing  less  than  0.654  pound  per  linear  foot, 
the  percentage  of  elongation  required  in  the  four  classes  specified 
in  paragraph  No.  2,  shall  be  21  per  cent.,  18  per  cent.,  15  per  cent, 
and  12  per  cent.,  respectively. 

4.  The  four  classes  of  iron  when  nicked  and  tested  as  described 
Nicking  -in  paragraph  No.  9  shall  show  the  following  frac- 
Test-  ture : 

(a)  Stay-bolt  iron,  a  long,  clean,  silky  fiber,  free  from  slag  or 
dirt,  and  wholly  fibrous,  being  practically  free  from  crystalline 
spots. 

(ft)  Merchant  iron,  Grade  "A,"  a  long,  clean,  silky  fiber,  free 
from  slag  or  dirt  or  any  coarse  crystalline  spots.  A  few  fine  crys- 
talline spots  may  be  tolerated,  provided  they  do  not  in  the  aggregate 
exceed  10  per  cent,  of  the  sectional  area  of  the  bar. 

(c)  Merchant  iron,  Grade  "B,"  a  generally  fibrous  fracture, 
free  from  coarse  crystalline  spots.     Not  over  10  per  cent,  of  the 
fractured  surface  shall  be  granular. 

(d)  Merchant  iron,  Grade  "C,"  a  generally  fibrous  fracture,  free 
from  coarse  crystalline  spots.    Not  over  15  per  cent,  of  the  fractured 
surface  shall  be  granular. 

5.  The  four  classes  of  iron,  when  tested  as  described  in  para- 
cold  Bending  graph  No.  10,  shall  conform  to  the  following  bend- 
Te8t-  ing  tests  : 

(e)  Stay-bolt  iron;  a  piece  of  stay-bolt  iron  about  24  inches 
long  shall  bend  in  the  middle  through  180°  flat  on  itself,  and  then 
bend  in  the  middle  through  180°  flat  on  itself  in  a  plane  at  a  right 
angle  to  the  former  direction,  without  a  fracture  on  outside  of  the 
bent  portions.     Another  specimen  with  a  thread  cut  over  the  entire 
length  shall  stand  this  double  bending  without  showing  deep  cracks 
in  the  threads. 

(f)  Merchant  iron,  Grade  "A,"  shall  bend  cold  180°  flat  on 
itself  without  fracture  on  outside  of  the  bent  portion. 

(g)  Merchant  iron,  Grade  "B,"  shall  bend  cold  180°  around 
a  diameter  equal  to  the  thickness  of  the  tested  specimen,  without 
fracture  on  outside  of  the  bent  portion. 

(h)  Merchant  iron,  Grade  "C,"  shall  bend  cold  130°  around 
a  diameter  equal  to  twice  the  thickness  of  the  specimen  tested,  with- 
out fracture  on  outside  of  the  bent  portion. 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   STRUCTURAL   STEEL. 


581 


6.  The  four  classes  of  iron,  when  tested  as  described  in  para- 
Hot  Bending        graph  No.  11,  shall  conform  to  the  following  hot 
Te8t-  bending  tests : 

(i)  Stay-bolt  iron  shall  bend  through  180°  flat  on  itself,  with- 
out showing  cracks  or  flaws.  A  similar  specimen  heated  to  a  yel- 
low heat  and  suddenly  quenched  in  water  between  80°  and  90°  F. 
shall  bend,  without  hammering  on  the  bend,  180°  flat  on  itself 
without  showing  cracks  or  flaws. 

(/)  Merchant  iron,  Grade  "A,"  shall  bend  through  180°  flat 
on  itself,  without  showing  cracks  or  flaws.  A  similar  specimen 
heated  to  a  yellow  heat  and  suddenly  quenched  in  water  between 
80°  and  90°  F.  shall  bend,  without  hammering  on  the  bend,  180° 
flat  on  itself  without  showing  cracks  or  flaws.  A  similar  specimen 
heated  to  a  bright  red  heat  shall  be  split  at  the  end  and  each  part 
bent  back  through  an  angle  of  180°.  It  will  also  be  punched  and 
expanded  by  drifts  until  a  round  hole  is  formed  whose  diameter 
is  not  less  than  nine-tenths  of  the  diameter  of  the  rod  or  width  of 
the  bar.  Any  extension  of  the  original  split  or  indications  of  frac- 
ture, cracks,  or  flaws  developed  by  the  above  tests  will  be  sufficient 
cause  for  the  rejection  of  the  lot  represented  by  that  rod  or  bar. 

(Te)  Merchant  iron,  Grade  "B,"  shall  bend  through  180°  flat 
on  itself,  without  showing  cracks  or  flaws.  • 

(I)  Merchant  iron,  Grade  "C,"  shall  bend  sharply  to  a  right 
angle,  without  showing  cracks  or  flaws. 

7.  Stay-bolt  iron  shall  permit  of  the  cutting  of  a  clean  sharp 

thread  and  be  rolled  true  to  gauge  desired,  so  as  not 

Threading  Test.  .          . 

to- jam  in  the  threading  dies. 

TEST  PIECES  AND  METHODS  OF  TESTING. 

8.  Whenever  possible,  iron  shall  be  tested  in  full  size  as  rolled, 
to  determine  the  physical  qualities  specified  in  paragraphs  Nos.  2 

and  3,  the  elongation  being  measured  on  an  eight- 

inch  <8")  gauSed  kagto-     In  flats  and  shaPes  to° 
large  to  test  as  rolled,  the  standard  test  specimen 

shall  be  one  and  one-half  inches  (!%")  wide  and  eight  inches  (8") 
gauged  length. 

In  large  rounds,  the  standard  test  specimen  of  two  inches  (2") 
gauged  length  shall  be  used ;  the  center  of  this  specimen  shall  be 
half  way  between  the  center  and  outside  of  the  round.  Sketches  of 


582  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

these  two  standard  test  specimens  have  been  already  shown  in  Fig. 
XVIII-A  and  Fig.  XVIII-B. 

9.  Nicking  tests  shall  be  made  on  specimens  cut  from  the  iron 
as  rolled.     The  specimen  shall  be  slightly  and  evenly  nicked  on 

one  side  and  bent  back  at  this  point  through  an 
angle  of  180°  by  a  succession  of  light  blows. 

10.  Cold  bending  tests  shall  be  made  on  specimens  cut  from  the 
cold  Bending         bar  as  rolled.     The  specimen  shall  be  bent  through 
Tests.  an  angle  of  180°  by  pressure  or  by  a  succession  of 

light  blows. 

11.  Hot  bending  tests  shall  be  made  on  specimens  cut  from  the 
bar  as  rolled.     The  specimens,  heated  to  a  bright  red  heat,  shall  be 
Hot  Bending  bent  through  an  angle  of  180°  by  pressure  or  by  a 
Tests.  succession  of  light  blows  and  without  hammering 
directly  on  the  bend. 

If  desired,  a  similar  bar  of  any  of  the  four  classes  of  iron,  shall 
be  worked  and  welded  in  the  ordinary  manner  without  showing 
signs  of  red  shortness. 

12.  The  yield  point  specified  in  paragraph  No.  2  shall  be  deter- 
Yieid  mined  by  the  careful  observation  of  the  drop  of  the 
Point-  beam  or  haft  in  the  gauge  of  the  testing  machine. 

FINISH. 

13.  All  wrought  iron  must  be  practically  straight,  smooth,  free 
from  cinder  spots  or  injurious  flaws,  buckles,  blisters  or  cracks. 

In  round  iron,  sizes  must  conform  to  the  Standard  Limit  gauge 
as  adopted  by  the  Master  Car  Builders'  Association  in  November, 
1883. 

INSPECTION. 

14.  Inspectors    representing    the    purchasers,    shall    have    all 
reasonable  facilities  afforded  them  by  the  manufacturer  to  satisfy 
them  that  the  finished  material  is  furnished  in  accordance  with 
these  specifications.     All  tests  and  inspections  shall  be  made  at  the 
place  of  manufacture,  prior  to  shipment. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

WELDING. 

SECTION  XlXa. — Influence  of  structure  on  the  welding  proper- 
ties.— Wrought-iron  may  be  welded  so  that  the  point  of  union  is 
as  strong  as  the  rest  of  the  bar,  for  by  upsetting  the  piece  there  can 
be  an  extra  amount  of  work  put-  upon  the  metal,,  and  since  the 
strength  of  the  original  bar  was  dependent  upon  the  perfection  of 
a  great  number  of  welds,,  it  follows  that  the  additional  local  heating 
and  hammering  may  give  a  superior  strength.  Unfortunately, 
this  is  rarely  the  case,  and  it  is  seldom  that  failure  does  not  take 
place  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  weld  under  destructive  tests.  It 
often  does  happen  that  a  rod  will  break  a  short  distance  away  from 
the  actual  point  of  union,  but  in  spite  of  current  supposition  this  by 
no  means  shows  perfect  workmanship,  for  it  usually  arises  from  the 
overheating  of  the  iron  at  the  point  of  fracture,  without  sufficient 
subsequent  work  to  develop  a  proper  structure. 

In  working  steel  the  conditions  are  fundamentally  different,  for 
the  bar  is  not  a  collection  of  fibres  and  welds,  but  a  thing  complete 
in  itself,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  any  improvement  in  a 
properly  worked  piece  by  cutting  it  in  halves  and  putting  it  together 
again.  It  is  quite  conceivable  that  a  bar  may  originally  be  under- 
worked or  overheated,  and  that  additional  local  work  can  enhance 
the  strength  at  the  point  of  welding,  but  this  assumption  of  a  bad 
material  to  start  with  may  be  neglected.  'It  is  also  possible  to 
finish  the  hammering  on  a  welded  piece  at  a  very  low  temperature 
and  thereby  exalt  the  ultimate  strength  beyond  the  true  value,  but 
inasmuch  as  this  will  give  a'  less  ductile  and  unreliable  material, 
it  will  not  be  considered. 

It  is  also  possible,  much  more  than  with  wrought-iron,  to  have 
the  weld  stronger  than  a  certain  adjacent  part  of  the  bar,  for  the 
best  of  steel  will  be  crystallized  by  high  heat  somewhat  more  readily 
than  wrought-iron,  and  hence  it  can  and  often  does  happen  that  the 
metal  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  weld  has  a  bad  structure  due  to 

583 


584  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

lack  of  hammering  after  high  heating.  The  higher  the  critical 
temperature  necessary  to  produce  crystallization,  the  less  is  the 
danger  from  this  source,  so  that,  aside  from  the  mere  facility  of 
welding  at  point  of  contact,  the  freedom  from  phosphorus  and 
sulphur  is  a  matter  of  prime  importance,  since  both  of  these 
elements  render  the  metal  less  able  to  withstand  high  temperatures. 

The  fundamental  difference  in  crystallizing  power  between 
wrought-iron  and  steel  makes  a  close  comparison  of  the  two  im- 
possible, but  nevertheless  it  may  be  profitable  to  quote  from  Holley 
the  following  conclusions  concerning  iron  :* 

"(1)  None  of  the  ingredients  except  carbon  in  the  proportions 
present  seems  to  very  notably  affect  the  welding  by  ordinary  meth- 
ods. [The  maximum  percentages  were  P,  .317 ;  Si,  .321 ;  Mn,  .097 ; 
S,  .015;  Cu,  .43;  Ni,  .34;  Co,  .11;  Slag,  2.262.] 

"(2)  The  welding  power  by  ordinary  methods  is  varied  as  much 
by  the  amount  of  reduction  in  rolling  as  by  the  ordinary  differences 
in  composition. 

"(3)  The  ordinary  practice  of  welding  is  capable  of  radical  im- 
provement, the  most  promising  field  being  in  the  direction  of  weld- 
ing in  a  non-oxidizing  atmosphere." 

SEC.  XlXb. — Tensile  tests  on  welded  bars  of  steel  and  iron. — A 
glance  at  the  allowable  contents  of  metalloids,  as  given  in  the  fore- 
going synopsis,  will  show  the  wide  gulf  that  separates  iron  from 
steel,  and  this  will  be  still  further  indicated  by  Table  XIX-A, 
which  gives  the  tensile  tests  on  a  series  of  welded  steel  bars  of 
different  compositions,  the  investigation  having  been  conducted  un- 
der my  own  direction.  The  total  lack  of  certainty  and  regularity 
in  the  results  is  evident,  and  it  should  therefore  be  said  that  the 
smiths  were  men  of  long  experience  in  handling  steel,  and  they  fully 
understood  that  the  individual  results  were  to  be  compared.  The 
bars  were  of  a  size  most  easily  heated  and  quickly  handled,  but  not- 
withstanding these  most  favorable  personal  and  physical  condi- 
tions, the  record  is  extremely  unsatisfactory. 

In  the  case  of  the  rounds,  each  workman  has  at  least  one  bad 
weld  against  him,  while  there  is  only  one  heat  which  gave  uniformly 
good  results.  Picking  out  the  worst  individual  weld  of  each  work- 
man, blacksmith  "A"  obtained  only  70  per  cent,  of  the  value  of 
the  original  bar,  "B"  54  per  cent.,  "C"  58  per  cent.,  and  "D"  onlv 

*  The  Strength  of  Wrought-iron  as  Affected  fy/  its  Composition  and  "by  its  Re 
duction  in  Rolling.     Trans.  A.  I.  M.  E.,  Vol.  VI,  p.  101. 


WELDING. 


585 


44  per  cent.  The  forging  steel  showed  one  weld  with  only  48  per 
cent.,  the  common  soft  steel  44  per  cent.,  while  even  the  pure  basic 
steel  gave  one  test  as  low  as  59  per  cent.  In  some  cases  where  the 
break  took  place  away  from  the  weld,  the  elongation  was  nearly  up 
to  the  standard,  this  being  true  of  the  four  tests  of  the  seventh 
group,  and  it  should  be  noted  that  this  metal  contained  .35  per  cent, 
of  copper,  but  in  the  other  pieces  the  stretch  was  low  and  the 
fracture  so  silvery  that  it  was  plain  the  structure  of  the  bar  had 

TABLE  XIX-A. 
Tensile  Tests  on  Welded  Bars  of  Steel  and  Wrought-Iron. 

Figures  in  parentheses  indicate  that  the  bar  broke  in  the  weld.    N=natural  bar; 
W=welded  bar.    *  denotes  that  elongation  is  measured  in  2  inches. 


K*ind  of 
steel. 

Conditions  of-test 

Composition;  per  cent. 

N=natural.  W= 
welded. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Elongation  in  8 
inches;  per  cent. 

Reduction  of  area; 
per  cent. 

Name  of  smith. 

C. 

Mn. 

P. 

S. 

Cu. 

Acid 
O    H. 
forging 

III! 
*a  " 

.20 

.89 

.089 

.03 

.33 

N 
W 
W 

w 

AV 

46670 
45890 
45580 

70450 
(60940) 
(55090) 
(40840) 
(42190) 

26.25 
*10.00 
*9.00 
*7.00 
*3.00 

53.50 
19.73 
7.55 
8.12 
4.04 

A 
B 
C 
D 

.   .   . 

.   .   . 

Acid 
Bess, 
forging 

.fill 
*a  * 

.25 

1.86 

.083 

'  .05 

.35 

N 
W 
W 

w 
w 

56140 
56750 

86600 
(68810) 
(55020) 
(62060) 
(41930) 

22.25 
*4.00 
*6.00 
*5.00 
*3.00 

85.40 
29.29 
0.78 
6.50 
2.10 

'A* 

B 

c 

D 

Acid 
O    H. 

soft. 

ifti 
sr* 

.09 

.46 

.08 

.35 

N 
W 

w 
w 

w 

40980 
38230 
44660 
45030 

60680 
61060 
60380 
65610 
(26640) 

30.00 
*60.33 
*36.00 

'*i2.bo 

53.20 
56.51 
58.50 
56.28 
4.53 

'A  ' 

B 
C 

r> 

Acid 
O.  H. 
soft. 

Ifii 

*8  *• 

.09 

.39 

.076 

.  .   . 

.35 

N. 
W 

w 
w 
w 

38940 
37550 
37400 
40910 
39220 

56900 
57650 
(42740) 
(43910) 
58790 

28.75 
*39.00 
*9.00 
*10.50 
*34.00 

59.89 
62.18 
13.48 
14.55 
62.29 

'A' 

B 

c 

D 

Acid 
0    H. 
soft. 

Iffi 

*i  * 

.09 

.40 

.08 

.'.   . 

.35 

N 
W 

w 

w 
w 

41670 
33740 

88300 
34460 

56300 
(89490) 
(30550) 
53880 
50020 

80.00 
*6.00 
*7.00 
*37.00 
*16.00 

62.56 
8.63 
10.79 
65.46 
23.22 

'  A' 
B 
C 
D 

Basic 
0.  H. 
soft. 

li'&s 
iP* 

•KM 

.08 

.55 

.019 

.35 

N 
W 

w 
w 

w 

33880 
87660 

35370 
31820 

51760 
58650 
(30640) 
(51850) 
49690 

82.75 

*32.00 
*8.00 
*27.00 
*41.00 

65.85 
59.55 
18.88 
46.77 
67.85 

'A' 

B 

c 

D 

.   .   . 

Basic 
O.  H. 
soft. 

fi'e-2 

£%$v 
^  * 

.06 

.30 

.014 

.35 

N 
W 

w 
w 
w 

32580 
41930 
a5470 
38280 
89720 

48990 
64530 
52100 
54200 
55110 

81.75 
*36.00 
*39.00 

**41.00 

71.56 
66.68 
70.81 
72.81 
70.01 

'A' 

B 
C 

D 

586 


METALLURGY  OF  IRON  AND  STEEL. 

TABLE  XIX-A.— Continued. 


Kind  of 
steel. 

Conditions  of  test. 

Composition;  percent. 

N=natural.  W= 
welded. 

Elastic  limit; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Ultimate  strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

.J 

ll 

s! 

li 

C  o 

od 

S""4 

Reduction  of  area; 
percent. 

Name  of  smith. 

C. 

Mn. 

P. 

S. 

Cu, 

Basic 
0.  H. 
soft. 

If  si 

*r» 

.08 

.50 

.027 

.35 

N 
W 
W 
W 

w 

39820 
37330 
40880 
44510 

62000 
(49210) 
69460 
68380 
(55560) 

80.00 
*9.00 
*30.00 

'*i7.'od 

55.96 
8.22 
48.15 
48.54 

A 
B 
C 
D 

Acid 
Bess, 
soft. 

I 

I! 

Is 

.06 

.36 

.032 

.054 

.C9 

N 
W 

40780 
42780 

59140 
60560 

29.50 
7.50 

47.65 
21.60 

.06 

.40 

.032 

.054 

.69 

.   .    . 

N 
W 

42020 
45150 

61370 

65780 

25.00 
8.50 

46.89 
24.78 

.06 

.45 

.032 

.054 

.C9 

N 
W 

40740 
46720 

60730 
58540 

26.25 
5.00 

46.72 
19.48 

.  .  . 

.06 

.86 

.032 

.054 

.69 

N 
W 

42680 
43350 

60780 
48740 

28.75 
1.25 

47.23 

20.20 

.  .  . 

Basic 
O.  H. 

soft. 

2x%-inch  flats; 
scarf  v/eld. 

.08 

.17 

.008 

.016 

.10 

N 
W 

30300 
31690 

-45070 
43290 

39.00 
11.25 

69.70 
42.16 

.11 

.32 

.011 

.029 

.08 

N 
W 

33600 

50190 
45900 

83.75 

8.50 

58.48 
34.11 

.11 

.32 

.006 

.018 

.11 

N 
W 

35730 
32120 

49580 
45280 

83.00 
10.00 

56.92 
22.18 

.09 

.29 

.005 

.021 

.10 

.N 
w 

36390 
37400 

50050 

45280 

83.00 
7.50 

59.82 
41.08 

.  .  . 

Basic 
0.  H. 

soft. 

la 

1 

f 

.12 
.13 

.36 

.005 

.022 

.08 

N 
.W 

34580 
30840 

51080 
41600 

28.50 
7.50 

48.63 
26.34 

.  .  . 

.39 

.005 

.025 

.10 

N 
W 

85470 

50770 
87000 

83.75 

7.50 

51.50 

29.88 

.12 

.29 

.005 

.016 

.10 

N 
W 

86830 
33300 

51300 
43530 

81.25 
7.00 

52  62 
29.31 

.12 

.51 

.005 

.021 

.09 

N 
W 

37650 
35200 

64770 

48280 

26.25 
7.00 

41.94 
21.74 

Wrought- 
iron 

•§§-. 

ar3 

*is 

•M 

N 
W 
W 
W 

w 
w 

33390 
32950 
34060 
82700 
32040 
32760 

50080 
89320 
40620 
45140 
44730 
88430 

23.50 
6.00 
6.25 
11.75 

11.00 
4.00 

27.26 
15.52 
22.26 
20.98 
19.25 
i».3fi 

!  ;  '. 

been  ruined.  In  most  cases  where  the  test-bar  broke  in  the  weld, 
the  pieces  parted  at  the  surfaces  of  contact,  showing  that  no  true 
union  had  taken  place ;  one  or  two  fractures  were  homogeneous, 
but  they  showed  the  coarse  crystallization  that  follows  overheating. 
The  lap  welds  represent  the  method  ordinarily  used  in  making 
pipe,  and  are  really  a  better  criterion  of  the  welding  quality  of  the 
steel  than  the  round  pieces,  for  in  making  the  union  the  pieces  were 


WELDING. 


587 


simply  laid  together  with  no  upsetting,  and  hence  there  was  less 
chance  for  the  manipulations  of  the  smith.  All  of  this  steel,  both 
Bessemer  and  open-hearth,  had  been  pronounced  suitable  for  the 
making  of  pipe,  although  it  will  be  a  revelation  to  most  metallurg- 
ists that  such  a  high  content  of  copper  could  possibly  be  allowed. 
In  all  cases  the  bars  broke  across  the  weld  with  a  more  or  less  crys- 
talline fracture,  there  being  no  instance  where  the  separation  was 
at  the  plane  of  union,  so  that,  while  thorough  welding  was  proven, 
it  was  also  evident  from  the  lessened  ductility  that  the  metal  was 
overheated  during  the  operation. 

TABLE  XIX-B. 
Welding  Tests  by  the  Eoyal  Prussian  Testing  Institute. 


Kind  of  metal. 

Ult.  strength; 
pounds  per 
square  inch. 

Per  cent,  elonga- 
tion in  200  m.  m. 
=7.87  inches. 

Per  cent,  reduc- 
tion of  area. 

fa 

Av.  9  tests, 
welded. 

•2*3 

X    7t 

>  rt 

Av.  9  tests, 
welded. 

Av.  6  tests, 
natural. 

Av.  9  tests, 
welded. 

Medium  O.  H.  steel    . 
Soft  O.  H.  steel  

72110 
64570 
57890 

41820 
45800 
47080 

20.8 
25.1 
22.2 

8.2 

5.1 

7.7 

84.9 
44.7 
89.5 

4.5 
10.5 
14.0 

Puddled  iron  

The  figures  on  the  iron  bars  show  that  the  situation  is  no  better 
than  with  steel,  for  the  welded  bars  are  far  inferior  to  the  natural 
piece  both  in  strength  and  ductility.  The  general  truth  of  these 
experiments  is  corroborated  by  Table  XIX-B,  which  gives  a  con- 
densation of  the  results  on  a  series  of  tests  made  by  the  Eoyal 
Prussian  Testing  Institute,  the  data  being  translated  into  Ameri- 
can form.* 

The  average  tensile  strength  of  the  welded  bars  of  medium  steel 
was  58  per  cent,  of  the  natural,  the  poorest  bar  showing  only  23 
per  cent.  In  the  softer  steel  the  average  was  71  per  cent,  and  the 
poorest  33  per  cent.,  while  in  the  puddled  iron  the  average  was  81 
per  cent,  and  the  poorest  62  per  cent.  The  complete  destruction 
of  ductility  is  conclusively  shown  in  the  case  of  all  three  metals, 
even  the  wrought-ir6n  being  hopelessly  wrecked. 

As  above  stated,  the  flat  bars  given  in  Table  XIX-A  were  such 
as  had  been  used  successfully  in  making  pipe  which  would  stand 

*  Journal  L  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  I.  1883,  p.  425,  et  seq. 


568  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL, 

all  the  ordinary  tests  of  distortion,  while  the  soft  basic  metal,  made 
to  fill  the  stringent  requirements  of  the  United  States  Government, 
would  meet  the  most  severe  tests.  Such  metal  is  used  regularly  in 
certain  branches  of  manufacture  where  the  best  welding  qualities 
are  required,  and  the  users  are  firmly  convinced  that  "the  weld  is 
perfect/' 

It  may  be  possible  to  produce  better  results  by  special  arrange- 
ments, but  it  must  certainly  be  acknowledged  that  a  weld  as  per- 
formed by  ordinary  blacksmiths  and  by  the  usual  methods  on  the 
best  metal  whether  iron  or  steel,  is  not  nearly  as  good  as  the  rest 
of  the  bar;  and  it  is  still  more  certain  that  welds  of  large  rods  of 
common  forging  steel  are  entirely  unreliable  and  should  not  be 
employed  in  any  structural  work.  Electric  methods  do  not  offer  a 
solution  of  the  problem,  for  during  the  process  the  metal  is  heated 
far  beyond  the  "critical  temperature  of  crystallization,  and  only  by 
heavy  reductions  under  the  hammer  or  press  can  much  be  done 
toward  restoring  the  ductility  of  the  piece.  In  many  cases  this 
subsequent  hammering  is  impracticable  owing  to  the  consequent 
deformation  of  the  piece. 

SEC.  XIXc. — Influence  of  the  metalloids  upon  the  welding  prop- 
erties.— The  way  in  which  the  impurities  of  the  metal  affect  the 
welding  power  has  been  a  matter  of  discussion,  it  having  even  been 
supposed  that  they  act  simply  by  interposition,  and,  again,  that 
they  increase  the  susceptibility  of  the  iron  to  oxidation.  I  believe 
both  of  these  theories  are  wrong.  If  the  first  were  tme,  then  one 
per  cent,  of  carbon  would  have  the  same  effect  as  one  per  cent,  of 
sulphur,  which  is  manifestly  not  the  case.  The  second  theory  does 
not  hold,  since  sulphur,  which  is  notoriously  one  of  the  worst 
enemies  of  welding,  is  not  oxidized  either  in  the  acid  Bessemer  or 
open-hearth  furnace,  and  there  is  no  ground  for  assuming  that  it 
oxidizes  in  welding.  It  will  also  be  seen  that  as  phosphorus,  car- 
bon and  manganese  protect  iron  from  burning  in  the  Bessemer  and 
open-hearth,  so  they  must  also  tend  to  be  preferentially  oxidized  in 
a  blacksmith's  fire,  and  thus  by  preventing  the  formation  of  iron 
oxide,  as  well  as  by  the  formation  of  a  liquid  flux  containing  phos- 
phoric acid  and  oxide  of  manganese,  they  should,  as  far  as  oxidation 
is  concerned,  assist  rather  than  retard  the  welding. 

A  third  theory  is  advanced  that  the  impurities  affect  the  mobility. 
When  half  of  one  per  cent,  of  carbon  is  added  to  the  metal,  it  pro- 
duces a  compactness  or  hardness,  even  when  the  steel  is  hot,  that 


WELDING.  589 

must  prevent  the  easy  flowing  together  that  follows  a  pressure  upon 
two  pieces  of  white-hot  wrought-iron  or  soft  steel.  A  higher  tem- 
perature cannot  be  used,  because  every  increase  in  carbon  reduces 
the  safe  working  temperature  at  the  same  time  that  it  increases  the 
stiffness. 

This  decrease  in  mobility  doubtless  plays  an  important  part  in 
the  explanation,  but  I  believe  that  a  greater  influence  is  to  be  found 
in  what  may  seem  at  first  sight  to  be  the  same  thing,  but  which  in 
reality  is  a  different  quality,  viz. :  The  power,  or  property,  of  pass- 
ing through  a  viscous  state  on  the  road  to  liquidity.  There  are 
other  metals,  lead  and  copper  for  instance,  which  are  malleable  and 
ductile,  but  which  do  not  go  through  a  history  of  slow  softening 
under  the  application  of  heat,  the  change  to  a  liquid  state  being 
sudden  and  without  any  marked  intermediate  stage.  Pig-iron  is 
of  the  same  character,  for  no  matter  how  low  the  other  metalloids 
may  be,  the  presence  of  three  per  cent,  of  carbon  produces  a  metal 
which  changes  suddenly  from  a  solid  to  a  liquid  state,  and  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  each  increment  of  carbon,  phosphorus 
and  manganese  tends  in  the  same  direction. 

In  addition  to  this  effect,  I  believe  that  an  equally  important 
factor  exists  in  the  action  of  carbon,  phosphorus,  sulphur  and  cop- 
per in  destroying  the  quality  of  cohesion  by  increasing  the  tendency 
to  crystallization,  for  it  is  well  known  that  these  metalloids  lower 
the  point  at  which  the  steel  becomes  what  is  incorrectly,  but  quite 
naturally,  called  "burned/'  When  the  steel  is  overheated  it 
crumbles  under  the  hammer,  and  it  is  plain  that  it  cannot  be  easily 
united  to  another  piece  when  it  is  incapable  of  remaining  united  to 
itself.  This  theory  also  explains  what  seems  to  be  a  fact,  that  a 
small  proportion  of  manganese  aids  in  welding,  for  although  it 
does  decrease  the  mobility  at  any  particular  temperature,  it  allows 
a  higher  heat  to  be  put  upon  the  metal  without  the  creation  of  a 
destructive  crystallization,  and  thus  indirectly  renders  possible  a 
greater  mobility  and  maintains  a  more  favorable  internal  mole- 
cular structure. 

The  following  conclusions  summarize  what  has  just  been  given 
and  seem  to  fit  the  theory  and  the  facts : 

(1)  With  the  exception  of  manganese  in  small  proportion,  the 
usual  impurities  in  steel  reduce  its  welding  power  by  lowering  the 
critical  temperature  at  which  it  becomes  coarsely  crystalline. 


590  METALLURGY   OF   IRON    AND   STEEL. 

(2)  A  small  content  of  manganese  aids  welding  by  preventing 
crystallization. 

(3)  Only  the  purest  and  softest  steel  can  be  welded  with  any 
reasonable  assurance  of  success. 

(4)  The  confidence  of  a  smith  in  his  own  powers  and  his  belief 
in  the  perfection  of  the  weld,  is  no  guarantee  that  the  bar  is  fit  ta 
use. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

STEEL   CASTINGS. 

SECTION  XXa. — Definition  of  a  steel  casting. — Within  the  last 
few  years  steel  castings  have  come  into  general  use  in  the  structural 
world,  but  there  is  still  a  lamentable  ignorance  concerning  their  na- 
ture. A  steel  casting  by  very  definition  must  be  made  of  steel 
which  is  cast  in  a  fluid  state  into  the  desired  shape.  This  leaves 
open  to  discussion  the  great  question  considered  in  Chapter  IV  as  to 
what  is  included  in  the  term  "steel"  but  although  the  making  of  a 
general  definition  is  complicated  by  the  possibility  of  producing 
"puddled  steel,"  there  is  no  necessity  of  introducing  this  qualifica- 
tion into  remarks  on  castings,  since  fluidity  is  an  essential  feature. 
As  for  the  distinction  between  "steel"  and  the  so-called  "ingot 
iron,"  it  is  needless  to  say  that  endless  confusion  would  be  intro- 
duced in  the  trade  if  the  soft  products  of  the  open-hearth  were  to 
be  styled  "iron  castings." 

Notwithstanding  the  plain  limits  which  have  been  set  by  metal- 
lurgy and  common  sense,  there  is  a  cloud  of  error  hanging  around 
the  term  "steel  castings,"  which  is  due  partly  to  ignorance  and 
partly  to  deliberate  fraud.  It  has  been  the  practice  of  some  persons 
to  make  castings  from  a  mixture  of  pig-iron  and  steel  melted  in  a 
cupola,  although  every  metallurgist  and  every  foundryman  of  in- 
telligence knows  that  the  metal  is  altered  very  much  by  remelting, 
and  that  the  changes  in  silicon,  manganese  and  carbon  depend  on 
all  the  varying  and  uncertain  factors  of  temperature  and  exposure. 
In  melting  ordinary  pig-iron,  the  carbon  usually  changes  very  lit- 
tle,, for,  by  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  content  of  this  metalloid  was 
adjusted  in  the  blast-furnace  to  about  the  absorptive  capacity  corre- 
sponding to  the  manganese  and  silicon,  and  as  the  conditions  in  the 
cupola  are  similar  to  those  in  the  blast  furnace,  it  follows  that  a 
metal  which  is  the  normal  product  of  one  will  not  be  fundamentally 
altered  by  passing  through  the  other. 

But  a  mixture  of  steel  and  iron  is  not  a  normal  product  of  any 

591 


592  METALLURGY    Of    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

furnace,  and  in  its  treatment  in  the  cupola  there  is  a  tendency  to 
make  radical  changes  in  the  composition  by  the  absorption  of  car- 
bon. Thus,  by  the  unnatural  union  of  pig  and  scrap,  and  by  the 
uncertain  changes  in  silicon,  manganese  and  carbon,  there  is  pro- 
duced a  hybrid  metal  which  is  useful  for  special  purposes,  but 
which  is  fundamentally  different  from  any  kind  of  steel.  It  is  true 
that  scrap  and  iron  are  melted  together  to  make  open-hearth  steel, 
but  this  is  done  under  an  oxidizing  flame  and,  either  during  the 
melting  or  afterward,  the  metalloids  are  almost  entirely  eliminated, 
giving  a  definite  starting  point  from  which  a  known  and  regular 
metal  can  be  made  by  th.e  addition  of  proper  recarburizers. 

Sometimes  castings  of  cupola  metal,  made  either  with  or  without 
scrap,  are  heated  in  contact  with  iron  oxide  in  order  to  burn  the 
contained  metalloids.  The  product  is  a  more  or  less  tough  metal, 
known  as  malleable  iron,  which  is  extensively  employed  in  making 
small,  thin,  or  complicated  shapes  that  could  scarcely  be  poured  in 
steel,  but  which  can  be  made  of  the  more  liquid  iron.  The  attempt 
has  been  made  to  call  these  "steel,"  and  the  claim  has  been  fortified 
by  analyses  showing  that  the  composition  resembles  that  of  some 
steel.  The  argument  is  too  shallow  for  consideration,  since,  on  the 
same  basis,  the  product  of  the  puddle  furnace  or  the  charcoal  bloom- 
ary  might  be  termed  "mild  steel."  Malleable  iron  must  always  be 
inferior  to  steel,  because  any  oxides  of  silicon,  manganese,  phos- 
phorus or  iron  which  are  formed  remain  diffused  throughout  the 
mass,  thereby  breaking  to  some  extent  the  bond  of  continuity. 

Such  castings  are  useful  in  a  certain  field,  for  they  are  far  tougher 
tl\an  cast-iron,  and  they  may  even  enter  into  competition  with  steel 
castings,  but  they  must  always  bear  a  different  name,  since  steel 
castings  must  necessarily  be  made  by  pouring  into  finished  shape 
the  melted  product  of  a  crucible,  a  Bessemer  converter,  or  an  open- 
hearth  furnace. 

SEC.  XXb. — Methods  of  manufacture. — The  crucible  process  is 
sometimes  employed  for  small  castings,  since  the  conditions  of  the 
"dead-melt"  give  a  much  more  quiet  metal,  evolving  less  gas  in  con- 
tact with  cold  surfaces,  and  the  casting  is  more  apt  to  be  free  from 
blow-holes.  In  certain  special  cases,  as  in  the  manufacture  of  big 
guns  at  Krupp's,  the  crucible  has  been  used  in  making  large  masses 
of  metal,  but  its  great  cost  must  prohibit  its  adoption  for  general 
structural  work. 

The  Bessemer  has  been  used  to  some  extent  in  the  past  for  mak- 


STEEL    CASTINGS. 

ing  steel  castings,  but  it  is  utterly  unfitted  for  the  work  on  account 
of  the  great  cost  of  the  operation  when  only  two  or  three  heats  are 
required  during  the  day.  One  way  of  obviating  this  is  by  taking 
an  occasional  heat  from  a  Bessemer  plant  which  is  running  regu- 
larly on  other  products,  but  this  supposes,  what  is  seldom  the  case, 
that  the  mixture  is  low  in  phosphorus.  The  day  has  passed  away 
when  a  casting  could  be  made  of  ordinary  steel,  and  as  it  is  now 
necessary  to  make  a  careful  selection  of  the  stock  so  that  the  content 
of  phosphorus  shall  not  exceed  .04  per  cent.,  the  melting  furnace  is 
the  cheapest  as  well  as  the  most  efficient  instrument  of  production. 

Within  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  a  revival  of  Bessemer 
castings  due  to  special  developments  along  certain  lines  of  pro- 
cedure which  have  been  practiced  in  exceptional  cases  for  many 
years.  After  the  drop  of  the  carbon  flame,  a  certain  amount  of 
melted  ferro-silicon  is  added  to  the  bath  and  the  blowing  resumed. 
The  silicon  is  oxidized  and  produces  a  very  high  temperature,  and 
the  advocates  of  the  small  converter  lay  great  stress  upon  this  fea- 
ture. Thus  in  an  article  in  the  Iron  Age,  June  5,  1902,  a  writer 
who  claims  to  be  skilled  in  open-hearth  practice,  states  that  the 
small  converter  will  make  a  steel  containing  only  .10  per  cent,  of 
carbon,  with  a  trace  of  manganese  and  silicon,  while  "an  open- 
hearth  furnace  cannot  make  this  grade  at  all  and  it  could  not  be 
kept  liquid  in  the  ladle."  This  is  a  complete  mistake,  for  several 
open-hearth  plants  have  made  large  quantities  of  such  metal.  In 
fact,  it  is  not  up-to-date  to  talk  about  a  steel  containing  .10  per 
cent,  of  carbon  as  being  extra  soft,  for  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Co., 
as  well  as  other  works,  stands  ready  to  deliver  .any  amount  of 
blooms  or  billets  with  carbon  below  .04  per  cent,  with  a  trace  of 
manganese  and  silicon  and  low  in  phosphorus  and  sulphur. 

It  has  been  deemed  necessary  to  refer  to  this  communication  be- 
cause it  is  the  most  recent,  and  because  it  is  characteristic  of  a 
thousand  similar  advertisements  continually  appearing  in  the  news 
columns  of  the  technical  press.  It  is  essential  to  keep  in  mind 
that  there  is  no  difficulty  at  all  in  a  good  open-hearth  furnace  in 
making  steel  just  as  hot  as  can  be  wanted;  in  fact,  considerable  care 
must  be  exercised  to  keep  the  metal  from  being  too  hot.  On  some 
kinds  of  work  an  excess  of  temperature  may  not  cause  trouble,  but 
in  other  cases  the  open-hearth  furnace  offers  far  better  opportunities 
for  that  complete  control  of  temperature  and  casting  conditions 
which  is  so  desirable  and  so  essential. 


594  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

The  open-hearth  furnace  also  allows  more  perfect  control  over 
the  casting  conditions.  A  basic  hearth  is  sometimes  used  and  has 
an  advantage  in  the  ability  to  make  low  phosphorus  without  much 
extra  cost,  but  basic  metal  seems  to  be  more  "lively"  in  casting,  and 
hence  there  is  greater  danger  of  honeycombs.  It  is,  however,  a  fact 
which  is  worth  a  hundred  arguments  that  basic  furnaces,  both  in 
this  country  and  abroad  are  making  good  castings,  -and  it  is  econ- 
omy to  do  so  when  there  is  a  radical  difference  in  the  cost  of  the 
raw  material. 

SEC.  XXc. — Blow-holes. — The  use  of  good  stock  determines  to  a 
great  extent  the  nature  of  the  product,  but  it  does  not  in  the  least 
influence  the  solidity  of  the  castings.  This  depends  partly  on  the 
temperature  and  composition  of  slag  and  metal  before  tapping,  and 
partly  on  the  quantity  and  nature  of  the  recarburizing  additions. 
An  increase  in  these  latter  agents  covers  up  the  errors  in  furnace 
manipulations,  but  shows  itself  in  a  higher  content  of  metalloids. 
Honeycombed  metal  may  arise  from  bad  casting  conditions  or  it 
may  come  from  a  laudable  desire  to  reduce  to  the  lowest  possible 
point  the  proportions  of  silicon  and  manganese,  for  the  manufac- 
turer well  knows  that  the  blow-holes  decrease  only  slightly  the 
strength  and  toughness  of  a  casting,  while  the  complete  removal  of 
them  by  overdoses  of  metalloids  gives  a  brittle  metal. 

It  is  the  current  impression  that  during  the  last  few  years  all 
the  difficulties  in  making  sound  castings  have  been  completely  over- 
come by  the  introduction  of  metallic  aluminum  and  certain  alloys 
of  silicon.  It  is  true  that  great  progress  has  been  made,  but  there 
is  no  magic  wand  for  sale  which  can  be  waved  over  a  ladleful  of 
steel  to  "kill"  it  "dead."  Hadfield,*  in  an  able  article  on  the  use 
of  aluminum,  says :  "There  is  no  rapid  or  royal  road  to  the  pro- 
duction of  sound  steel  castings;  this  is  only  attained  by  long  ex- 
perience combined  with  specialized  knowledge."  . 

Some  engineers  specify  that  the  cavities  shall  not  exceed  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  total  area,  but  the  common-sense  method  is  to 
clothe  the  inspector  with  discretionary  power,  for  a  flaw  may  be 
perfectly  harmless  on  the  under  surface  of  a  base-plate  when  it 
would  be  fatal  in  the  rim  of  a  wheel.  In  this  connection  it  should 
be  noted  that  there  is  a  radical  difference  between  a  "blow-hole" 
and  a  "pipe."  The  cavities  which  may  often  be  seen  where  the 
"sink-head"  or  "riser"  is  cut  off,  are  not  evidence  of  unsoundness 

*  Aluminum  Steel.    Journal  7.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1890,  p.  174. 


STEEL   CASTINGS.  595 

faut  exactly  the  opposite,  for  they  show  that  feeding  has  continued 
after  the  riser  was  exhausted,  and  that  the  hidden  interior  has  been 
rendered  solid  at  the  expense  of  the  visible  surface. 

SEC.  XXd. — Phosphorus  and  sulphur  in  steel  castings. — In  writ- 
ing the  specifications  for  steel  castings,  the  most  important  point  is 
to  state  that  phosphorus  shall  not  exceed  .04  per  cent.  An  excess 
of  the  other  elements  may  be  guarded  against  by  requiring  a  proper 
ductility,  but  phosphorus,  although  influencing  to  some  extent  the 
ordinary  testing  history,  is  often  masked  by  other  factors,  and  mani- 
fests itself  only  at  a  later  time  in  that  brittleness  under  shock  which 
is  its  inherent  characteristic.  This  is  an  important  matter  in  the 
case  of  rolled  metal,  but  it  is  of  much  more  vital  moment  in  steel 
castings,  for  these  will  generally  fail,  not  by  being  pulled  and 
stretched  to  destruction,  but  by  sudden  strain  and  shock. 

The  content  of  sulphur  is  of  little  importance  to  the  user,  for  it 
affects  the  cold  properties  very  slightly,  but  it  will  do  no  harm  to 
specify  that  it  shall  not  be  over  .05  per  cent.,  good  castings  generally 
containing  less  than  this  proportion.  Copper  need  not  be  men- 
tioned, for  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  has  any  influence  upon  the 
finished  casting. 

SEC.  XXe. — Effect  of  silicon,  manganese  and  aluminum. — The 
elements  used  to  procure  solidity  are  silicon,  manganese  and  alumi- 
num. Their  value  to  the  steelmaker  is  due  in  great  measure  to  their 
power  of  uniting  with  oxygen,  the  action  being  as  follows : 

3.44  parts  manganese  unite  with  1.00  part  of  oxygen. 
3.44  parts  aluminum  unite  with  3.01  parts  of  oxygen. 
3.44  parts  silicon  unite  with  3.93  parts  of  oxygen. 

Hence  the  aluminum  is  three  times,  and  the  silicon  four  times, 
as  efficient  as  manganese,  weight  for  weight,  while  they  have  an 
additional  value  from  their  greater  affinity  for  oxygen,  since  this 
enables  them  to  seize  the  last  traces  from  the  iron  and  wash  the 
bath  so  much  the  cleaner. 

Another  function  which  may  play  a  part  in  the  operation  is  the 
increase  in  capacity  to  dissolve  or  occlude  gases,  and  as  far  as  the 
value  of  the  casting  is  concerned  this  will  be  equivalent  to  destroy- 
ing them.  It  is  not  known  how  far  this  determines  the  situation, 
but  it  is  evident  that  it  has  no  connection  with  the  power  to  unite 
with  oxygen.  It  was  once  thought  that  aluminum  increased  the 
fluidity  of  steel. by  lowering  the  point  of  fusion,  but  experiments 


596  METALLURGY   OF   IRON   AND   STEEL. 

with  a  Le  Chatelier  pyrometer*  gave  the  same  melting  point  of 
1475°  C.  for  ordinary  soft  steel  as  for  an  alloy  with  five  per  cent, 
of  aluminum.  The  tendency  of  both  aluminum  and  silicon  is  to 
make  the  steel  creamy  and  sluggish ;  it  is  true  that  such  metal  will 
run  through  small  passages  without  chilling  better  than  ordinary 
steel,  but  this  is  because  the  latter  foams  and  froths  when  in  con- 
tact with  cold  surfaces,  and  the  flow  is  thereby  impeded  and  suffi- 
cient surface  exposed  to  chill  the  advance  guard  of  the  stream. 

The  percentage  of  manganese  should  not  exceed  .70  in  soft  cast- 
ings nor  .80  in  harder  steels,  since  more  than  this  may  render  the 
metal  liable  to  crack  under  shock.  Silicon  can  be  present  up  to 
.10  per  cent,  in  the  mild  steels  and  .35  per  cent,  in  the  hard  without 
any  appreciable  diminution  in  toughness.  Aluminum  is  seldom 
present  except  in  traces,  and  should  not  be  over  .20  per  cent.,  for  it 
decreases  the  ductility.  The  carbon  must  vary  according  to  the  de- 
sired tensile  strength  and  the  use  to  which  the  casting  is  to  be  put. 
When  it  is  over  .70  per  cent,  the  steel  becomes  so  hard  that  machin- 
ing is  slow,  and  there  is  danger  of  lines  of  weakness  from  shrink- 
age in  complicated  shapes. 

SEC.  XXf. — Physical  tests  on  soft  steel  castings. — Since  the  fail- 
ure of  cast-work  is  almost  always  due  to  sudden  strain,  it  is  the 
safer  plan  to  have  the  metal  for  common  purposes  between  .30  and 
.50  per  cent,  in  carbon,  but  when  great  toughness  is  required  it 
should  not  be  over  .15  per  cent.  This  latter  specification  also  pre- 
supposes a  low  content  of  manganese,  silicon,  and,  above  all,  of 
phosphorus ;  with  this  composition  the  casting  displays  all  the  char- 
acteristics usually  associated  with  the  toughest  of  rolled  shapes.  A 
test  on  an  unannealed  gear-wheel  of  such  metal,  manufactured  by 
The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Co.,  was  made  by  cutting  the  rim  between 
the  spokes  and  then  bending  one  arm  to  a  right  angle,  twisting 
another  through  more  than  180°  without  sign  of  fracture,  while  a 
third  was  hot-forged  from  a  star-shaped  section  of  about  2  inches 
by  iy2  inches  into  a  bar  1*4  inches  by  three-eighths  inch,  and  after 
being  cooled  was  twisted  into  a  closed  corkscrew.  Similar  pieces 
were  exhibited  by  Krupp  in  his  magnificent  exhibit  at  Chicago,  but 
we  stand  ready  in  America  to  duplicate  any  such  metal  x>n  regular 
contracts. 

Such  trials,  made  on  castings  taken  at  random,  are  far  preferable 

*  See  article  on  Pyrometric  Data,  by  H.  M.  Howe,  Engineering  and  Mining' 
Journal,  October  11,  1890,  p.  426. 


STEEL   CASTINGS.  597 

to  tensile  tests  from  sample  bars,  since  the  small  pieces  will  not 
be  in  exactly  the  same  physical  condition  as  the  larger  castings. 
The  results  have  a  certain  value,  however,  and  avoid  the  necessity  of" 
spoiling  good  finished  work.  It  is  well  to  keep  in  mind  that  a  flaw 
or  blow-hole  in  the  small  test  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  the 
casting  contains  similar  imperfections,  and  also  that  while  an  open 
cavity,  however  small,  which  is  visible  on  the  surface  of  a  machined 
test  will  have  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the  strength  and  ductility,  it 
might  be  of  slight  importance  if  buried  in  the  interior.  This  neces- 
sity of  having  a  perfect  surface  makes  it  difficult  to  conduct  a  long 
series  of  tests  with  exactly  the  same  dimension  of  test-pieces,  for 
if  five-eighths  inch  in  diameter  is  the  desired  size,  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  turn  some  of  the  pieces  to  one-half  inch,  while  the  length 
must  sometimes  be  reduced  to  6  or  4  inches.  It  is  also  a  strong 
argument  against  the  use  of  an  8-inch  test  piece,  for  the  chance  of 
pinholes  and  a  consequent  bad  record  is  thereby  multiplied  four- 
fold when  the  presence  of  such  holes  has  practically  no  effect  upon 
the  casting. 

This  test  piece  should  not  be  annealed  unless  the  castings  them- 
selves are  to  be  treated  in  the  same  manner,  and  although  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  anneal  most  structural  work,  the  trouble  is  not  necessary 
in  a  great  many  cases  if  the  very  best  of  stock  is  used.  This  state- 
ment will  be  called  heretical  by  many  engineers,  but  the  tests  that 
have  just  been  recorded  upon  an  unannealed  gear-wheel  will  show 
that  the  metal  can  be  exceptionally  tough  in  its  original  state. 

In  the  case  of  castings  of  complicated  shape  and  those  exposed  to 
shock,  annealing  should  be  specified,  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  there  is  no  magic  charm  in  this  word.  It  is  not  sufficient  to 
simply  say  that  they  shall  be  annealed  and  make  sure  only  that  they 
are  covered  with  soot  or  fresh  oxide.  The  heat  treatment  of  steel  is 
no  longer  a  mere  heating  to  remove  strains,  with  the  hope  that  some 
unknown  change  may  occur  to  toughen  the  mass ;  it  is  or  should  bb 
and  always  can  be  a  scientific  procedure,  by  which  the  metal  is 
raised  to  an  accurately  determined  critical  temperature,  whereby 
certain  molecular  rearrangements  occur.  If  these  rearrangements 
are  properly  guided,  the  result  will  be  seen  in  a  fine  grained  struc- 
ture and  a  tough  metal.  If  they  are  not  properly  guided  the  last 
condition  may  be  as  bad  as  the  first. 

Up  to  within  a  few  years  most  steel  castings  were  made  of  hard 
metal  containing  from  .30  to  .50  per  cent,  of  carbon,  and  having  a 


598 


METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 


tensile  strength  of  80,000  to  100,000  pounds  per  square  inch,  but 
just  as  engineers  have  long  since  learned  that  the  strongest  and 
safest  bridge  is  not  built  of  rolled  steel  with  .30  per  cent,  of  carbon, 

TABLE  XX-A. 

Comparative  Physical  Properties  of  Bars  Cut  from  Annealed  Soft 
Steel  Castings  and  Unannealed  Bars  of  the  same  Heats  Rolled 
from  6-Inch  Square  Ingots,  together  with  Results  of  Similar 
Bars  made  from  Large  Ingots. 

Steel  manufactured  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company. 


jd 

0 

* 

Si 

»»3 

0 

C 
rrt 

I 

a 
a 

Composition;  percent. 

S,§| 

ill 

iP 

£  ftw  w 

C*^.  CD  CD 

ction  of  j 
cent. 

49 

•-  o  s 

tr  2  3 

C!  G  o  o 

3  •— 

§ 

H 

C. 

P. 

Mn. 

S. 

pp,M 

sa" 

Hc'"' 

I* 

3552 

.17 

.027 

.65 

.034 

58190 

34290 

24.00 

82.1 

8555 

.17 

.027 

.66 

.056 

56030 

32440 

14.90 

19.7 

8557 

.17 

.032 

.60 

.029 

55880 

32750 

27.13 

42.3 

8559 

.17 

.027 

.65 

.038 

55350 

30350 

23.10 

42.5 

8563 

.17 

.024 

.62 

.024 

59390 

34790 

20.10 

84.5 

8565 

.23 

.029 

.65 

.025 

60060 

33130 

20.65 

26.8 

8568 

.14 

.029 

.70 

.032 

58320 

31750 

•      17.25 

20.8 

8571 

.18 

.033 

.58 

.028 

56700 

30670 

26.88 

46.7 

8573 

.17 

.028 

.67 

.027 

57440 

31430 

21.66 

36.7, 

8573 

.17 

.036 

.70 

.027 

68860 

34260 

22.04 

29.8 

8577 

.17 

.037 

.59 

.029 

57980 

33220 

23.00 

39.3 

8578 

.17 

.045 

.67 

.026 

58810 

33510 

22.16 

30.4 

8579 

.15 

.037 

.63 

.028 

54940 

32190 

22.75 

47.0 

8580 

.18 

.038 

.71 

.017 

68970 

34180 

22.25 

36.7 

8582 

.17 

.036 

.63 

.024 

56380 

31520 

13.00 

25.5 

8583 

.18 

.032 

.61 

.022 

59400 

35330 

14.13 

18.8 

8584 

.18 

.027 

.60 

.027 

55970 

29690 

22.38 

32.1 

8586 

.17 

.027 

.60 

.027 

55630 

30300 

18.50 

31.4 

8588 

.16 

.043 

.63 

.031 

56950 

32530 

26.50 

42.7 

8592 

.18 

.027 

.69 

.028 

59050 

32940 

20.00 

33.0 

Average  of 

annealed 

.17 

.032 

.64 

.029 

57515 

82564 

21.12 

83.44 

east  bars. 

2x%-inch    bars    rolled    from    6-inch    square 

ingots  cast  from  the  same  heats  and  tested  in 

63523 

42700 

24.74 

43.80 

natural  state 

Average  of  2x%-inch  bars  rolled 
from  4-inch  billets  made  from  16- 

Natural 

62089 

42441 

30.14 

60.86 

Inch  ingots  of  7  different  heats  of 

Annealed 

65021 

31576 

80.36 

60.00 

about  the  same  tensile  strength 

as  the  above  castings 

so  they  must  learn  that  in  still  greater  measure  it  would  be  better  to 
use  a  softer  metal  in  castings.. 

Table  XX-A  gives  the  results  of  tests  made  on  sample  bars  of 
cast  steel,  showing  the  composition  and  physical  qualities. 


STEEL   CASTINGS. 


599 


The  silicon  is  not  given,  but  it  was  below  .05  per  cent,  in  every 
case.  The  test  piece  was  not  cut  from  the  casting  itself,  but  from 
a  small  coupon  which  is  much  more  likely  to  contain  blow-holes, 
and  this  will  explain  why  it  was  often  necessary  to  pull  the  piece 
in  a  six-inch  length.  The  test  was  round  in  every  case,  and  there- 
fore gave  slightly  worse  results  than  a  flat,  but  this  is  far  from 
explaining  the  great  inferiority  of  the  casting  when  compared  with 
the  preliminary  test,  or  the  much  more  marked  difference  from  what 
should  be  expected  in  properly  rolled  steel  of  similar  tensile 
strength. 

TABLE  XX-B. 

Physical  Properties  of  Annealed  Bars  cut  from  Castings  of  Me- 
dium Hard  Steel ;  all  Bars  %-inch  in  Diameter. 

Manufactured  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company. 


Heat  number. 

Composition;  percent. 

ength; 
•  square 

S 

43 

a 

<N  a> 

gj 

1 

jj" 

H° 

Ultimate  sti 
pounds  pei 
inch. 

Elastic  limit 
pounds  pej 
inch. 

H" 

Reduction  oJ 
per  cent. 

C. 

Mn. 

P. 

S. 

Si. 

921 

.20 

.54 

.026 

.022 

.30 

60580 
60680 
60830 
61480 
62420 

83710 
82380 
32750 
30740 
82460 

30.50 
86.50 
86.00 
82.00 
88.00 

88.57 
51.90 
44.34 
89.80 
50.90 

55.6 
53.4 
63.8 
50.0 
52.0 

953 

.22 

.56 

.035 

.034 

.30 

63320 
64880 
65500 
65845 
65930 
67010 

37400 
34170 
44850 
83595 
82290 
48630 

36.00 
24.50 
29.00 
26.00 
80.00 
26.00 

46.33 
28.57 
89.40 
32.40 
83.37 
82.40 

59.1 
52.7 
68.5 
51.0 
49.0 
72.6 

974 

.38 

.75 

.029 

.023 

.35 

72630 
75240 

44940 

45880 

16.00 
23.00 

20.70 
81.63 

61.9 
61.0 

966           .35 

.68 

.038 

.034 

.34 

73090 
75160 

45390 
45510 

17.50 
20.50 

21.25 
27.64 

62.1 
60.6 

The  results  show  what  has  so  often  been  mentioned  in  these 
pages — that  the  ultimate  strength  and  elastic  limit  are  altered  very 
little  by  the  amount  of  work  upon  the  piece  as  long  as  it  is  not 
finished  at  a  low  temperature.  Thus,  in  the  annealed  casting  the 
elastic  limit  is  56.62  per  cent,  of  the  ultimate  strength,  while  in  the 
-annealed  bars  rolled  from  the  ingot  it  is  _57.39  per  cent.  This 
approximation  is  remarkable  because  the  factors  relating  to  duc- 
tility show  that  the  physical  state  of  the  two  metals  must  be  radic- 
different. 


600  METALLURGY    OF    IRON    AND   STEEL. 

SEC.  XXg. — Physical  tests  on  medium  hard  steel  castings. — It 
has  just  been  shown  that  the  average  elastic  ratio  in  annealed  cast- 
ings is  about  the  same  as  in  annealed  rolled  bars,  but  there  will  be 
much  greater  variations  between  individual  tests  in  the  case  of  the 
unworked  metal  owing  to  local  imperfections,  and  there  will  also 
be  greater  variations  with  a  stronger  steel.  This  will  be  shown  by 
Table  XX-B,  which  gives  the  results  on  duplicate  bars  from  four 
different  heats  of  harder  metal. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  ultimate  strength  is  fairly  regular,  and 
this  indicates  that  the  metal  itself  is  homogeneous,  but  that  minute 
imperfections  give  rise  to  the  variations  in  the  elongation,  reduction 
of  area,  and  elastic  ratio.  In  the  body  of  a  casting  these  defects 
exert  little  influence,  but  they  seriously  affect  the  integrity  of  a 
small  machined  piece.  This  will  emphasize  the  statement  already 
made  that  the  safest  way,  whenever  practicable,  would  be  to  make  a 
drop  test  on  a  sample  casting  rather  than  to  cut  a  small  bar  from 
the  piece  or  from  a  separate  coupon. 


PART  III. 
The  Iron  Industry  of  the  Leading  Nations. 


CHAPTEE  XXI. 

FACTORS   IN   INDUSTRIAL   COMPETITION. 

NOTE. — In  the  summer  of  1899,  I  visited  many  of  the  large  steel  works  in  Eng- 
land, Belgium  and  Austria,  and  most  of  the  large  plants  in  Germany.  I  was 
received  everywhere  with  unvarying  courtesy  and  hospitality,  and  was  given 
every  facility  to  inspect  methods  and  results.  I  trust  that  nothing  here  written 
will  be  construed  to  be  more  than  fair  scientific  criticism  of  my  hosts. 

SECTION  XXIa. — The  question  of  management: 
It  is  a  common  thing  in  America  to  smile  over  the  non-progress- 
iveness  of  our  foreign  friends  and  to  congratulate  ourselves  that  we 
are  not  as  other  men.  There  are  many  people  here  who  believe  that 
foreign  engineers  are  not  quite  up  to  our  standard  and  that  we  are 
especially  commissioned  by  Providence  to  illuminate  the  whole 
'world  with  our  spare  energy.  I  will  take  away  no  glory  from  my 
fellow  countrymen.  They  need  no  spokesman  and  they  will  be  sure 
to  get  all  that  is  due  them,  as  the  progressiveness  of  American 
metallurgists  and  Engineers  is  well  known  in  foreign  lands,  but  it 
is  well  to  remember  that  there  is  one  vital  difference  between 
metallurgy  abroad  and  metallurgy  here.  The  direct  management 
of  a  steel  works  in  America  has  practically  its  own  way.  If  a  mill 
is  out  of  date  and  a  new  system  of  rolling  or  manipulation  is  needed, 
it  does  not  take  long  to  get  authority  to  make  the  change.  It  is 
called  extraordinary  repairs,  it  is  called  improvement,  or  it  is  not 
mentioned  at  all.  The  directors  leave  much  to  the  management; 
they  feel  that  they  pay  men  to  attend  to  the  operation  of  the  works 
and  constant  improvements  are  looked  upon  as  necessary  and  in- 
evitable. As  for  the  stockholders,  they  are  not  considered,  for  a 
stockholder  in  America  is  not  supposed  to  rise  in  meeting  and 
question  the  wisdom  of  spending  any  reasonable  sum  upon  improve- 
ment and  then  find  out  whether  the  improvement  is  paying  for 
itself. 

In  England,  especially,  the  very  reverse  is  the  case.  The  stock 
of  many  of  the  older  steel  works  is  very  widely  distributed  and  a 
large  number  of  shareholders  do  not  know  anything  about  improve- 


604  THE    IROTsT    INDUSTRY. 

inents  and  do  not  care.  They  want  their  dividends,  and  if  any 
money  is  taken  from  profits  and  spent  on  new  machinery,  it  must 
be  fully  explained  why  this  was  done,  and  it  must  be  shown  that 
this  expenditure  has  been  justified  by  results.  If  American  man- 
agers had  to  go  through  such  an  inquisition  whenever  they  proposed 
an  improvement,  and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  they  could  satisfy  the 
shareholders  by  inventing  nothing,  it  is  possible  they  would  lead  a 
less  strenuous  life. 

According  to  the  usual  financial  custom  in  England,  no  improve- 
ments are  made  out  of  profits,  new  capital  being  authorized  and 
obtained  for  this  purpose  when  deemed  necessary.  There  are  many 
exceptions  to  this  system,  but  it  is  certain  that  it  is  quite  generallv 
carried  out  to  an  extent  that  will  hardly  be  credited  by  Americans. 
An  instance  may  be  cited  of  an  English  works  in  South  Russia 
managed  entirely  on  English  lines.  The  capital  stock  is  $6,000,- 
000,  and  in  the  last  eleven  "years  annual  dividends  have  been  de- 
clared ranging  from  15  to  125  per  cent,  and  averaging  over  32  per 
cent.  In  1900  the  disbursements  were  only  20  per  cent.,  or  $1,200,- 
000,  the  decrease  being  due  to  low  prices  and  bad  markets.  Just  at 
this  juncture  it  is  found  necessary  to  build  certain  railway  lines, 
etc.,  and  an  issue  of  bonds  is  made  of  $750,000  to  pay  for  this,  just 
as  nearly  double  this  sum  goes  out  in  dividends.  Nothing  can  con- 
vince our  friends  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  that  this  is  any- 
thing but  the  true  and  only  right  way,  just  as  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  convince  men  here  that  it  was  anything  but  wrong. 

The  English  manager  has  also  to  contend  against  very  strong 
labor  organizations,  their  ignorant  and  tyrannical  control  being  a 
hopeless  bar  to  the  progress  of  English  industries.  There  was  a 
time  when  such  societies  regulated  affairs  in  many  American  steel 
works,  but  it  was  soon  discovered  that  progress  and  labor  organiza- 
tions do  not  sail  in  the  same  boat.  This  has  lately  been  discovered 
in  England,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  fight  against  established  customs. 
In  the  summer  of  1899  I  visited  the  Cleveland  district  of  England. 
Everything  indicated  prosperity  in  the  iron  trade  and  new  work 
was  underway  that  would  add  to  the  output  and  general  business  of 
the  place.  The  firm  in  charge  of  this  new  plant  stated  that  their 
boiler-makers  and  riveters  would  work  only  three  days  in  the  week. 
Their  wages  had  been  advanced  to  offer  extra  inducements,  but  this 
did  not  help  matters  in  the  least,  for  by  working  hard  and  well 
during  Thursday,  Friday  and  Saturday  these  riveters  were  able  to 


FACTORS    IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION.  605 

earn  over  seven  dollars  per  day,  or  twenty-two  dollars  in  the  week. 
When  work  ceased  on  Saturday  evening  a  drunken  carouse  began, 
which  lasted  until  Wednesday  night.  In  a  short  walk  through  tho 
streets  of  Middlesborough  on  Monday  forenoon  I  found  at  least  a 
dozen  men  lying  drunk  upon  the  sidewalk — a  condition  which  can- 
not be  paralleled  in  any  American  city.  It  is  impossible  to  reform. 
this  state  of  affairs  since  the  unions  control  the  entire  situation  and 
do  not  consider  any  offense  of  this  kind  as  ground  for  a  discharge, 
and  a  strike  would  follow  any  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  God- 
given  right  to  get  drunk  once  a  week.  All  over  England  Blue 
Monday  is  something  more  than  a  name ;  it  is  a  costly  factor  in  all 
industries,  standing  side  by  side  with  the  tyranny  of  the  labor 
unions  that  are  fighting  with  bulldog  obstinacy  against  improve- 
ments that  would  ultimately  be  for  the  benefit  of  all  concerned. 
We  have  had  much  of  this  sentiment  brought  to  America  by  the 
English  and  the  Welsh,  but  although  they  have  acquired  much  power 
in  certain  localities  and  in  certain  trades,  they  have  never  been  able 
to  control  the  whole  American  iron  industry  in  the  way  they  con- 
trol the  great  English  producing  districts. 

tt  In  England  there  is  a  tendency  to  have  the  management  of  an 
enterprise  descend  from  father  to  son,  and  this  transference  of 
power  is  often  gradual,  the  son  being  perhaps  the  assistant  of  his 
father  for  many  years.  It  is  evident  that  such  a  system  tends  to 
conservatism  and  the  perpetuation  of  old  conditions.  This  tend- 
ency is,  of  course,  acccentuated  by  the  general  sentiment  of  the 
country  to  bow  to  the  opinions  of  older  men  and  accept  their  de- 
cision as  final.  In  America,  we  bow  to  the  decision,  but  we  reserve 
the  right  to  differ. 

The  conservative  influence  of  a  management  controlled  more  di- 
rectly by  the  stockholder  and  by  family  and  local  traditions  must 
inevitably  result  in  retarding  the  advancement  of  progressive  young 
men  in  the  establishment,  and  in  pushing  forward  the  conservative 
element,  so  that  the  man  who  finally  reaches  the  top  of  the  ladder 
will  be  more  often  a  conservative  than  in  America  where  progress- 
iveness  must  be  shown  before  promotion  is  possible.  Add  to  all 
this  the  continental  opposition  to  change  v^aich  is  especially  marked 
in  England,  the  magnifying  of  every  cusiom  and  tradition  into  a 
law  of  nature,  the  opposition  to  self-evident  improvements  from  a 
simple  disinclination  to  be  different  from  others,  and  it  is  easy  to 


506  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

understand  why  our  European  friends  do  not  move  as  fast  as  we  do 
in  America. 

Thus  we  have  proved  why,  in  many  respects,  our  friends  across 
the  water  do  not  keep  pace  with  us  in  the  race,|but  it  remains  to 
explain  why,  in  many  respects,  they  are  ahead.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  discuss  the  development  of  the  Bessemer  and  open-hearth  pro- 
cesses, because  when  these  methods  came  to  light  the  iron  industry 
in  America  was  a  small  affair  compared  with  the  old  established 
plants  of  Europe;  but  in  the  manufacture  of  coke,  for  instance, 
Germany  has  been  using  the  retort  oven  for  twenty  years,  while 
America  has  just  discovered  its  existence.  England  was  very  slow 
in  adopting  it,  owing  to  the  opposition  of  venerable  authority,  but 
our  country  is  the  most  behindhand  in  accepting  the  benefits  of  the 
invention. 

In  the  matter  of  gas  engines  driven  by  blast  furnace  gas  the  Con- 
tinent has  completely  distanced  us.  Engines  have  been  operating 
successfully  in  France  and  Germany  for  four  years,  while  long 
before  this,  Eiley,  at  Glasgow,  in  Scotland,  put  in  operation  an  en- 
gine built  by  Thwaite  which  has  been  running  since  1895.  Im- 
mense machine  shops  all  over  the  Continent  are  busy  turning  out 
engines  whose  aggregate  horse-power  runs  into  many  thousands, 
whereas  in  America  nothing  of  any  consequence  has  been  done  in 
this  direction.  Much  of  this  forwardness  in  so  using  blast  furnace 
gas  arose  from  the  fact  that  gas  engines  driven  by  illuminating  and 
producer  gas  have  been  used  much  more  extensively  abroad.  The 
visitor  to  any  English  city  is  struck  with  the  puffing  of  these 
engines  in  the  lumber  yards  and  the  cellars  of  numberless  work- 
shops, while  in  America  this  economical  motor  is  little  known. 

In  another  respect  the  European  works  are  ahead  of  America 
and  that  is  in  the  use  of  the  unfired  soaking  pit.  This  practice  is 
almost  universal  on  the  Continent  and  is  common  in  England,  while 
in  America  it  has  been  a  failure.  This  arises  from  the  curious 
fact  that  acid  steel  does  not  give  good  results  when  heated  in 
unfired  pits,  and  the  Bessemer  plants  in  America  make  acid 
steel  only,  while  almost  all  the  plants  on  the  Continent  are 
basic.  Moreover,  in  America  it  is  the  rule  that  nothing  must 
interfere  with  tihe  regular  sequence  of  operations,  and  that  if 
anything  happens  to  the  tools,  nothing  else  shall  be  behindhand 
when  they  are  ready.  It  is  evident  that  a  gas  fired  furnace  is 
more  thoroughly  under  control,  and  capable  of  holding  ingots 
ready,  than  one  which  has  no  supply  of  heatv  The  unfired  pit 


FACTORS    IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION.  607 

is  simply  one  example  of  a  very  important  truth,  which  may  be 
stated  thus:  a  method  or  device  or  improvement  which  is  voted  a 
success  in  Europe  will  oftentimes  be  voted  a  failure  in  America 
if  it  gives  the  same  results.  In  other  words,  we  will  not  bestow 
upon  it  as  much  intelligent  care  as  our  German  friends,  and  will 
not  consent  to  the  delays  and  interruptions  which  they  regard  as  of 
little  importance.  This  statement  may  be  questioned  by  some  per- 
sons, but  there  are  many  engineers  of  prominence  and  of  experi- 
ence who  will  agree  with  me  in  this  broad  statement. 

America  has  developed  along  its  own  lines,  but  the  lines  on  which 
England  and  Germany  have  worked  have  not  been  as  capable  of 
rapid  development.  In  the  Bessemer  process  England  has  faced  a 
continually  lessening  ore  supply,  decreasing  both  in  quantity  and 
quality  and  increasing  in  price.  Immense  progress  could  hardly  be 
expected  under  such  circumstances.  Germany  has  had  to  adopt  the 
basic  vessel  almost  exclusively  and  has  been  much  more  successful 
with  it  than  any  works  in  America.  In  rolling  mills,  our  friends 
across  the  ocean  have  used  generally  the  two-high  reversing  mill, 
and  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  possibilities  of  expansion  in  amount 
of  product  with  this  system  are  less  than  with  the  three-high  train. 

This  one  item,  the  capacity  for  expansion,  is  the  great  dividing 
line  separating  European  and  American  practice  and  the  reasons  for 
the  difference  are  not  thoroughly  appreciated.  Taking  the  case  of 
railroads  for  an  illustration,  we  have  on  this  side  of  the  water  a 
new  country.  The  lines  that  form  a  network  all  over  the  western 
half  of  our  domain  and  most  of  the  lines  in  the  older  half  have 
been  built  and  equipped  within  the  memory  of  young  men.  There 
were  no  old  and  obsolete  patterns  to  copy.  The  new  roads  began 
with  apparatus  which  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  was  standard  as  far 
as  America  was  concerned.  The  style  of  rail  was  practically  uni- 
form with  all  roads  and  the  amounts  ordered  by  many  railroads 
were  enormous.  One  railroad  would  order  fifty  thousand  and  an- 
other sixty  thousand  tons  for  delivery  in  one  season,  and  all  rails 
were  so  nearly  alike  that  it  usually  sufficed  to  change  one  set  of 
rolls  to  go  from  one  order  to  another.  The  differences  in  sections 
that  did  exist  arose  from  a  desire  of  the  railroad  engineer  to  experi- 
ment and  get  a  better  rail,  although  this  sometimes  resolved  itself 
down  to  an  egotistical  desire  to  have  his  name  associated  with  a  par- 
ticular design.  This  latter  state  of  affairs  in  America  seldom  pro- 
duces the  kind  of  glory  desired,  and  within  the  last  few  years  a 


(J03  THE   IRON>   INDUSTRY. 

concerted  action  on  the  part  of  the  steel  manufacturers  and  engi- 
neers has  resulted  in  the  general  acceptance  of  one  set  of  standard 
sections. 

In  England  the  conservatism  and  importance  of  the  railroad 
engineers  render  such  standardizing  apparently  impossible.  Not 
only  that,  but  the  use  of  chairs  and  their  associated  paraphernalia 
makes  a  change  very  expensive,  while  the  much  smaller  mileage  of 
their  lines,  due  to  geographical  limitations,  makes  it  impossible  to 
have  a  very  large  order  either  for  replaceals  or  new  track.  '  One 
road  at  least  in  the  British  Isles  with  a  high  sounding  name  is  only 
two  hundred  miles  long,  and  it  is  laid  with  half  T  rails  and  half 
bullheads,  and  in  order  to  make  renewals  it  is  necessary  to  order 
two  kinds  of  rails,  splice  plates  and  accessories,  and  each  order  will 
be  just  half  what  it  would  be  if  the  road  were  laid  with  one  kind 
of  section.  Needless  to  say  such  a  road  must  inevitably  pay  a 
higher  price  per  ton  for  its  rails  and  fastenings.  I.n  America  it  is 
now  possible  to  keep  in  stock  the  fish  plates  for  the  standard  Ameri- 
can Society  sections.  The  rolls  do  not  have  to  be  put  in  for  a  few 
tons  and  taken  out  and  put  away  for  a  year.  The  railroad  engineer 
may  think  this  matter  of  roll  changes  is  no  concern  of  his,  but  it  is 
his  concern  and  his  railroad  must  pay  the  bill  in  the  end,  and  if  the 
English  railroads  would  unite  on  certain  standard  sections  of  rails 
and  joints  and  abolish  and  forget  certain  details  of  inspection  and 
testing  that  have  come  down  from  the  dark  ages  and  are  perpetuated 
by  the  red  tape  of  Boards  of  Trade,  they  would  get  their  material 
at  a  much  lower  price,  they  would  get  it  in  half  the  time,  and  it 
would  be  just  as  good.  The  responsibility  for  these  conditions, 
however,  does  not  fall  upon  the  English  steel  works.  They  have 
had  to  meet  certain  business  demands  and  they  and  the  railroads 
are  prevented  from  making  any  changes  by  the  regulations  of  the 
Board  of  Trade,  this  latter  institution  being  practically  a  govern- 
ment commission  whose  hands  are  tied  by  Parliamentary  legislation. 
All  experience  proves  that  progress  is  either  slow  or  impossible  when 
a  legislative  body  ha?  to  be  moved. 

It  is  also  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  England  cannot  extend  her 
domain  as  the  United  States  has  extended,  and  that  the  increase  in 
the  cost  of  raw  materials  seems  to  put  a  limit  upon  future  possi- 
bilities. Under  these  circumstances,  it  would  have  been  of  doubt- 
ful expediency  to  build  a  counterpart  of  one  of  our  immense  Amer- 
ican mills,  for  the  total  production  of  steel  rails  in  all  En~!nntf  is 


FACTORS    IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION.  609 

only  about  800,000  tons  a  year,  while  in  America  a  capacity  of 
600,000  tons  is  considered  about  right  for  one  mill.  England  has, 
therefore,  clung  to  the  two-high  reversing  engine,  which  for  smaller 
products  has  certain  advantages.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  much 
better  adapted  for  rolling  directly  from  the  ingot,  for  with  a  revers- 
ing mill,  the  bar  can  be  backed  out  if  there  is  a  tendency  to  split. 
It  also  renders  it  easier  to  roll  many  different  sections  on  one  mill 
in  steady  operation  instead  of  having  several  mills  each  adapted 
only  to  its  own  specialty,  and  it  is  also  easier  to  make  certain  diffi- 
cult sections  on  a  two-high  mill  on  account  of  the  ability  to  vary 
the  speed. 

TABLE  XXI-A. 

Miles  of  Railway  in  Operation  in  1899. 
FROM  STAHL  UND  EISEN,  JULY  1,  1901. 

United  States   .....  .....    ^  190,360 

Germany    ..............  31,570 


Austria-Hungary    ........  22,670 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland  J  21,670 

Canada  .....................................  17,350 

Italy   .......................................  9,830 

Spain   .......................................  8,300 

Sweden   .....................................  6,700 

Belgium    ....................................  3,870 

Europe  except  above  ...........................  13,730 

Asia  ........................................  35,140 

South  America    ................  ..........  .....  28,030 

Australia    ...................................  14,760 

Africa  ......................................  12,570 

Mexico,  Central  America  and  Newfoundland  .......  9,800 

Total  ...................................          482,480 

This  matter  of  small  orders  will  be  better  understood  by  com- 
parison of  the  total  mileage  of  railroads  in  the  different  countries, 
as  shown  in  Table  XXI-A.  The  United  States  has  40  per  cent,  of 
all  the  railroads  in  the  world,  Germany  coming  next  with  less  than 
7  per  cent.,  and  if  we  omit  those  nations  that  make  their  own  rails 
and  take  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  including  Canada,  the  total 
"markets  of  the  world"  do  not  include  as  many  miles  of  track  as 
are  laid  within  our  borders.  Thus  if  we  can  assume  that  Germany, 
which  ranks  next  to  the  United  States  in  length  of  track,  should 
monopolize  the  rail  trade  of  the  world  with  the  exception  of  the 
United  States,  Russia,  France,  Austria,  Great  Britain  and  Belgium, 


610  THE    IROX    INDUSTRY. 

each  of  which  is  self-supporting,  she  would  not  have  as  much  trib- 
utary track  as  stretches  out  before  the  doors  of  American  steel 
works.  These  reasons  have  influenced  the  development  of  rolling 
mills  all  over  Europe,  and  the  newest  and  most  thoroughly  equipped 
plants  have  not  copied  from  America,  but  have  simply  enlarged  and 
expanded  the  old  two-high  construction.  In  this  connection,  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that  one  of  the  newest  American  rail  mills  is  of  this. 
type. 

In  making  the  usual  sections  of  structural  material  and  rail- 
way splices,  it  is  the  custom  in  America  to  cut  the  ingot  into  several 
blooms  or  billets  and  reheat  these  for  finishing,  this  being  done  in 
order  that  the  bloom  or  billet  mill  shall  run  steadily  at  its  maxi- 
mum capacity.  In  Europe  little  thought  is  given  to  this  argument. 
The  question  everywhere  heard  is  this:  "What  could  we  do  with 
all  the  steel  if  we  should  run  continuously  ?"  It  is  therefore  much 
more  common  abroad  than  in  this  country  to  roll  many  different 
sections  in  one  reversing  mill,  the  stuff  being  finished  in  one  heat 
from  the  ingot,  the  finished  bar  being  very  long;  in  one  mill  a  2" 
square  billet  is  finished  475  feet  long  and  a  3"x3"  angle  425  feet. 
Oftentimes  the  finishing  is  done  on  a  different  mill,  and  frequently 
the  finishing  mill  is  three-high,  the  blooms  being  cut  up  and  trans- 
ferred without  reheating. 

The  Germans  use  many  three-high  trains  for  finishing,  and  these 
are  often  of  large  size  and  are  run  fast.  In  more  than  one  place 
15-inch  beams  are  rolled  directly  from  the  ingot  without  cropping 
the  ends  and  without  reheating,  the  work  being  done  by  hooks  and 
tongs  without  any  machinery  except  a  steam  cylinder  to  raise  the 
swinging  support  of  the  hooks  used  to  catch  the  piece.  Such  a  lift- 
ing motion  is  necessary  when  the  rolls  are  30  inches  in  diameter 
and  the  mill  runs  110  to  120  revolutions.  I  have  seen  a  mill  of  this 
size  and  speed  handling  8-inch  blooms  weighing  about  1200  pounds, 
and  few  American  workmen  would  care  to  work  as  fast  and  as  hard 
as  these  hookers,  although  American  workmen  would  have  smiled 
at  the  idea  of  a  man  being  able  to  do  anything  when  wearing 
wooden  shoes.  In  rolling  beams  by  hand  in  a  train  of  that  size 
an  army  of  men  is  required,  and  the  average  visitor 
can  hardly  understand  why  some  simple  labor-saving  de- 
vices are  not  introduced.  It  is  related  of  an  American  at  a 
German  works  that  he  offered  to  spend  a  certain  reasonable  sum  in 
machinery  and  save  so  many  dollars  every  month.  The  manager 


FACTORS    IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION.  611 

answered  by  showing  him  the  cost  sheets  and  proved  that  the  total 
expenses  for  labor  in  the  mill  did  not  equal  what  he  proposed  to 
save.  Such  an  answer,  however,  cannot  possibly  be  true  of  all 
places  where  labor  is  thrown  away.  In  one  of  the  famous  steel 
works  of  the  world  are  two  blooming  mills,  three-high,  and  exactly 
alike,  turning  out  a  combined  product  of  ten  thousand  tons  per 
month.  In  America  one  such  mill  would  take  care  of  from  forty 
to  sixty  thousand  tons  per  month  and  two  men  on  each  turn  would 
operate  it,  while  in  this  place  it  took  fourteen  men  on  each  mill. 
The  fundamental  difference  was  that  the  table  rollers  were  not 
driven,  and  it  would  be  safe  to  say  that  the  introduction  of  ma- 
chinery to  drive  those  rollers  would  have  paid  back  the  money  every 
three  months,  to  speak  moderately. 

It  will  not  do,  however,  to  suppose  that  the  management  was 
entirely  contented  with  this  condition.  On  the  contrary,  plans  were 
drawn  for  an  entirely  new  works,  which  involved  immense  expendi- 
ture of  money,  and  it  seemed  to  be  the  accepted  law  not  only  at  this 
particular  works  but  elsewhere,  that  an  old  plant  should  not  be  im- 
proved when  a  new  one  was  contemplated.  The  reasons  for  this 
are,  of  course,  self-evident  and  must  have  force  everywhere,  but  in 
America  such  improvements  do  go  on  constantly  even  under  ex- 
actly those  conditions,  because  with  our  high  priced  labor  and 
almost  unlimited  demand  for  steel,  it  is  often  easy  to  pay  for  new 
apparatus  in  a  year,  while  in  Germany  with  cheap  labor  and  a  much 
smaller  product,  it  would  take  a  much  longer  time.  At  another 
works,  in  another  district,  there  were  four  mills  under  one  roof, 
the  building  being  large  enough  to  cover  all  the  room  necessary  for 
handling  and  shipping  the  product  of  all  the  mills,  making  it  one 
of  the  largest  buildings  in  the  world.  The  total  output  of  these 
four  mills  was  about  400  tons  each  twenty-four  hours.  In  Amer- 
ica the  same  outlay  would  be  expected  to  produce  from  five  to  ten 
times  that  amount. 

This  condition,  however,  is  not  universal,  and  the  American 
visitor  will  find  other  plants  more  to  his  mind.  It  is  impossible  to 
obtain  the  same  output  from  a  basic  converter  that  can  be  obtained 
from  an  acid  lined  vessel,  as  the  addition  of  the  basic  materials, 
the  greater  amount  of  oxidation  to  accomplish,  and  the  much  greater 
wear  of  the  linings,  render  it  out  of  the  question.  Nevertheless 
there  are  several  German  works,  among  which  may  be  mentioned 
Eothe  Erde,  Phoenix,  Hoesch  and  Hoerde,  which  can  make  from 


612  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

32,000  to  35,000*  tons  of  steel  per  month  from  a  plant  of  three 
basic  converters  ranging  from  11  to  18  tons  capacity,  and  there  is 
no  need  to  say  that  this  cannot  be  done  without  an  all-sufficient 
supply  of  "push." 

The  diversity  of  product  in  a  German  mill  and  the  intermittent 
work,  arise  oftentimes  from  the  universal  control  by  syndicates  of 
all  the  items  of  production,  and  there  is  no  incentive  to  rush  out  a 
heavy  tonnage  for  a  week  and  then  shut  down  with  an  empty  order 
book,  but  it  would  seem  difficult  to  ever  get  a  mill  up  to  its  maxi- 
mum output  and  efficiency  with  workmen  who  wear  wooden  shoes. 
It  would  be  good  business  to  pay  for  a  leather  outfit  simply  for  the 
moral  effect.  ^ 

There  are  some  American  writers  and  metallurgists  who  ascribe 
the  forwardness  of  steel  manufacture  in  America  to  the  ingenuity 
and  brilliancy  of  a  little  group  of  men  who  developed  our  great 
plants  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  It  is  an  unkind  act  to  disparage 
the  work  of  our  predecessors,  but  I  am  actuated  not  in  the  slightest 
degree  by  any  personal  feeling  in  expressing  the  opinion,  which  is 
not  simply  of  my  own  creation,  that  no  one  man  should  be  lifted 
upon  a  pedestal  of  fame  unless  the  foundation  stones  bear  the  names 
of  many  others  almost  if  not  quite  equal  to  him  in  worthiness. 
It  was  the  custom  twenty  years  ago  to  pick  out  as  an  idol  one 
who  could  deliver  a  witty  after-dinner  speech,  and  to  forget  that 
something  was  due  to  the  cook.  Nothing  is  easier  than  to  join  a 
mutual  admiration  society  and  gradually  have  every  member  be- 
come in  his  own  estimation  more  and  more  indispensable  to 
the  daily  routine  of  the  universe.  In  my  judgment  the  char- 
acteristics of  American  metallurgy  have  been  developed  by  so  many 
minds  that  it  is  invidious  to  name  a  few,  and  these  minds  were  not 
creators,  but  creatures;  they  were  carried  forward  in  the  flood  of 
"push,"  which  has  been  and  is  to-day  the  predominant  feature  of 
our  countrymen,  who  will  forgive  mistakes  if  they  are  made  while 
going  forward. 

Much  of  the  difference  between  the  two  sides  of  the  Atlantic  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  no  spirit  of  rivalry  has  ever  entered  into  Euro- 
pean steel  works.  Men  do  not  go  from  one  place  to  another;  they 
do  not  brag  of  outputs;  they  do  not  challenge  every  one  to  enter 
the  race.  It  is  beyond  question  that  many  of  the  great  advances 
that  America  has  made  have  been  due  almost  wholly  to  vainglory 

*  SchrSdter,  private  communication. 


FACTORS    IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION. 


613 


and  a  simple  desire  to  "beat  all  creation."  Another  factor  was  the 
desire  to  increase  outputs  when  the  margin  of  profits  justified  the 
most  lavish  expenditure,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  in  every  case  it  was 
foreseen  that  these  outlays  would  result  in  such  a  great  decrease 
in  the  operating  cost  per  ton.  In  foreign  countries  this  argument 
of  beating  a  competitor  has  absolutely  no  place.  In  one  of  the  old 
works  in  Germany  there  are  blast  furnaces  in  operation  which  are 
only  48  feet  high,  but  as  they  are  running  on  a  fuel  consumption 
of  from  1790  to  1840  pounds  of  coke  per  2240  pounds  of  iron,  the 
management  sees  no  possible  justification  for  destroying  existing 
plant  and  starting  in  on  new  construction  involving  immense  ex- 
penditure. The  facts  that  the  furnaces  are  out  of  date,  that  they 
are  slow,  that  they  are  curiosities,  have  no  bearing  on  the  matter 
at  all  and  are  not  considered  for  a  moment.  In  our  country  we 
might  keep  such  furnaces  if  we  had  no  money  to  build  others,  but 
we  would  apologize  for  them;  we  would  say  they  were  not  worth 
looking  at,  but  in  Germany  this  sentiment  is  entirely  unknown. 
It  is  open  to  debate  whether  a  little  of  the  foreign  spirit  would  not 
be  as  valuable  an  acquisition  for  the  American,  as  a  little  American 
spirit  is  valuable  for  the  European. 

In  America  we  enter  contests  from  the  time  that  we  are  born, 
and  we  always  play  to  win.  ljurope  does  not  know  this  feeling 
and  she  will  not  make  two  thousand  tons  of  rails  in  a  day  from  one 
rail  mill  until  she  acquires  it.  She  has  engineers  who  are  as  bright 
and  smart  as  any  in  America ;  they  are  as  progressive  as  any  of  our 
nation;  they  are  working  along  many  lines;  they  are  introducing 
many  labor  saving  devices;  they  are  building  mammoth  mills  and 
great  machine  shops ;  they  are  not  narrow ;  they  are  copying  Amer- 
ica where  America  is  good;  they  are  filling  their  machine  shops 
with  American  tools  and  they  are  taking  a  fresh  start.  In  Austria 
a  grand  transformation  scene  is  in  progress :  a  syndicate  controlling 
most  of  the  iron  and  steel  works  of  the  kingdom  is  dismantling  and 
abandoning  most  of  them  and  concentrating  the  work  into  a  few 
plants,  which  are  being  reconstructed  and  rebuilt  with  a  thorough- 
ness that  we  egotistically  think  is  American.  In  Germany  indi- 
vidual works  are  doing  and  have  done  the  same  thing;  but  in 
Europe  these  improvements  are  not  always  announced  to  the  world 
with  a  flourish  of  trumpets. 

There  is  a  district  in  Germany  which  is  said  to  possess  financial 
advantages  over  any  other,  and  the  question  is  naturally  suggested 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

why  the  works  at  that  place  do  not  expand  and  monopolize  the 
business.  There  are  two  answers,  each  of  which  is  deemed  suffi- 
cient in  Germany.  First,  it  would  be  difficult  to  get  the  necessary 
labor  to  move  to  a  new  place.  Second,  there  is  no  inducement  for 
the  stockholders  to  spend  money,  as  they  are  quite  satisfied  with 
dividends  at  the  rate  of  seventy-five  per  cent.,  and  there  is  no  use 
of  exhausting  ore  to  pay  dividends  to  new  capital.  These  two  rea- 
sons are  equally  incomprehensible  to  Americans ;  they  represent  the 
difference  between  Europe  and  America.  Each  land  has  much  to 
give  to  the  other.  Perhaps  we  can  teach  them  how  to  work,  but 
they  can  teach  us  how  to  save  up  just  a  little  of  our  surplus  energy 
and  use  it  in  enjoying  the  fruits  of  labor. 

SEC.  XXIb. — The  question  of  employer  and  employed. — This  is 
usually  called  the  "labor  question,"  and  is  often  spoken  of  in  much 
the  same  way  that  the  consumption  of  fuel  would  be  discussed,  but 
although  it  may  be  convenient  to  treat  it  thus  in  books,  it  cannot 
be  so  handled  in  actual  life.  There  are  three  distinct  methods  of 
arranging  relations  between  the  employer  and  the  employed.  The 
first  is  the  paternal  system,  where  the  employer  does  everything  for 
the  workmen,  as  at  Pullman  in  our  own  country,  and  at  Creusot  in 
France.  This  is  probably  the  worst  thing  possible  and  breeds  a 
servile  lot  of  men,  whose  highest  thought  is  expecting  the  next 
spoonful  of  gruel.  It  is  soup-house  charity  when  there  is  no  neces- 
sity for  philanthropy. 

The  second  method  is  the  treatment  of  men  as  men.  The  self- 
respecting  man  does  not  ask  charity ;  he  wishes  to  pay  one  dollar  for 
one  dollar's  worth  of  goods.  There  are  exceptions  to  this  rule,  but 
there  are  also  many  other  objectionable  people  in  the  world.  This 
self-respecting  man  should  be  the  one  for  whom  all  rules  are  made 
and  the  others  may  do  as  they  like.  This  man  is  a  free  agent,  able 
to  make  his  own  contracts,  to  work  or  to  leave,  and  as  a  rule  he 
generally  has  a  job  and  is  too  busy  to  make  speeches  on  the  labor 
question. 

The  third  system  is  the  labor  organization  where  men  bind  them- 
selves together  and  appoint  a  committee  of  those  who  can  talk 
longest  and  whose  duty  it  is  to  get  all  they  can  for  "labor."  These 
unions  declare  that  every  man  is  the  equal  of  every  other  man — 
when  he  is  not;  that  a  fast  workman  shall  not  be  allowed  to  do 
any  more  work  than  a  slow  workman— which  would  seem  to  be  an 
attempt  to  upset  the  decree  of  Providence:  that  a  good  workman 


FACTORS   IN   INDUSTRIAL   COMPETITION.  615 

shall  not  receive  more  than  a  lazy  dummy — which  is  absurd;  that 
labor  saving  devices  shall  not  be  introduced  unless  the  money  saved 
is  distributed  among  the  workmen ;  and,  worst  of  all,  that  dealings 
with  the  men  shall  be  done  through  certain  intermediary  officers, 
when  it  is  notorious  that  in  some  cases  the  men  chosen  to  such  office 
have  gained  power  by  cajolery,  bribery  and  the  lowest  methods  of 
ward  politicians. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  same  class  of  men  achieve 
political  success  in  both  small  and  large  cities  under  our  system  of 
popular  sovereignty,  and  it  would  certainly  be  unwise  to  change 
our  government  in  order  to  prevent  the  election  of  demagogues  to 
office ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  no  demagogue  nor  Board  of 
Aldermen  is  given  authority  over  the  freedom  of  the  individual  nor 
over  the  operation  of  great  industries.  The  Czar  of  Kussia  might 
hesitate  to  order  one  hundred  thousand  men  out  of  employment, 
and  practically  expose  to  mob  rule  great  industrial  establishments 
and  ruin  the  trade  of  a  million  people.  There  is  only  one  power 
on  earth  in  any  civilized  land  which  has  such  authority,  and  this  is 
a  committee  of  men  chosen  by  a  small  fraction  of  the  community 
and  often  by  a  minority  of  the  interested  parties.  It  is  of  record 
that  the  disastrous  decisions  of  such  committees  have  often  been 
condemned  by  the  greater  bodies  of  which  they  form  a  part,  al- 
though such  condemnation  generally  does  about  as  much  good  as  an 
apology  for  hanging  the  wrong  man. 

These  faults  are  recognized  by  the  labor  unions  themselves,  and 
many  well  meaning  persons  advocate  "compulsory  arbitration"  as 
the  panacea  for  all  ills ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  see  how  a  manufac- 
turer can  be  forced  to  take  orders  and  to  operate  his  mill  if  he 
chooses  to  shut  down.  To  compel  him  to  do  so  would  be  condemna- 
tion of  property,  and  the  slightest  consideration  of  fairness  would 
lead  the  state  or  the  community  to  make  good  any  loss  he  might 
sustain  by  the  continuance  of  operations.  On  the  other  hand  it 
is  impossible  to  see  how  a  workman  can  be  compelled  to  work  at 
any  wage  which  is  not  satisfactory  to  him,  when  perhaps  he  is 
offered  more  elsewhere,  and  no  manufacturer  would  ask  for  such 
an  unconstitutional  infringement  upon  the  personal  rights  of  his 
workmen.  Moreover  the  labor  unions  themselves,  while  anxious 
for  a  law  to  compel  employers  to  abide  by  an  award,  recognize  the 
injustice  and  the  impossibility  of  forcing  a  workman  to  labor  for 
less  than  he  considers  his  due.  It  would  therefore  seem  that  the 


THE    IKON    INDUSTRY. 

best  way  is  the  simplest :  it  is  to  let  each  man  exercise  the  rights 
given  him  by  our  laws  of  working  for  the  highest  wage  he  can 
get,  and  of  leaving  when  he  is  not  treated  rightly.  If  a  man. is  un- 
reasonable he  may  be  discharged,  while  if  an  employer  is  unjust  he 
will  be  unable  to  find  laborers  to  do  his  work. 

Under  the  system  of  labor  unions  the  men  who  perform  some  par- 
ticular line  of  work  may  often  be  entirely  unrepresented  on  the 
committee.  The  works  with  which  I  am  connected  has  in  opera- 
tion seven  different  rolling  mills  and  each  one  is  essentially  differ- 
ent, both  in  amount  and  character  of  product.  In  some  of  these 
mills  there  are  over  thirty  different  kinds  of  positions  where  the 
men  are  paid  by  the  piece  or  ton,  not  counting  the  work  done  by 
the  day  or  hour,  and  each  of  these  tonnage  positions  has  a  special 
rate  agreed  upon.  Under  any  system  of  committees  it  is  plain  that 
the  great  majority  of  positions  will  have  no  representative,  and  that 
there  will  always  be  an  incentive  on  the  part  of  a  committeeman  to 
look  after  his  own  job  and  his  own  friends,  while,  on  the  other  hand. 
the  management  of  the  works  will  be  only  too  glad  to  give  such  a 
committeeman  anything  he  may  ask  if  he  will  agree  to  a  low  rate 
for  those  who  are  not  present  at  the  conference.  A  few  years  of 
such  work  will  generally  bring  on  a  strike,  and  a  thousand  well- 
meaning  humanitarians  will  then  advocate  "arbitration,"  by  which 
is  usually  meant  a  reference  to  some  men  who  do  not  know  a  pair 
of  tongs  from  a  straightening  press,  and  who  probably  will  recom- 
mend that  the  difference  be  split,  the  whole  question  of  dispropor- 
tionate rates  being  left  exactly  as  it  was.  To  what  extent  this  dis- 
proportion can  obtain  has  been  shown  by  sworn  testimony  before  a 
Congressional  committee,  where  it  was  proved  that  men  who  joined 
the  disastrous  strike  at  Homestead  drew  thirty  thousand  dollars  a 
year. 

It  might  be  of  advantage  for  the  manufacturer  to  pay  still  higher 
bribes  to  the  leaders  of  the  workmen,  since  such  wages  for  rollers 
cannot  be  called  earnings,  if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  there  is 
a  limit  to  what  the  members  of  a  union  will  stand,  for  it  is  necessary 
to  keep  in  mind  the  all  important  point  that  the  action  of  the  com- 
mittee is  not  final.  The  signature  of  the  company  hears  with  it 
the  highest  responsibility,  but  the  signature  of  the  committee  is 
worthless.  It  may  or  may  not  be  agreed  to  by  the  union.  buf 
whether  it  is  or  whether  it  is  not,  the  decision  does  not  carry  with  it 
the  slightest  financial  responsibility.  It  does  not  bind  and  cannot 


FACTORS   IN   INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION.  617 

bind  any  individual  to  work  for  the  company  a  single  day  longer 
than  he  chooses,  and  if  the  industrial  situation  brightens  and  men 
find  other  more  remunerative  employments  it  is  the  privilege  of 
each  and  every  man  to  leave,  and  if  they  choose  to  go  out  on  a  sym- 
pathetic strike,  as  unions  have  done  before,  there  is  absolutely  no 
redress  for  a  violated  contract. 

I  do  not  believe  in  such  inequitable  arrangements,  nor  do  I 
believe  in  arbitration  on  many  of  the  questions  arising,  or  in  a  sys- 
tem of  committees  so  organized.  I  believe  that  each  man  who 
thinks  himself  ill  treated  should  have  access  to  the  office  of  the 
manager.  It  is  the  right  of  appeal  to  a  higher  court  and  it  is  my 
experience  that  it  is  the  rare  exception  that  a  body  of  men  appear 
to  discuss  a  question  unless  there  is  some  ground  for  their  action. 
Investigation  generally  shows  that  their  statements  are  correct,  and 
while,  of  course,  the  workmen  are  trying  to  get  all  that  they  can, 
and  while  the  manager  is  naturally  trying  to  give  as  little  as  he 
may,  it  generally  happens  that  the  level-headed  men  lead  in  the 
argument,  and  that  a  fair  and  equitable  arrangement  can  be  made, 
and  no  man  feels  that  he  is  outwitted  by  a  committeeman.  He  has 
stated  his  case;  he  has  heard  the  reply;  he  remains  a  free  citizen 
to  accept  the  offer  or  to  decline  it,  and  no  works  can  long  operate 
if  the  offer  is  not  just  and  right. 

I  do  not  know  whether  these  rules  are  universal,  and  there  may 
be  cases  where  different  conditions  govern  and  where  large  bodies 
of  skilled  men  of  one  trade  may  join  for  mutual  protection ;  but  in 
a  steel  works  where  hardly  any  two  positions  are  alike  either  in 
nature  of  work  or  in  rate  of  pay,  the  labor  organization  as  at  present 
constituted  has  no  place.  Moreover,  under  no  condition  will  it  ever 
be  more  than  an  unworthy  and  petty  factor  in  the  universal  labor 
problem  until  it  gives  up  once  and  for  all  the  tenet  it  now  holds  to 
be  fundamental,  that  a  limit  of  production  should  be  set  for  each 
man.  If  labor  unions  will  drop  this  primal  error,  reason  may  find 
a  basis  for  discussion,  while  with  this  dictum  as  a  premise  there 
can  be  no  reconcilement  with  the  spirit  of  progress.  They  must 
also  drop  the  tyrannical  theorem  that  non-union  men  may  not  work 
with  union  men,  and  the  anarchistic  conception  that  non-union 
men  must  not  deliver  goods  to  union  shops.  Many  modern  strikes 
are  based  on  these  ideas,  and  it  is  quite  evident  that  arbitration  is 
utterly  out  of  the  question  since  the  answer  is  either  yes  or  no. 
Any  board  of  arbitrators,  by  the  mere  act  of  considering  such  claims, 


THE    IKOX    INDUSTRY. 

thereby  acknowledge  that  they  have  a  standing  in  equity,  when  a 
moment's  consideration  will  show  that  they  subvert  the  principles 
of  our  government.  Almost  all  of  the  large  steel  plants  of  America 
manage  their  own  affairs.  The  result  is  that  the  introduction  of 
labor  saving  devices  creates  no  trouble,  the  more  so  because  such 
devices,  while  they  decrease  the  number  of  men,  demand  a  higher 
grade  of  workmen,  so  that  it  often  happens  that  the  man  who 
operates  the  new  machine  will  earn  a  higher  rate  of  wages  than 
any  man  made  before  at  the  same  kind  of  work.  Another  reason 
why  labor  saving  machines  are  not  entirely  contrary  to  the  interests 
of  the  skilled  workman  lies  in  a  fact  which  seems  to  be  unknown 
to  the  average  social  economist.  In  the  manufacture  of  steel,  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  very  hard  and  heavy  work.  Formerly,  when  most 
of  the  work  was  done  by  hand,  a  skilled  man  was  almost  necessarily 
one  who  was  superior  physically,  and  as  soon  as  he  reached  middle 
life  he  was  obliged  to  accept  some  less  arduous  and  less  remunera- 
tive employment.  With  the  introduction  of  machinery  the  skilled 
employee  may  often  retain  his  position  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life,  and  the  ability  to  keep  an  old  and  trusted  employee  in  a  posi- 
tion where  his  experience  is  of  value  to  himself  and  to  his  employer 
is  not  merely  a  question  of  sentiment ;  it  is  an  advantage  as  great  to 
the  employer  as  to  the  workman. 

There  is  a  singular  paradox  in  regard  to  labor  saving  machinery 
in  that  such  improvements  always  tend  to  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  men  employed,  for  the  inevitable  result  is  a  cheapening  of  the 
product  and  the  usual  result  is  an  increase  in  capacity.  The  cheap- 
ening brings  more  business  and  the  establishment  taken  as  a  whole 
employs  more  men  than  before.  The  progressive  works  grows  while 
the  others  disappear. 

The  current  argument  in  favor  of  labor  unions  may  be  stated 
thus: 

(1)  Capital  is  allowed  to  organize; 

(2)  Labor  must  have  the  same  rights  as  capital; 

( 3 )  Labor  must  be  allowed  to  organize. 

It  is  impossible  to  dissent  from  the  truth  of  the  premises,  and  it 
is  impossible  to  escape  from  the  conclusion;  but  it  is  necessary  to 
define  the  terms  used.  It  is  essential  to  the  argument  that  we  know 
just  what  is  meant  by  "organize."  Capital  is  allowed  to  organize 
into  corporations,  but  the  rights  and  privileges  of  these  bodies  are 
regulated  by  law.  They  may  not  overstep  whatever  regulations 


FACTORS    IX    INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION.  619 

may  be  made,  and  the  people  can  make  or  change  these  rules.  In 
only  one  case  in  America  can  a  corporation  interfere  in  any  way 
with  the  private  rights,  property  or  freedom  of  the  individual. 
That  exception  is  the  right  of  eminent  domain  possessed  by  railroad 
companies,  and  it  is  well  known  that  the  conditions  under  which 
this  right  may  be  exercised  give  to  every  injured  party  more  than 
sufficient  compensation  for  the  trespass.  Nevertheless,  it  is  an  in- 
fringement of  a  personal  right,  and  for  this  reason  such  corpora- 
tions have  always  been  regarded  as  quasi  public  and  subject  to  leg- 
islative control.  This  control  moreover  has  not  been  entirely  theo- 
retical, for  some  of  our  socialistic  Western  States  have  enacted  laws 
that  have  brought  ruin  to  all  the  capital  invested. 

Taking  into  consideration  simply  manufacturing  corporations  as 
being  the  only  ones  pertinent  to  our  inquiry,  it  may  be  safely  as- 
serted that  in  no  particular  do  their  corporate  rights  allow  any 
trespass  upon  the  private  rights  of  individuals.  It  is  true  that  they 
may  use  their  money  to  injure  men  or  communities,  but  so  may  any 
private  person.  Any  multi-millionaire  might  buy  a  factory  and 
shut  it  down  and  ruin  a  village,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  could 
be  done  about  it.  He  might  discharge  all  his  old  and  trusted  serv- 
ants and  the  law  could  hardly  touch  him.  He  might  commit  all 
the  sins  charged  against  corporations  and  there  would  be  no  redress. 
It  is  wrong  to  condemn  corporate  laws  for  allowing  acts  which  a 
private  individual  may  legally  do,  and  it  is  quite  certain  that  manu- 
facturing corporations  have  been  given  no  rights  of  eminent  do- 
main, no  privilege  to  infringe  upon  the  private  estate  of  the  citi- 
zen. They  have  the  power  to  issue  bonds,  to  issue  stock,  to  conduct 
business  under  a  perpetual  name,  and  in  return  have  certain  duties, 
certain  taxes  to  pay,  certain  regulations  under  which  they  must  con- 
duct their  business  and  protect  the  interests  of  the  minority.  This 
is  the  extent  of  their  powers  as  granted  by  the  State.  All  other 
powers  are  inherent  as  vested  in  general  constitutional  prerogatives. 

This  then  is  the  definition  of  "organize"  and  the  right  of  men, 
whether  so-called  "laborers"  or  not,  to  so  unite  has  never  been 
questioned.  They  may  form  organizations  for  pleasure,  for  im- 
provement or  for  business ;  but  it  is  another  matter  when  they  "or- 
ganize" to  restrict  personal  liberty.  That  a  band  of  men  may  agree 
among  themselves  not  to  work  more  than  a  certain  number  of  hours 
per  day  is  as  certain  as  that  they  may  agree  not  to  smoke,  or  not  to 
eat  meat.  Their  right  to  do  so  is  unquestionable.  It  is  their  privi- 


620 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


lege  to  agree  that  they  will  only  handle  two  shovelfuls  of  earth  per 
hour,  or  one  shovelful  per  day.  It  is  their  right  to  refuse  to  work 
for  less  than  five  dollars  per  day  or  twice  that  amount.  It  is  their 
right  to  ask  their  employer  to  sign  a  scale  and  agreement  to  that 
effect  for  one  year  or  ten  years,  but  it  is  also  the  right  of  the  em- 
ployer to  ask  what  guarantee  is  given  that  they  will  stay  in  his 
employ,  no  matter  what  other  inducements  are  held  out  to  them  in 
other  places,  and  it  is  also  his  inalienable  right  to  tell  them  that 
such  agreements  are  not  according  to  his  wish  and  that  he  will  try 
and  get  men  who  will  work  without  them;  and  if  such  "organiza- 
tion" should  reach  the  last  stage  and  the  "organizers'7  should  de- 
mand that  no  one  should  work  in  the  shop  except  those  subscribing 
to  the  union  and  paying  the  salaries  of  the  officers,  the  only  possible 
answer  is  that  such  a  rule  is  contrary  to  the  fundamental  tenets  on 
which  this  government  rests. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  certain  matters  cannot  be  arbi- 
trated. Thus  it  is  of  record  that  a  certain  "union"  works  in 
America  was  shut  down  several  times,  not  on  account  of  any  dis- 
agreement between  employer  and  employe,  but  on  account  of  dis- 
putes between  two  rival  labor  unions.  It  is  quite  comprehensible 
why  under  such  conditions  or  under  many  other  circumstances  a 
manufacturer  might  conclude  to  employ  only  non-union  men.  His 
right  to  do  so  is  as  unquestionable  as  the  right  of  a  farmer  to 
employ  only  colored  laborers  or  to  employ  only  white  men,  or  to 
employ  both  as  he  chooses.  Granting  that  the  manufacturer  has 
concluded  to  run  his  place  non-union,  it  is  evidently  impossible  to 
submit  the  matter  to  arbitration.  If  his  conclusion  is  unwise,  he 
will  suffer  most,  for  if  men  will  not  work  for  him  then  he  will 
lose  money,  and  if  he  can  get  only  the  scum  of  the  streets  then 
also  will  he  lose ;  but  if  he  can  obtain  good  men  in  sufficient  num- 
bers, then  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  conditions  are  acceptable  to 
them  and  to  him  and  that  therefore  his  position  is  just  and  equit- 
able. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  how  a  decision  to  employ  only  non- 
union men  can  be  susceptible  to  arbitration,  and  it  would  seem 
unnecessary  to  more  than  state  the  theorem  were  it  not  that  poli- 
ticians and  certain  lecturers  at  Chautauqua  are  advocating  com- 
pulsory arbitration.  It  must  always  be  remembered  that  no  em- 
ployer ever  entertained  a  prejudice  against  a  labor  union  on  gen- 
eral grounds  alone.  The  opposition  arose  from  the  plain  fact  that 


FACTORS    IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION.  621 

labor  unions  regularly  develop  into  the  most  tyrannical  and  out- 
rageous violators  of  individual  rights.  It  has  happened  many 
times  that  a  hundred  union  men  have  left  a  shop  because  one 
non-union  man  was  at  work.  Is  it  possible  that  any  employer  with 
a  grain  of  self-respect,  or  any  intelligent  person,  will  say  that  such 
a  matter  is  open  to  arbitration.  Our  common  law  recognizes  prose- 
cution and  imprisonment,  but  it  recognizes  the  arbitration  of  crime 
as  the  compounding  of  a  felony  and  calls  this  a  crime  in  itself. 

The  proposition  has  been  made  by  a  President  of  the  United 
States  that  employers  should  not  discriminate  against  union  men, 
but  that  union  men  on  the  other  hand  should  not  interfere  with 
non-union  men  working  beside  them.  This  is  a  most  excellent 
solution  from  an  academic  standpoint,  but  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
where  such  an  arrangement  is  attempted,  it  is  overthrown  by  the 
union  element,  and  in  places  where  the  troubles  have  developed 
into  riot  and  murder  we  have  yet  to  hear  of  any  assistance  given 
by  labor  leaders  to  the  legal  authorities  to  punish  the  instigators 
of  crime. 

Labor  organizations  are  a  form  of  socialism.  In  the  same  cate- 
gory stand  the  comprehensive  paternal  laws  of  Germany  and  other 
European  countries  and  the  less  radical  measures  either  proposed 
or  enacted  in  our  own  land.  This  fact  does  not  necessarily  brand 
them  as  wrong,  for  socialism  may  contain  elements  of  right  and 
justice.  I  do  not  make  the  senseless  generalization  that  since  trades 
unions  are  socialistic  and  socialism  wrong,  that  therefore  the  unions 
are  wrong,  for  it  would  be  necessary  to  prove  that  all  phases  of 
socialism  are  wrong.  But  I  do  make  the  point  that  if  socialism  is 
right  at  all,  it  is  right  for  all ;  there  must  be  no  classes  in  America. 
There  is  no  stone  wall  between  the  humblest  laborer  in  a  steel  works 
and  the  manager.  The  pathway  is  wide  open  from  the  workshop 
or  the  mill  to  the  sanctum  of  the  administrative  head.  The  rule 
that  applies  to  one  must  apply  to  the  other.  If  eight  hours  is  the 
maximum  time  the  laborer  is  allowed  to  work,  then  the  same  law 
must  govern  the  manager.  If  the  humblest  workman  must  not 
work  except  within  certain  hours,  then  the  manager  must  not  think 
except  during  the  same  interval.  The  mechanic  must  not  go  home 
and  think  how  a  job  can  be  done  better,  the  superintendent  must  not 
try  to  improve  the  plant,  nor  make  one  more  ton  of  steel  to-day 
than  was  made  yesterday.  Moreover,  if  no  man  is  to  do  work 
except  at  his  own  trade,  then  no  man  must  work  in  his  own  garden, 


622 


THE   IRON   INDUSTEY. 


raise  his  own  flowers,  or  mend  a  broken  fence.  Such  is  the  inevi- 
table logic  of  the  labor  union. 

The  labor  leaders  will  hardly  wish  to  say  that  there  are  classes 
and  castes  in  America,  and  if  there  are  no  classes  then  the  same 
rules  should  govern  all ;  and  if  these  rules  are  to  be  made  for  all, 
then  they  must  be  laws,  made  by  the  regular  law-making  bodies; 
made  by  the  people  through  their  chosen  representatives.  This 
has  been  done  in  New  Zealand;  it  may  be  well  to  await  the  result. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  remember  that  in  this  great  experi- 
ment success  will  not  be  measured  solely  by  freedom  from  strikes, 
for  the  industrial  peace  compelled  by  arbitration  is  not  necessarily 
the  best  thing,  any  more  than  political  and  social  peace  compelled 
by  the  superior  force  of  an  autocratic  monarchy  betokens  the  high- 
est triumph  of  government.  The  excitement  of  a  political  cam- 
paign in  America  is  more  desirable  and  more  truly  an  exponent  of 
a  healthy  condition  than  the  sullen  passivity  with  which  servile 
subjects  might  view  a  change  of  masters.  The  current  views  of 
many^  political  leaders  in  interfering  with  industrial  freedom  re- 
semble the  medieval  notion  that  a  decree  of  the  king  could  fix  the 
price  of  wheat,  prohibit  the  export  of  gold,  or  exalt  the  value  of  a 
debased  currency.  The  success  or  failure  of  such  measures  cannot 
be  determined  by  the  immediate  effect;  some  people  imagine  that 
when  the  arbitration  laws  of  New  Zealand  have  prevented  a  strike 
by  the  easy  method  of  splitting  the  difference,  a  great  triumph  has 
been  won.  They  forget  that  this  is  a  backward  step;  that  it  is 
abandoning  the  business  method  of  fixing  a  price,  and  substituting 
the  ancient  Jew  practice  of  asking  twice  as  much  as  is  expected 
in  order  that  an  intermediate  price  may  be  secured.  If  the  public 
supposes  that  the  truth  is  a  compromise  between  extreme  demands, 
it  is  easy  to  keep  business  in  a  ferment  by  asking  for  an  advance. 

It  will  take  a  generation  for  New  Zealand  to  discover  the  result 
of  her  innovations,  but  even  at  this  early  day  the  situation  is  not 
entirely  happy.  The  employers  in  three  provinces  have  come  out 
strongly  against  the  present  system  of  compulsory  arbitration, 
while  on  the  other  hand  the  labor  union  of  one  of  these  same 
provinces  is  up  in  arms  at  the  unexpected  and  strange  phenomenon 
of  an  award  against  the  workmen,  and  the  Labor  Council  is  asking 
"why  should  we  obey  an  adverse  award,  when  no  jail  in  large 
enough  to  hold  us  all?"  Not  until  the  regulations  made  in  this 
distant  island  have  had  time  to  produce  their  proper  fruit,  not 


FACTORS    IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION.  623- 

until  New  Zealand  becomes  thickly  settled  and  possessed  of  the 
complex  industrial  life  existing  in  those  countries  which  are  fac- 
tors in  the  business  of  the  world,  not  until  the  new  schemes  of 
labor  regulation  have  proven  their  efficacy  under  international 
competition,  can  the  laws  of  this  much-discussed  country  become 
more  than  an  interesting  experiment  to  be  watched  rather  than  to 
be  copied. 

SEC.  XXIc. — The  question  of  tariffs. — In  the  minds  of  many  of 
my  readers  this  discussion  will  not  be  in  the  least  complete  if  I  do 
not  place  upon  record  my  unqualified  belief  that  the  present  condi- 
tion of  the  American  iron  manufacture  is  solely  due  to  the  operation 
of  the  high  protection  system,  which  has  been  in  force  for  so  many 
years.  Let  me  say  therefore  that  there  are  some  men  in  the  iron 
trade  who  believe  that  the  entire  business  of  this  country  is  not 
represented  by  a  tariff  measure,  just  as  on  the  other  hand  there  are 
men  not  connected  with  the  iron  business  at  all  who  fail  to  appre- 
ciate that  the  tariff  is  robbing  them  of  their  last  cent.  During  the 
period  that  high  tariffs  have  been  in  force  our  iron  industry  has 
expanded,  to  most  wonderful  proportions,  but  that  such  expansion 
is  due  to  the  tariff  is  not  a  necessary  conclusion.  That  such  ex- 
pansion has  from  time  to  time  been  interrupted  by  periods  of  panic 
and  disaster  is  unquestioned,  but  it  is  rash  to  say  that  such  disasters 
are  the  inevitable  results  of  protective  tariffs. 

It  is  quite  true  that  American  manufacturers  have  sometimes  sold 
a  part  of  their  products  to  foreign  customers  at  a  lower  price  than 
the  ruling  market  quotations  at  home,  and  this  fact  is  immediately 
grasped  and  spread  broadcast  by  petty  politicians  and  by  so-called 
economists,  who  seem  always  to  be  climbing  out  on  the  scale  beam 
in  one  direction  as  far  as  they  can  go  to  balance  the  equally  erratic 
high  tariff  promoters  who  are  climbing  the  other  way.  Nothing 
can  so  quite  keep  in  countenance  the  fallacies  of  fanatics  as  counter 
fallacies  gravely  argued.  Nothing  could  more  please  the  advocates 
of  free  trade  than  to  see  protectionists  trying  to  prove  that  iron  ore 
is  not  raw  material.  My  mind  is  not  broad  enough  to  grasp  all  the 
complex  conditions  that  surround  the  industrial  progress  of  Amer^ 
ica,  and  I  cannot  see  as  clearly  as  some  men  that  no  steel  would 
ever  have  been  made  here  had  it  not  been  for  certain  divinely  in- 
spired orators  in  Congress ;  neither  can  I  see  as  clearly  as  others  that 
the  nation  would  have  been  richer  and  greater  had  no  duty  ever 
been  imposed  on  foreign  manufactures.  It  is  possible  that  the  rea- 


£9^  THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

son  why  I  cannot  see  so  clearly  is  that  my  information  is  gained  at 
first  hand,  and  is  not  made  up  of  partisan  statements.  An  able 
and  honest  President  of  the  United  States  publicly  announced  that 
a  tariff  was  a  tax,  and  that  the  price  of  an  article  here  was  the 
price  abroad  plus  the  tariff.  If  the  statement  concerning  the  price 
had  been  true  then  undoubtedly  the  tariff  would  have  been  a  tax, 
but  unfortunately  for  the  reputation  of  the  said  President,  the 
statement  was  not  true,  as  he  might  easily  have  found  and  should 
have  found  by  the  most  casual  inspection  of  the  regular  trade 
papers.  In  the  case  of  steel  rails,  for  example,  the  price  in  the 
United  States  is  not  equal  to  the  foreign  price  plus  the  tariff,  and 
has  not  been  for  fifteen  years,  while  there  have  been  many  times 
when  they  were  sold  here  much  cheaper  than  they  could  be  bought 
at  European  works. 

Such  free  trade  nonsense  is  matched  by  many  protectionist 
pamphlets  declaring  that  high  tariffs  mean  high  prices  and  high 
wages,  when  on  the  one  hand  we  have  seen  the  United  States  selling 
steel  cheaper  than  any  other  country  in  the  world,  and  we  may  see 
Austria  and  France,  both  high  tariff  nations,  paying  starvation 
wages  to  their  work-people,  and  using  women  in  great  numbers  as 
laborers  in  the  roughest  kinds  of  work. 

^   The  following  conclusions  may  be  wrong,  but  I  trust  they  are 
not  fanatical  or  entirely  unfounded: 

(1)  A  high  tariff  on  a  certain  article  hastens  very  much  the 
establishment  of  factories  to  produce  that  article. 

(2)  The  establishment  of  a  new  industry  like  making  steel,  cot- 
ton or  woolen  goods,  carpets,  etc.,  etc.,  requires  at  least  ten  years 
before  all  the  social  and  industrial  conditions  have  become  so  corre- 
lated that  the  cost  of  production  reaches  an  economical  footing. 

(3)  During  this  period  the  general  public   pays  a  somewhat 
higher  price  for  this  article,  the  excess  depending  on  the  amount  of 
protection  an'd  the  amount  of  domestic  competition. 

(4)  In  some  cases  and  in  industries  not  requiring  very  large  in- 
vestments of  capital  or  the  creation  of  communities  of  special  work- 
men, this  period  during  which  the  public  is  so  taxed  may  be  very 
short,  and  the  price  may  soon  drop  even  below  that  paid  to  foreign 
manufacturers. 

(5)  If  the  profits  to  the  protected  manufacturer  are  large,  new 
works  will  be  erected,  and  if  these  combine  to  extort  an  unreason- 
able profit,  still  other  works  will  be  built,  the  end  being  the  same 


FACTORS    IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMPETITION.  625 

in  any  event  in  that  the  needs  will  be  met  and  internal  competition 
ultimately  bring  about  a  price  representing  in  the  long  run  not 
much  over  a  fair  profit. 

(6)  Whether  this  price,  the  cost  plus  a  fair  profit,  is  or  is  not 
more  than  the  price  abroad  will  depend  upon  the  natural  advantages 
of  the  situation.     If  an  article  cannot  be  made  here  as  cheaply  as 
abroad,  then  the  question  must  be  answered  whether  the  public 
should  pay  the  premium."   If  it  can  be  made  as  cheaply,  then  com- 
petition will  force  it  to  be  so  made. 

(7)  The  "price  abroad"  is  a  term  which  must  be  used  carefully, 
for  the  price  at  which  standard  articles  can  be  bought  from  time  to 
time  for  delivery  beyond  the  borders  of  the  home  market  does  not 
in  the  least  represent  what  would  be  the  price  under  a  greater 
demand;  such  a  demand,  for  instance,  as  would  be  made  on  Ger- 
many and  the  United  States  if  all  the  steel  works  of  England  should 
shut  down.     Neither  do  these  quotations  represent  the  real  cost  of 
manufacture. 

(8)  The  real  cost  of  manufacture  includes  many  things  which 
are  usually  overlooked,  but  which  are  of  immense  importance.    The 
main  items  are  as  follows,  it  being  assumed  for  the  sake  of  sim- 
plicity that  a  steel  works  owns  its  own  ore  and  coal  mines  and  coke 
ovens : 

(a)  Actual  operating  costs  at  all  mines  and  works,  including 
labor,  fuel,  repairs,  etc.,  etc. 

(b)  Freight  charges  on  all  raw  materials  and  incidentals. 

(c)  Interest  at  6  per  cent,  on  all  money  actually  invested  in 
mines  and  plant,  and  on  all  floating  capital  needed  to  carry  on  the 
business. 

(d)  Expenses  incident  to  superintendence,  selling  agencies,  taxes, 
bad  debts,  pensions,  damages,  etc.,  etc. 

(e)  Depreciation,  by  which  is  meant  a  class  of  items  generally 
overlooked.     The  ore  and  coal  must  bear  not  only  the  interest  on 
the  money  invested,  but  a  sum  sufficient  to  pay  for  an  equal  quan- 
tity of  material  when  the  beds  are  exhausted.     The  depreciation  of 
the  steel  plant  itself  is  still  higher,  for  it  is  almost  safe  to  say  that 
to  keep  a  steel  works  up  to  its  value,  to  keep  it  as  a  factor  in  the 
great  strife  of  competition,  requires  an  annual  expenditure  of  ten 
per  cent,  of  its  cost.     Engines,  boilers,  rolling  mills,  cranes,  shears 
and  all  the  manifold  equipment  may  last  that  time,  may  last  longer, 
or  may  be  outlawed  before  that  period  expires.     A  mill  not  up  to 


626 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


date  cannot  compete  with  one  that  is,  and  if  it  cannot  compete,, 
then  it  loses  money;  and  if  it  loses  money,  then  it  is  worth  nothing, 
absolutely  nothing,  no  matter  how  new  it  is  or  how  much  it  cost. 

(9)  This  item  of  depreciation  is  often  represented  on  the  cost 
sheets  by  new  equipment  and  machinery,  but  sometimes  these  are 
erroneously  or  falsely  put  into  the  capitalization  account.    Whether 
ten  per  cent,  is  or  is  not  the  correct  figure  for  a  steel  plant,  it  is 
quite  certain  that  a  very  considerable  amount  must  be  included  in 
the  true  cost  of  manufacture. 

Assuming  that  the  plant  cost  ten  million  dollars,  a  depreciation 
of  ten  per  cent,  is  equal  to  one  million  annually;  and  if  the  pro- 
duction during  the  year  is  five  hundred  thousand  tons,  then  this 
charge  amounts  to  two  dollars  on  every  ton  of  steel  made.  It  may 
be  more  in  some  works  and  may  be  less  in  others. 

(10)  When  business  is  slack  it  is  necessary  that  the  manufac- 
turer ignore  this  item  altogether,  for  he  will  assuredly  operate  his 
plant  if  he  can  cover  his  actual  running  expenses.     If  therefore  he 
does  not  earn  his  depreciation  during  a  period  of  one,  two  or  three 
years,  then  he  must  earn  a  double  amount  for  an  equal  period  when 
good  times  return,  and  this  must  not  be  considered  as  profit.     He 
must  also  ignore  the  interest  on  the  money  invested  in  plant  and  in 
floating  capital,  as  well  as  the  expenses  of  selling  agencies,  taxes, 
insurance,  etc.,  since  all  these  items,  like  depreciation,  will  go  on 
whether  steel  is  made  or  not. 

(11)  During  this  era  of  low  prices,  the  actual  cost  sheets  and  the 
annual  reports  may  show  no  loss  or  even  a  margin  of  profit,  and 
the  average  observer  might  conclude  that  these  figures  represent  the 
proper  selling  price,  a  conclusion  which  would  be  entirely  erroneous. 

(12)  It  is  the  part  of  common  sense  for  rival  manufacturers  to 
get  together  and  agree  to  prevent  cutthroat  competition,  by  which 
not  only  are  all  profits  thrown  away  and  all  depreciation  and  in- 
terest charges  ignored,  but  even  operating  costs  encroached  upon. 
A  fair  price  under  such  an  arrangement  would  include  depreciation 
and  interest  as  fundamental  parts  of  the  cost. 

(13)  Having  made  such  an  agreement  for  home  trade  it  becomes 
good  policy  to  ignore  these  items  on  competitive  business  for  foreign 
deliveries,  since  they  are  both  fixed  quantities,  not  depending  on  the 
amount  of  steel  produced,  and  the  extra  output  caused  by  such 
foreign  deliveries  cheapens  the  cost  to  the  manufacturer.     More- 
over certain  lines  of  foreign  trade  cannot  be  held  if  prices  are  varied 


FACTOKS   IN   INDUSTRIAL   COMPETITION.  627 

with  every  local  advance.  Having  secured  for  instance  the  business 
of  a  certain  railway  in  Australia,  it  is  evidently  quite  impossible 
to  retain  it  if  the  price  quoted  follows  every  boom  in  the  home 
market;  and  it  is  certainly  good  policy  to  keep  the  trade. of  this 
railway  for  future  business,  in  spite  of  the  hue  and  cry  about  lower 
prices  to  foreign  buyers. 

(14)  This  argument  is  not  new,  but  has  been  an  accepted  com- 
mercial and  industrial  maxim  in  every  country,  under  both  protec- 
tion and  free  trade,  and  all  the  "prices  abroad,"  so  freely  quoted, 
are  based  on  this  rule  as  existing  in  foreign  lands.     It  is  even  true 
that  bounties  are  actually  paid  in  some  instances  to  encourage 
export  trade. 

(15)  The  payment  of  a  bounty  for  export  trade  is  directly  in 
line  with  the  maintenance  of  a  protective  duty  after  the  incubative 
period  has  passed.     Practically  it  must  be  looked  upon  as  out  of 
the  question  owing  to  the  impossibility  of  arriving  at  a  complete 
knowledge  of  just  what  would  be  equitable,  but  although  such  a 
system  would  breed  many  wrongs,  it  is  theoretically  justifiable  to  a 
certajn  limited  extent. 

A  steel  works,  in  common  with  every  manufacturing  plant,  is  a 
benefit  to  the  general  public  in  many  ways.  It  contributes  to  the 
payment  of  taxes  and  thus  saves  an  equivalent  amount  of  individual 
expenditure.  It  is  the  foundation  of  large  communities  which 
influence  and  increase  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country  by  giv- 
ing a  market  for  all  kinds  of  commodities.  It  supplies  freight  to 
the  railroads  in  enormous  quantities.  In  the  twelve  months  imme- 
diately preceding  the  time  of  writing,  the  works  with  which  I  am 
connected  received  54,903  cars  and  sent  out  17,471  cars  loaded  with 
finished  material.  Allowing  for  some  empty  cars  received  and 
estimating  the  average  of  the  whole  to  be  30  tons  per  car,  we  have 
a  total  of  2,170,000  tons  of  traffic  and  a  total  train  length, of  500 
miles.  The  average  length  of  haul  is  unknown,  but  was  over  two 
hundred  miles.  This  business  brings  in  an  enormous  income  to 
the  railroads,  the  gross  receipts  from  a  steel  works  being  four  or 
possibly  six  times  as  much  as  though  a  similar  amount  of  material 
were  imported  from  abroad,  and  there  were  no  raw  materials  or 
incidental  supplies  to  assemble.  It  will  be  evident  on  the  slightest 
consideration  that  the  cost  of  moving  other  freight  is  reduced  by 
this  increased  business,  and  the  establishment  of  other  industries 


628  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

thereby  made  possible,  which,  in  turn,  react  by  further  lowering  the 
cost  of  transportation  by  their  contribution  to  tonnage  moved. 

A  nation  would  lose  no  money  if  a  bounty  were  paid  to  support 
manufactures,  provided  such  support  were  necessary,  and  provided 
that  the  bounty  did  not  exceed  the  sum  directly  and  indirectly  paid 
or  saved  by  the  manufacturer  to  the  state  and  to  the  public.  If 
German  steel  is  laid  down  in  England  at  one  shilling  per  ton 
cheaper  than  English  steel  works  can  make  it,  and  if  that  shilling 
represents  the  dividing  line  of  business,  then  it  would  be  money  in 
the  pocket  of  the  taxpayers  of  England  if  a  protective  duty  of  one 
shilling  were  levied  upon  foreign  steel,  since  the  amounts  contrib- 
uted by  works  in  operation  must  be  much  more  than  this.  It  is 
impossible  to  give  the  upper  limit  of  such  a  tariff,  for  the  conditions 
are  too  various  and  include  all  the  correlated  conditions,  down  to 
the  higher  value  of  farm  products  in  industrial  communities. 
Within  this  range,  whatever  the  limits  may  be,  a  protective  tariff 
is  not  illogical ;  beyond  the  limit,  it  is  uneconomical. 

Such  are  my  opinions.  They  may  not  embrace  absolute  truth. 
Few  things  have  ever  been  written  that  were  beyond  need  of  change, 
but  it  has  been  deemed  advisable  to  revise  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  and  it  is  barely  possible  that  some  alteration  may  be  neces- 
sary in  the  Wealth  of  Nations  by  one  Adam  Smith. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 

SECTION  XXIIa. — General  view. — It  is  impossible  to  treat  the 
iron  and  steel  industry  of  the  United  States  with  the  same  com- 
pleteness that  the  different  nations  of  Europe  will  be  discussed. 
This  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  scale  upon  which  our  country  is 
constructed  is  so  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  the  scale  by  which 
other  countries  are  always  considered.  It  also  arises  from  the 
absence  of  any  tariff  restrictions  between  parts  of  our  country ;  thus 
it  is  quite  conceivable  that  if  New  York  State  were  a  separate  em- 
pire she  might  have  a  high  tariff  on  steel  and  a  low  tariff  on  raw  ma- 
terials, and  have  long  since  created  within  her  own  limits  a  per- 
manent steel  industry  on  a  considerable  scale.  In  the  absence  of 
such  a  great  center  of  production  the  output  of  the  State  is  not 
only  left  undivided  but  is  combined  with  that  of  New  Jersey.  From 
one  point  of  view,  however,  it  is  wrong  to  consider  as  a  unit  a  dis- 
trict as  large  as  New  York  alone.  The  iron  industry  of  the  State 
is  made  up  of  two  parts,  entirely  independent  of  each  other.  In 
the  northeastern  section  are  the  ore  mines  of  the  Lake  Champlain 
district  and  in  the  extreme  west  are  the  furnaces  of  Buffalo  and 
Tonawanda,  smelting  Lake  Superior  ores.  These  two  districts  have 
no  relation  whatever  to  one  another ;  they  are  250.  miles  apart  in  a 
straight  line,  farther  than  from  the  ore  mines  of  the  Cleveland  dis- 
trict to  the  coal  of  Cardiff;  as  far  as  from  Prague  in  Bohemia  to 
Gleiwitz  in  eastern  German  Silesia.  It  would  be  more  logical  after 
the  erection  of  the  new  steel  plant  at  Buffalo  to  make  a  group  em- 
bracing the  works  upon  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  although 
this  would  be  combining  two  entirely  independent  producers  like 
Buffalo  and  Cleveland,  which  are  as  far  apart  as  Dortmund  and 
Saarbrucken. 

The  State  of  Virginia  is  always  considered  as  a  whole,  but  it 
covers  an  area  nearly  as  great  as  England.  It  is  not  looked  upon 
as  one  of  the  great  centers  of  pig-iron  production,  but  it  makes  half 

629 


£30  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

as  much  as  the  whole  of  Belgium,  half  as  much  again  as  South 
Yorkshire,  with  Leeds  and  Sheffield,  and  nearly  double  the  output 
of  Aachen  and  Ilsede  combined.  In  any  book  treating  exhaustively 
of  pig-iron  it  would  hold  a  prominent  place,  but  it  is  discussed  here 
simply  as  proof  of  the  vastness  of  the  subject,  when  this  State  may 
be  neglected  as  having  little  bearing  on  the  general  business  of 
making  steel. 

One  of  the  fundamental  differences  between  American  and  Euro- 
pean conditions  arises  in  this  geographical  separation  and  the  dis- 
tances through  which  the  raw  material  must  be  assembled.  In 
Europe  a  haul  by  railroad  of  200  miles  is  considered  very  long  and 
the  cost  is  excessive,  while  in  America  it  is  not  unusual  at  all.  Coal 
and  coke  are  carried  this  distance  in  several  instances,  while  Chi- 
cago draws  its  blast  furnace  fuel  from  West  Virginia  and  the  Con- 
nellsville  field,  the  distances  ranging  from  500  to  over  600  miles. 

The  most  magnificent  disregard  of  distance,  however,  is  seen  in 
the  official  publication  of  the  American  Iron  and  Steel  Association, 
wherein  the  steel  production  of  Colorado  is  combined  with  that  of 
East  St.  Louis  in  Missouri.  These  are  entirely  independent  pro- 
ducing centers  and  they  are  800  miles  apart  in  a  straight  line ;  a;; 
far  as  St.  Petersburg  is  from  the  coal  fields  of  South  Russia;  as 
Middlesborough  is  from  Upper  Silesia ;  Westphalia  from  Styria  and 
Paris  from  Warsaw.  The  fault  however  does  not  rest  with  Mr. 
Swank,  but  in  the  secrecy  enforced  upon  him  by  certain  interests. 

The  statistical  reports  of  this  country  are  by  no  means  what  they 
should  be  and  this  is  due  to  disinclination  on  the  part  of  some 
manufacturers  to  give  information.  The  data  on  pig-iron  are  quite 
full  as  a  general  thing,  but  the  records  concerning  steel  production 
are  very  meagre.  It  is  impossible  to  make  out  from  the  usual 
sources  of  information  any  accurate  statement  of  the  amount  of 
steel  made  in  the  various  well  known  and  most  important  districts. 

The  Directory  to  the  Iron  and  Steel  Works  of  the  United  States, 
published  by  the  American  Iron  and  Steel  Association,  261  South 
Fourth  street,  Philadelphia,  gives  details  of  almost  every  plant  in 
the  United  States.  This  information  is  so  complete  that  it  is  moro 
than  useless  to  give  a  list  of  works  for  each  district,  but  I  have 
compiled,  with  some  labor,  the  number  of  converters,  open-hearth 
furnaces  and  rolling  mills  in  each  district,  and  have  calculated  from 
this  basis,  an£  from  several  private  sources  of  information  and  from 
official  statistics,  the  output  of  iron  and  steel  in  each  locality  as 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


631 


nearly  as  possible.  The  private  information  was  in  some  cases 
confidential  and  is  used  only  in  groups,  as  for  instance,  the  data 
concerning  a  portion  of  the  Pittsburgh  district.  The  results  are 
given  in  Table  XXII-A. 

In  Table  XXII-B  are  given  the  records  of  production  of  steel 
for  the  whole  country  from  1867.  This  has  been  condensed  to 
make  Table  XXII-C  in  order  to  show,  for  both  the  United  States 
and  for  Great  Britain,  the  amount  of  the  different  kinds  of  steel 
made,  while  Table  XXII-D  gives  the  percentage  of  each  product. 

TABLE  XXII-A. 

Output  of  Pig-Iron  and  Steel  in  1901  in  the  United  States,  together 
with  Data  on  Producing  Capacity ;  estimates  in  parantheses. 

Note :  See  text  for  boundaries  of  districts ;  thus  "Pittsburgh"  Includes  parts 
of  three  States  and  output  of  pig-iron  for  "Steelton"  includes  the  product  of 
two  counties. 


District. 

Blast 
Furnaces. 

Pig  Iron. 

No.  of  works  having  roll- 
ing mills. 

M  1  No.of  works  making  cruci- 
M^  1  ble  steel. 

Bessemer  Converters. 

Small,  mostly 
for  steel 
castings 

Standard 
size. 
7  to  20  ton. 

Coke. 

Char- 
coal. 

Output; 
tons. 

Per 
cent, 
of 
total 

No. 

Aver- 
age 
capac- 
ity. 

No 

Aver- 
age 
capac- 
ity. 

Pittsburg  
Illinois  

82 
20 

6,880.000 
1,597.000 
1,225,000 
783,000 
695000 
512,000 
481,000 

478,000 
449,000 

439,000 
337,000 
309.000 
303.000 
208,000 
185,000 
171,000 
398.000 
301,000 
68000 
18,000 

|    27:000 
12.000 

43.3 
10.1 

7.7 
4.9 
4.4 
3.2 
3.0 

3.0 

2.8 

2.8 
2  1 
2.0 
1.9 
1.3 
1.2 
1.1 
25 
1.9 
0.4 
0.1 

0.2 
0.1 

137 
21 
10 
15 
12 
3 
11 

36 
6 

38 
2 
4 
6 
7 
2 
6 
45 
27 
9 
5 

30 
5 

10 
11 

3 

2 

39 

8 
18 
6 
29 

17 
22 

27 
15 
11 
4 
6 
3 

6 

1 
4 

3 
1 

8 

""l" 

'"9" 
3 

'"i" 
""4" 

7 

Cleveland,  Ohio  
Steelton.  Pa  
Johnstown,  Pa  
Lehigh  Valley,  Pa... 
Southeastern    Penn- 
sylvania   

4 
3 
4 

4 

11 
10 
12 
7 

Y 
3 





5 

2 

Virginia  

New  York  and  New 
Jersey  

8 
1 

Tennes-ee  

Hanging  Rock.  Ohio. 
Sparrow's  Point.  Md. 
Wisconsin  and  Minn. 
Colorado.-  
Michigan 

2 

20 

4 

"2 
3 

3 

'"2" 

2 
'  2" 

2 

5 

Other  parts  Penn  — 
Other  parts  Ohio  — 
Kentucky  

17 
9 
8 
1 
2 
1 

1 

1 

2 
2 

4 
5 

Missouri  ... 

2 

2 

North  Carolina  
Georgia  
New  England 

15 

28 

7 

3 

1 

2 

2 

Delaware  .... 

Other  States 

6 

2,000 

8 

45 

1 

2 

Total  . 

345 

54 

15,878,000   100.0 

460 

19 



58 



632 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

TABLE  XXII-A.— Continued. 


District. 

Open  Hearth  Furnaces. 

Steel;  all  kinds. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Steel  castings 
not  included 
in  foregoing. 

No. 

Aver- 
age 
capac- 
ity. 

No. 

Aver- 
age 
capac- 
ity. 

No. 

Aver- 
age 
capac 
ity. 

Output; 
tons. 

Per 
cent, 
(•f    • 
toial. 

Pittsburgh  

35 
3 
3 
2 
12 
3 

30 
25 
25 
35 
30 
45 

84 
9 
10 
8 
33 
9 

40 
40 
30 
40 
40 
40 

20 
13 
2 
2 
14 
2 

18 
15 
10 
4 
20 
15 

(7.317,000) 
1,750,000 
870,000 
656000 
629,000 
427,000 
352,000 
352.000 
173,000 
(150000) 
(150,000) 

107,000 
69,000 
(50,000) 
15,000 
165.000 
53000 
]. 

i-     (189,000) 

54.3 
13.0 
6  4 
4.9 
4.7 
3.2 
2.6 
2.6 
1.3 
1.1 
1.1 

0.8 
0.5 
0.4 
0.1 
1.2 
0.4 

1.4 

Illinois                     

Cleveland,  Ohio  
Johnstown  Pa  

Southeastern  Penn 

Steelton  Pa  

Sparrow's  Point,  Md  .... 

Scran  ton  Pa 

5 

15 

6 
13 

40 
45 

6 
1 

15 
20 

Alabama            

New  York  and  New  Jer- 
sey                    

2 
6 

25 
30 

8 
2 

20 
40 

10 
'"3" 

10 
'"20"' 

Lehigh  Valley  Pa 

Missouri  

Hanging  Rock  Ohio 

4 

30 

Other  parts  of  Ohio  
>ther  parts  of  Penn  
Tenneessee  . 

4 
4 

11 
20 

15 
4 
1 
3 

15 
15 
3 
20 

3 

15 

Wisconsin  and  Minn.... 
Michigan  
Kentucky 

1 
1 
1 
1 
1 

20 
15 
7 
30 
50 

3 

15 

7 
1 
4 

25 
30 

50 

7           20 

Delaware  

Total 

84 

204 

103 

I 



13,474,000 

100.0 

The  grouping  in  irregular  periods  may  seem  arbitrary,  but  the  lines 
of  division  were  found  by  calculating  each  year  separately  and  tak- 
ing the  years  that  seemed  to  mark  a  change  in  practice.  These 
tables,  when  taken  in  conjunction  with  a  knowledge  of  the  condi- 
tions that  have  ruled  the  steel  industry  of  the  country,  tell  a  very 
clear  story  which  may  be  related  as  follows : 

In  1867  the  production  of  Bessemer  steel  in  the  United  States 
was  2679  tons.  Some  small  quantities  were  made  before  this,  but 
the  industry  was  put  on  a  permanent  footing  by  the  establishment 
of  an  entirely  new  Bessemer  plant  at  Steelton,  Pa.,  a  plant  which 
has  continued  to  make  steel  from  then  until  now.  This  was  fol- 
lowed soon  afterward  in  the  same  year  by  Troy,  while  Cambria,  at 
Johnstown,  was  the  next  to  enter  the  field,  this  latter  plant  having 
also  continued  to  be  an  important  producer  to  the  present  time. 

From  1867  to  1871  about  20,000  tons  per  year,  or  about  half 
the  steel  of  all  kinds  made  in  the  country,  was  made  by  the  Bessemer 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


633 


TABLE  XXII-B. 

Production  of  Steel  in  the  United  States  in  Gross  Tons 
from  1867  to  1900. 


Year. 

Bessemer  In- 
gots. 

Open  Hearth 
Ingots. 

All  Kinds  of 
Steel. 

Bessemer  Rails. 

Bessemer 
Steel  ;  per 
cent,  of 
total  Steel. 

1867  

2,679 

19  643 

2  277 

14 

1868....  

7589 

26  786 

6  451 

28 

1869 

10  714 

893 

31  250 

8  616 

34 

1870  

37500 

1  339 

68*750 

30  357 

53 

1871 

40  179 

1  785 

73  214 

34  152 

55 

1872  

107  239 

2  679 

142,954 

83*991 

75 

1873  
1874  

152,368 
171  369 

3,125 
6250 

198,796 
215,727 

115,192 
129  414 

77 
79 

1875 

335  283 

8  080 

389  799 

259  699 

86 

1876  

469,639 

19  187 

533,191 

368269 

88 

1877  
1878  

500,524 
653  773 

22,349 
32255 

569,618 
731  977 

385,865 
491,427 

88 
89 

1879   .  . 

829  439 

50  259 

935  273 

610  682 

89 

1880  

1,074,262 

100851 

1,247  335 

852,196 

86 

1881  . 

1  374  247 

131  202 

1  588  314 

1  187  770 

87 

1882  '.. 

1,514,687 

143  341 

1,736,692 

1,284,067 

87 

1883.  . 

1  477  345 

119  356 

1  673  535 

1  148  709 

88 

1884  

1,375,531 

117,515 

1,550,879 

996,983 

89 

1885  .. 

1  519  430 

133  376 

1,711  920 

959  471 

89 

1886 

2  269  190 

218  973 

2  562  503 

1  574  703 

89 

1887  
1888  

2,936,033 
2,511  161 

322,069 
314,318 

3,339|071 
2,899,440 

2,101,904 
1  386,277 

88 
87 

1889  

2  930  204 

374  543 

3385  732 

1  510  057 

87 

1890 

3  688  871 

513  232 

4  277  071 

1  867  837 

87 

1891  

3  247  417 

579  753 

3904  240 

1  293  053 

83 

1892 

4  168  435 

669  889 

4  927  581 

1  537  588 

85 

1893  

3  215  686 

737  890 

4  019  995 

1  129  400 

80 

1894 

b  571  313 

784  936 

4  412  039 

1  016  013 

81 

1895  

4  909  128 

1  137  182 

6  114  834 

1  299  628 

80 

1896   .... 

3  919  906 

1  298  700 

5  281  689 

1  116  958 

74 

1897  

5  475*315 

1  608  671 

7  156  957 

1  644  520 

1898 

6  609  017 

2  230  292 

8  93°  857 

1*976  702 

74 

1899  
1900  .... 

7,586,354 
6  684  770 

2,947,316 
3  398  135 

10,639,857 
10  188  329 

2,270,585 
2  383  654 

71 
66 

1901 

8  713  302 

4  656  309 

13  473  595 

2  870  816 

65 

process,  and  all  of  this  went  into  rails.  From  1872  to  1874  the 
annual  production  was  about  140,000  tons,  all  of  which  was  rail 
steel,  and,  in  spite  of  the  development  of  the  open-hearth  process, 
this  represented  about  three-quarters  of  the  total  steel  output.  From 
1875  to  1879  the  output  of  Bessemer  increased  nearly  fivefold  over 
the  period  just  previous,  and  averaged  about  560,000  tons  per  year. 
A  great  part  was  made  in  the  eastern  portion  of  Pennsylvania,  at 
Steelton,  Johnstown,  Bethlehem  and  Scranton;  but  the  then  new 
works  of  Edgar  Thomson,  at  Pittsburg,  and  the  plants  at  Chicago 
and  Cleveland  had  by  this  time  become  factors  of  great  importance. 
The  Bessemer  output  during  this  time  was  88  per  cent,  of  the 
total  steel  output  of  the  country  and  all  of  it  was  rolled  into  rails. 

From  1880  to  1882  the  output  more  than  doubled,  averaging 
1,320,000  tons,  which  constituted  87  per  cent,  of  all  the  steel  made, 


634 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 


TABLE  XXII-C. 

Production  per  Year  during  Certain  Periods  of  Bessemer  and 
Open-Hearth  Ingots  and  Rail  Steel. 

It  is  assumed  that  100  tons  of  ingots=83.3  tons  of  rails. 


Note: 


United  States. 

Great  Britain. 

Bessemer 

Bessemer 

Period. 

Total 

Steel. 

Bessemer 
Ingots. 

Open 
Hearth 
Ingots 

Rails  plus 
20  per 
cent.  = 
Rail  In- 

Total 
Steel. 

Bessemer 
Ingots. 

Open 
Hearth 
Ingots. 

Rails  plus 
20  per 
cent.  = 
Rail  In- 

gots. 

gots. 

1867-1871  incl. 

44,000 

20,000 

800 

19,000 

180,000 

Iftfi  flOO 

143  000 

4000 

131  000 

482000 

1875-1879 
1880-1882 
1883-1887 
1888-1890 

632,000 
1,524,000 
2,167,000 
3,521,000 

558,000 
1,320,000 
1,910,000 
3,040,000 

26,000 
125,000 
182,000 
401,000 

508.000 
1,330,000 
1,627,000 
1,906,000 

963,000 
1,808,000 
2,280,000 
3,585,000 

742,000 
1,387,000 
1,563,000 
2,063.000 

141,000 
342,000 
638,000 
1,429,000 

*564,000 
1,196,000 
1,042,000 
1,172,000 

1891-1893 
1894-18% 
1897-1899 
1900  

4,284,000 
5,269,000 
8,910,000 
10,188,000 

3,540,000 
4,130,000 
6,560,000 
6,685,000 

663,000 
1,074,000 
2,262,000 
3,398,000 

1,584,000 
1,373,000 
2,357,000 
2,861,000 

3,109,000 
3,611,000 
4,751,000 
5,050,000 

1,545,000 
1,629,000 
1,823,000 
1,745,000 

1,463,000 
1,883,000 
2,813,000 
3,156,000 

712,000 
808,000 
1,004,000 
912,000 

1901  

13,474,000 

8,713,000 

4,656.000 

3,445,000 

4,904,000 

1,606,253 

3,297,791 

878,000 

*1875  is  estimated. 

TABLE  XXII-D. 

Proportion  of  Various  Kinds  of  Steel  made  in  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain. 


Period. 

Bessemer  Steel. 

Open  Hearth. 

Per  cent,  of  Total. 

Rail  Steel  per  cent, 
of  Bessemer. 

Per  cent,  of  Total. 

United 

States. 

(Great 
Britain. 

United 

States. 

Great 
Britain. 

United 
States. 

Great 
Britain. 

1867-1871  inclusive  

45 
77 
88 
87 
89 
87 
83 
78 
74 
66 
65 

95 
92 
91 
100 
85 
63 
45 
33 
36 
44 
40 

2 
2 
4 
8 
9 
11 
15 
20 
25 
33 
35 

1872-1874                   

1875-1879                  

77 
77 
70 
58 
50 
45 
38 
35 
33 

76 
86 
67 
57 
46 
50 
55 
52 
55 

15 
19 
28 
40 
47 
52 
59 
62 
67 

1880-1882                   

1883-1887 

1888-1890 

1891-1893          " 

1894-1896          "        .... 

1897-1899          " 

1900  

1901  

and  almost  all  was  put  into  rails.  A  small  amount  was  made  at 
Steelton  of  high  carbon  special  steels,  and  Cambria  also  made  some 
for  use  in  her  Gautier  Department  for  agricultural  tools.  During 
this  period  there  was  a  marked  increase  in  the  make  of  open-hearth 
steel,  a  start  having  been  made  by  the  building  of  a  furnace  at  the 
works  of  the  New  Jersey  Steel  and  Iron  Co.  in  1868,  but  the  intro- 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  635 

duction  of  the  process  was  slow  and  it  was  not  until  1880  that  the 
output  reached  100,000  tons  per  year.  Up  to  this  time  the  steel 
industry  was  largely  dependent  upon  Spanish  ores,  and  the  works 
near  the  eastern  seaboard  were  in  the  most  advantageous  position; 
but  during  the  period  from  1880  to  1890  the  development  of  the 
Lake  Superior  deposits  and  the  establishment  of  cheap  methods  of 
transportation  made  the  United  States  practically  independent  of 
foreign  ore,  while  the  exploitation  of  the  Mesabi  range  in  1893 
transferred  the  command  of  the  steel  market  to  a  point  west  of  the 
Allegheny  Mountains. 

From  1883  to  1887  the  production  of  Bessemer  steel  was  1,900,- 
000  tons  per  year,  being  89  per  cent,  of  the  total,  the  open-hearth 
furnaces  making  about  one-tenth  as  much.  Only  85  per  cent,  of 
the  Bessemer  steel  was  rolled  into  rails,  for  about  this  time  at  Steel- 
ton,  Cambria,  Bethlehem  and  elsewhere,  considerable  high  carbon 
steel  was  being  made,  as  well  as  some  soft  steel.  Some  Bessemer 
plants  not  connected  with  rail  mills  were  operated  to  make  steels' 
for  special  purposes  and  supply  the  general  trade,  and  this  develop- 
ment became  more  pronounced  in  the  next  period  from  1888  to 
1890,  when  only  63  per  cent,  was  put  into  ra*ils,  while  in  the  period 
from  1891  to  1893  more  than  half  the  Bessemer  output  went  into 
miscellaneous  work,  and  from  1894  to  1896  only  one-third  was 
used  for  rails. 

This  great  change  was  brought  about  by  many  causes,  prominent 
among  which  was  the  general  use  of  the  reversing  mill  for  rolling 
four-inch  square  billets  directly  from  the  ingot,  and  the  immediate 
acceptance  by  the  trade  of  that  size  as  the  one  standard.  By  the 
economies  following  this  innovation  wrought-iron  was  driven  from 
the  market  and  was  superseded  by  steel.  One  of  the  most  impor- 
tant fields  affected  by  this  change  was  the  making  of  railway  joints 
or  splices,  which  amount  to  from  five  to  seven  per  cent,  of  the 
weight  of  tke  rails  themselves.  A  still  greater  change  was  the 
rapid  and  almost  complete  substitution  of  steel  for  plates  and  sheets 
of  all  kinds. 

During  all  these  years,  however,  the  open-hearth  process  has  been 
making  very  hsavy  strides  and  narrowing  the  field  of  the  Bessemer 
converter.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  trespass  was  in  the  making  of 
high  carbon  steels ;  it  was  found  that  the  steel  made  in  the  regenera- 
tive furnace  gave  better  results,  and  to-day  very  little  high  steel  is 
made  by  the  pneumatic  method.  The  next  great  encroachment  was 


636 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


in  structural  shapes,  where  the  Bessemer  product  found  a  great  out- 
let in  the  years  from  1885  to  1893  or  thereabout.  The  proportion 
of  converter  product  going  into  bridges  is  very  small  at  present, 
while  it  is  becoming  less  for  ships  and  buildings.  This  growth  of 
the  open-hearth  furnace  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  1901  the  steel 
made  in  the  converter  formed  only  65  per  cent,  of  the  total  output, 
while  in  the  period  from  1875  to  1890  it  was  about  88  per  cent.  It 
is  also  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  the  two  years  of  1900  and  1901 
the  proportion  of  Bessemer  steel  used  for  rails  increased  to  an  aver- 
age of  42  per  cent.,  it  being  only  33  per  cent,  in  1894  to  1896. 

To-day  two-thirds  of  the  steel  made  in  the  United  States  is  Bes- 
semer and  one-third  open-hearth.  Practically  all  the  rails  are  Bes- 
semer, but  open-hearth  steel  is  used  for  almost  all  other  work  where 
the  material  is  subject  to  physical  and  chemical  specifications.  One- 
quarter  of  this  open-hearth  steel  is  made  on  an  acid  hearth,  the  re- 
mainder on  dolomite  or  magnesite  linings.  The  use  of  the  basic 
furnace  is  rapidly  spreading  both  in  small  and  large  plants,  but 
very  few  new  Bessemer  plants  are  being  erected.  No  fuel  is  im- 
ported for  the  making  of  iron  and  steel,  but  a  considerable  quantity 
of  ore  is  brought  from  Cuba  and  elsewhere  to  points  on  the  Atlantic 
seaboard,  as  shown  by  Table  XXII-E. 


TABLE  XXII-E. 
Iron  Ore  Imported  into  the  United  States. 

U.   S.  Geol.   Survey,  John  Birkinbine. 


Imported  from 

1896 

1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

Cuba... 

380551 

383  820 

165  623 

360  813 

431  265 

Spain  

121  132 

66  193 

13  335 

145  206 

253  694 

French  Africa  

79  661 

3  504 

22  233 

20  000 

Italy  

29,882 

43.363 

18.951 

Greece  
Newfoundland  and  Labrador 

33,750 
20  800 

29  250* 

7,200 

16.765 
77  970 

23.350 
140  535 

United  Kingdom    . 

8  528 

358 

683 

172 

397 

Colombia  

3  150 

3  000 

Quebec.  Ontario,  etc  

5588 

Other  countries  

5  352 

6  845 

367 

7  560 

1  051 

Total        

682  806 

489  970 

674  082 

A  map  is  given  in  Fig.  XXII-A,  which  is  taken  from  the  U.  S. 
Geol.  Survey.  This  shows  in  the  shaded  portions  the  principal 
coal  fields  of  the  United  States,  the  anthracite  deposits  of  eastern 
Pennsylvania  being  represented  by  solid  black.  The  crosses  denote 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


637 


localities  which  are  important  producers  of  ore,  the  only  ones 
deemed  worthy  of  note  as  determining  factors  being  the  Lake  Su- 
perior deposits,  and  those  of  Alabama,  Colorado  and  Cornwall,  Pa. 


FIG.  XXII-A. — UNITED  STATES;  EASTERN  HALF. 


638 


THE    IKON    INDUSTRY. 


The  circles  indicate  the  position  of  the  important  steel  producing 
centers  and  in  the  following  pages  will  be  given  a  detailed  descrip- 
tion of  each  of  these  districts. 


FIG.  XXII- A. — UNITED  STATES;   WESTERN   HALF. 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  639 

SEC.  XXII-b.— Coal: 

The  United  States  may  be  said  to  import  no  coal.  This  is  per- 
fectly true  as  far  as  the  general  iron  industry  is  concerned,  but  as 
an  explanation  of  certain  facts  given  in  the  official  statistics,  it  is 
necessary  to  note  that  a  considerable  quantity  is  shipped  from  Brit- 
ish Columbia  to  points  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  while  a  lesser  quantity 
is  brought  from  Cape  Breton,  Nova  Scotia,  to  Boston,  Mass.,  for 
the  manufacture  of  illuminating  gas  in  by-product  coke  ovens. 
Within  the  last  few  years  a  very  considerable  trade  has  grown  up 
in  the  export  of  coal,  mostly  to  Canada  and  Mexico,  but  a  great 
deal  to  places  oversea.  In  1900  about  635,000  tons  were  shipped 
to  Europe,  a  considerable  amount  going  to  Mediterranean  ports,  at- 
tracted by  the  phenomenally  high  prices  ruling  in  France.  Accom- 
panying is  a  statement  showing  the  foreign  trade,  including  Canada 
and  Mexico: 

IMPORTS  AND  EXPORTS  or  COAL  :IN  1900  IN  LONG  TONS. 

Production 239,567,000 

Imports   1 ,909,000 

Exports 7,917,000 

Anthracite. 

In  the  consideration  of  the  fuel  supply  of  the  United  States  a 
word  should  be  said  concerning  anthracite,  because  there  is  much 
misunderstanding  among  foreign  metallurgists  as  to  the  amount  of 
this  coal  used  in  iron  smelting.  Many  years  ago  lump  anthracite 
was  very  commonly  used  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and 
other  neighboring  districts  as  the  only  fuel  put  into  the  blast  fur- 
nace, but  this  practice  has  become  the  exception,  and  coke  from 
Connellsville  has  for  a  long  period  been  carried  to  the  furnaces  that 
are  situated  in  the  very  heart  of  the  hard  coal  region.  Some  fur- 
naces do  use  anthracite  alone,  and  at  many  plants  it  is  not  unusual, 
in  cases  where  coke  cannot  be  obtained  or  when  it  is  very  high  in 
price,  to  use  a  certain  proportion  of  hard  coal,  but  this  hardly  war- 
rants the  misleading  classification  of  many  of  the  Eastern  plants 
under  the  head  of  "anthracite  furnaces." 

There  is  a  great  amount  of  hard  coal  used  in  firing  boilers  in  in- 
dustrial establishments  of  all  kinds,  but  only  the  small  sizes  are 
available  for  this  purpose,  the  larger  kinds  commanding  a  higher 
price  for  household  use.  Except  "in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  the  mines  it  is  more  economical  to  use  bituminous  coal  brought 
from  a  long  distance  than  to  use  the  sizes  that  can  be  sold  for  do- 
mestic purposes,  while  the  smaller  grades  will  not  burn  readily  and 


640 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


require  a  blast  when  used  under  boilers.  Every  few  years  the  price 
of  the  smaller  sizes  advances  and  the  manufacturer  must  either 
change  to  soft  coal  or  alter  the  grates  to  handle  still  smaller  pieces. 
This  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  small  pieces  are  a  by-product 
produced  in  crushing,  and  the  mines  produce  as  little  as  possible  of 
the  less  valuable  product,  while  on  the  other  hand  there  has  been 
much  progress  in  devising  grates  and  stokers  to  handle  the  fine 
sizes.  In  many  Eastern  cities  the  community  demands  a  smoke- 
less stack,  so  that  factories  are  practically  compelled  to  use  hard 
coal.  The  demand  is  founded  on  aesthetic  considerations,  the  claim 
that  smoke  is  unhealthful  being  rather  amusing.  Aside  from  this 
consumption  of  anthracite  for  steam  making,  hard  coal  may  be  con- 
sidered simply  as  the  fuel  which  is  universally  used  for  household 
purposes  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  country,  all  of  this  district 
being  supplied  from  the  mines  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania.  A  cer- 
tain amount  is  also  raised  in  Colorado  and  New  Mexico,  but  the 
quantity  is  trifling  compared  with  the  output  of  the  Appalachian 
field.  The  value  of  a  short  ton  of  anthracite  at  the  mines  in  Penn- 
sylvania in  1900  is  given  as  $1.79,  while  in  Colorado  it  was  $3.00, 
and  m  New  Mexico  $2.75. 

The  hard  coal  district  of  Pennsylvania  is  divided  usually  into 
three  parts,  which  are  shown  in  Fig.  XXII-B  as  Nos.  14,  15  and 
16.  Following  is  a  description  of  each  division: 


No.  in  Fig. 
XXII  B. 

Name. 

Local  Districts. 

Situation  in  Counties  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

14 

Wyoming. 

Carbondale,  Scranton.  Piltston 
Wilkesbarre,  Plymouth.  Kings 
ton. 

Luzerne  and  Lacka  wanna. 

15 

Lehigh. 

Green  Mountain,  Black  Creek, 
Hazleton,  Beaver  Meadow 

Luzerne  and  small  parts  of  Car- 
bon. Schuylkill  and  Colum- 
bia. 

16 

Schuylkill 

Panther  Creek.  Lorberrv,  Fast 
SchuylkilLWestSchuylkill.  Ly- 
kens  Vallev.  Shamokin.  East 
Mahanoy  West  Mahanoy. 

Carbon,  Dauphin,  Schuylkill, 
Columbia  and  Northumber- 
land. 

All  of  this  region  is  in  the  eastern  center  of  the  State.     The  total 
production  of  anthracite  in  1900  was  as  follows  in  short  tons : 

Pennsylvania   57,363,396 

Colorado   59,244 

New  Mexico    41,595 


Total   57,464,235 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


641 


SCALE  OF  MILES 
0   10   20        40         60         80        100 


FIG.  XXII-B. — PENNSYLVANIA,  WEST  VIRGINIA,  OHIO, 
EASTERN  HALF. 


642 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 


Port  Hu 
M  I  C  H  I  G  A 


•FiG.  XXII-B.— PENNSYLVANIA,  WEST  VIRGINIA,  OHIO,  ETC.  ; 
WESTERN  HALF. 


THE    UNITED    STATES.  643 

Bituminous. 

In  the  production  of  anthracite  coal  Eastern  Pennsylvania  not 
only  is  first,  but  stands  almost  alone,  while  in  bituminous  coal 
Western  Pennsylvania  stands  not  quite  alone,  but  pre-eminently 
first.  In  1900  she  made  over  three  times  as  much  as  any  other 
State  and  more  than  one-third  of  the  total  of  the  country.  The 
leading  counties  are  Westmoreland,  Fayette  and  Allegheny,  with 
Cambria,  Clearfield,  Jefferson  and  Washington  following  with  heavy 
outputs.  The  Clearfield  coal  is  one  of  the  best  coals  in  the  world 
for  steam  purposes,  and,  together  with  the  Pocohontas  and  New 
Eiver  coals  of  West  Virginia,  is  carried  in  great  quantities  to  East- 
ern points.  Some  of  the  Westmoreland  coal  is  exceptionally  rich, 
and  as  it  is  sold  at  about  the  same  price  as  leaner  coals,  and  as  the 
freight  rates  are  not  always  proportional  to  the  distance,  it  follows 
that  it  is  economical  to  use  it  in  the  manufacture  of  fuel  gas  in 
producers  not  only  in  neighboring  districts,  but  in  places  quite  re- 
mote from  where  it  is  raised. 

The  foregoing  remarks  concerning  the  use  of  the  best  gas  coal 
apply  to  many  other  things  in  America.  On  account  of  the  com- 
paratively low  freight  rates  the  tendency  is  to  obtain  the  best,  while 
in  Europe  the  high  rates  compel  the  use  of  local  inferior  raw  ma- 
terials; by  the  American  system  the  railroads  do  a  much  greater 
business  and  thereby  reduce  costs.  In  some  parts  of  Europe  the 
steel  works  have  a  score  of  different  mines  from  which  coal  is  drawn, 
and  a  score  of  places  from  which  ore  comes,  and  the  sources  of 
supply  are  constantly  changing  with  local  conditions,  with  perhaps 
periodical  reversions  to  the  utilization  of  poor  supplies  near  at  hand. 
The  limited  capacity  of  certain  ore  and  coal  fields  will  account  for  a 
portion  of  this  difference. 

The  coal  deposits  of  the  United  States  are  divided  into  seven 
iields,  which  are  shown  in  Fig.  XXII-A,  but  only  four  are  of  any 
importance : 

(1)  The  Appalachian,  extending  from  New  York  to  Alabama,  a 
length  of  900  miles,  and  a  width  varying  from  30  to  180  miles. 

(2)  The  Central,  embracing  parts  of  Indiana,  Illinois  and  West- 
ern Kentucky. 

(3)  The  Western,  including  the  coal  west  of  the  Mississippi 
Hiver,  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  south  of  the  forty-third 
parallel. 


644 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


(4)   The  Rocky  Mountain,  including  the  basins  in  that  range. 

The  smaller  fields  include  a  deposit  in  Northern  Michigan,  one 
in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  and  one  in  Washington,  Oregon 
and  Northern  California,  the  latter  claiming  attention  owing  to 
the  absence  of  a  good  supply  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

The  coal  from  the  Central  and  Western  divisions,  including  a 
very  considerable  part  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  is  of  importance 
from  a  general  economic  standpoint  for  industrial  and  domestic 
purposes,  but  need  not  be  considered  here,  as  it  has  little  bearing 
on  the  iron  industry;  but  it  is  necessary  to  discuss  the  beds  of  the 
Appalachian  and  Rocky  Mountain  districts,  which  supply  practic- 
ally all  the  coal  and  coke  used  in  the  iron  industry. 

TABLE  XXII-F. 

Production  of  Coal  and  Coke  in  the  United  States  in  1900  (1  ton 
=2000  pounds;  taken  from  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  for  1900.) 

The  number  of  ovens  given  is  the  total  number  standing,  less  those  that  are 
marked  abandoned  in  the  report 


Coal. 

Coke. 

Anthracite. 

Bituminous. 

No.  of 

Ovens. 

Production. 

Pennsylvania  

57,363,000 

79,318,000 
25,154,000 
6,358.000 
21,153,000 
20.671.000 
8,504.000 
5,436,000 

32,464 
154 
14 
10,142 
369 
6,529 
1,488 
204 

13,798,893 
2,631 

2,358.499 
72116 
2,110,837 

|       618,755 

Illinois  

Indiana  

West  Virginia  

Alabama  

Colorado  

59,000 

Utah  

Iowa  

5,090,000 
4,991,000 
4,507,000 
4,129.000 
3.924.(X'0 
3,904,000 
2.505,000 

Kentucky  
Kansas  

458 
91 
74 

95,532 
5,948 
14,501 

Wyoming  

Maryland  

Tennessee  

2,106 
2,331 
400 
480 
342 
230 
376 

475,432 
685,156 
* 
73,928 
54,731 
38.141 
128,248 

Virginia  

Massachusetts  

Georgia  

333.000 
1.662,000 
1.922  000 
11,261,000 

Montana  

Indian  Territory  

Others  

42,000 

Total  

57,464,000 

210,822,000 

58,252 

20,533,348 

*  Massachusetts  and  New  York  are  included  in  Pennsylvania. 

Table  XXII-F  shows  the  production  of  coal  and  coke  in  the 
United  States  in  1900  by  States,  and  Table  XXII-G  the  output 
of  the  different  coal  fields.  There  are  also  given  in  Table  XXII-H 
the  records  for  each  county  in  Pennsylvania  for  coal  and  coke,  and 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 

TABLES  XXII-G. 


645 


Output  of  Coal  from  the  Principal  Coal  Fields  of  the  United  States 
in  1900  (Mineral  Resources  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  for  1900.) 


Field. 

Product, 
tons. 

Per  cent, 
of  Total. 

Appalachian  (including  Alabama) 
Central    

142,497,208 
35  368  164 

67.1 
16  6 

Western  

17?549'528 

8  3 

Rocky  Mountain  

13  398  556 

6  3 

Pacific  Coast 

2  704  665 

1  3 

Northern  

849  475 

0  4 

TABLE  XXII-H. 

Production  of  Bituminous  Coal  in  Pennsylvania  and  Amount  used 
for  making  Coke.  (Mineral  Resources,  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  for 
1900).  One  ton=2000  pounds. 


County. 

Total  Coal 
Mined. 

Amount 
Coked. 

Favette  

15  055  000 

9  421  500 

Westmoreland  
Allegheny  
Cambria  

14,980,000 
10,052,000 
8  190  000 

7,001,000 
""413606 

Clearfield    .      .  . 

6  621  000 

30  1  000 

Jefferson 

6  199  000 

1  034  000 

Washington  
Somerset  

4,856.000 
4  779  000 

'     32  500 

Armstrong  

Center 

1,313,000 
932  000 

Tioga.  . 

931  000 

Elk 

926  000 

2  500 

Indiana  

925  000 

PI  ooo 

Bedford 

570  000 

164  000 

Mercer  

528  000 

Blair    .  . 

497  000 

108  000 

Clarion  

405  000 

Huntingdon  

369000 

Bradford  

]•        321  000 

Clinton  

262  000 

Butler 

222  000 

Lawrence  

187  000 

Lycoming  

119  000 

McKean  

Others  .  .  . 

600  000 

Total    

79  842  000 

18  571  500 

in  Table  XXII-I  the  coke  production  in  the  different  fields  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  West  Virginia,  the  leading  States.  The  division  into 
fields  is  in  accordance  with  the  recognized  usage  of  the  Geological 
Survey,  and  I  append  a  condensation  of  their  descriptions,  taken 
from  the  reports  on  both  coal  and  coke.  The  numbers  refer  to  Fig. 
XXII-B,  on  which  the  location  of  these  fields  is  shown. 


646 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


TABLE  XXII-L 

Coke  Statistics  for  Pennsylvania  and  West  Virginia  for  1900. 
(Mineral  Resources,  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey) ;  one  ton=2000 
pounds. 


State  and  District 

Coke  Ovens. 

Production. 

Built, 

Building. 

Pennsylvania— 

21,061 
2,096 
2,010 
2,203 
1,341 
568 
476 
532 
1,498 
697 

5,290 
1,563 
2,569 
-827 

686 

10  039.000 
827,000 
1,067,000 
754,000 
557,000 
135,000 
133,000 
113,000 
111,000 
62,000 

1,209,000 
356,000 
507,000 
287,000 

Pittsburgh  

Reynoldsville  and  Walton* 
Upper  Connellsville  
Allegheny  Mountain  .... 
Clearfield  Center 

Lower  Connellsville  — 

1,112 

West  Virginia- 
Flat  Top  (Pocahontas)  
Upper  Monongahela  
New  River  and  Kanawha.. 

666 

640 

*  The  figures  for  the  Reynoldsville  and  Walton  district  are  worthless.  They 
Include  the  production  of  the  coke  ovens  in  New  York  and  Massachusetts  "for 
want  of  a  better  classification."  It  is  elsewhere  stated  that  this  is  done  in  order 
that  "individual  information  (for  Massachusetts)  may  not  be  divulged,"  which 
Is  hardly  sufficient  ground  for  vitiating  the  statistics  of  Pennsylvania. 

Pennsylvania  Coke  Districts. 

No.  1. — Connellsville:  The  County  of  Fayette  and  the  southern 
half  of  Westmoreland. 

Pittsburgh :  Vicinity  of  Pittsburgh,  the  coke  being  made  from  coal 
brought  down  the  Monongahela  Kiver. 

No.  2. — Keynolds  and  Walton :  All  the  ovens  on  the  Rochester  and 
Pittsburgh  Railroad,  those  on  the  Low  Grade  Division  of  the 
Allegheny  Valley  Railway,  and  the  mines  on  the  New  York, 
Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railway. 

No.  3. — Upper  Connellsville :  The  region  around  and  north  of  La- 
trobe,  the  coal  here  being  somewhat  different  from  the  deposit 
farther  south. 

No.  4. — Allegheny  Mountain :  Ovens  along  the  line  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  from  Gallitzin  to  beyond  Altoona,  and  those 
in  Somerset  County.  This  includes  also  the  coke  ovens  near 
Johnstown. 

No.  5.— Clearfield  Center:  The  two  counties  of  Clearfield  and 
Center. 


THE    UNITED    STATES.  647 

No.  6. — Greensburg :  Near  the  town  of  Greensburg,  in  the  central 
part  of  Westmoreland  County. 

No.  7.— Broad  Top:  The  Broad  Top  coal  field  ii  Bedford  and 
Huntingdon  counties. 

No.  8. — Lower  Connellsville :  A  new  district,  first  appearing  in 
the  U.  S.  reports  in  1900.  Known  also  as  the  Klondike  dis- 
trict, a  southwest  extension  of  the  Connellsville  Basin. 

No.  9. — Irwin:     The  neighborhood  of  the  town  of  Irwin  on  the 
Youghiogheny  River,  in  the  western  part  of  Westmoreland 
County. 
The  Beaver,  Allegheny  Valley  and  Blossburg  districts,  formerly 

recognized,  are  no  longer  of  importance. 

West  Virginia  Coke  Districts. 

No.  10. — Pocahontas:  The  ovens  in  West  Virginia  in  the  Poca- 
hontas  coal  field;  this  embraces  the  counties  of  McDowell  and 
Mercer  in  West  Virginia  and  Tazewell  County  in  Virginia. 
Most  of  the  output  comes  from  the  West  Virginia  side.  This 
district  is  traversed  by  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railroad. 

No.  11. — Upper  Monongahela:  This  is  also  called  the  Fairmount 
district;  it  is  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  drained  by  the 
Monongahela,  and  sending  its  coal  to  market  by  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad.  It  embraces  Preston,  Taylor,  Harrison 
and  Marion  counties.  The  statistics  include  the  ovens  located 
at  Wheeling,  at  the  Riverside  Iron  Works. 

Xo.  12. — New  River  and  Kanawha :  These  two  are  named  from 
the  rivers  draining  them,  and  embrace  Fayette  and  Kanawha 
counties.  The  coal  is  shipped  partly  by  the  Chesapeake  and 
Ohio  Railroad  and  partly  by  the  Kanawha  River. 

No.  13. — Upper  Potomac :  Also  called  the  Elk  Garden  district,  in- 
cludes Mineral,  Tucker  and  Randolph  counties  and  is  the 
southern  extension  of  the  Cumberland  district  of  Maryland. 
The  West  Virginia  Central  and  Pittsburgh  Railway  runs 
through  this  field. 

SEC.  XXIIc. — Lake  Superior: 

NOTE  :  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  G.  F.  Knapp,  of  Ogleby,  Norton  &  Co.,  for  a  careful 
read'ng  of  this  manuscript. 

Up  to  1880  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  was  the  greatest  producer 
of  iron  ore  in  the  Union,  but  the  amount  raised  was  entirely  in- 


£48  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

sufficient  to  supply  its  blast  furnaces,  and  large  quantities  were  im- 
ported from  Spain,  some  from  the  west  coast  of  England,  and  some 
from  other  countries  like  Algeria,  Greece  and  even  Ireland.  For 
many  years  Michigan  had  been  mining  ore,  the  Marquette  deposits 
having  been  opened  in  1845,  but  it  was  not  until  1856  that  as  much 
as  5000  tons  was  shipped  to  the  furnaces  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
cost  of  transportation  was  high  and  Spanish  ores  were  taken  to 
Pittsburgh  as  cheaply  as  the  Western  ores  could  be  laid  down  at 
that  point.  The  Menominee  beds  were  opened  in  1877,  the  first 
shipments  from  Escanaba  being  made  in  1880,  and  in  about  the 
year  1881  the  output  of  Michigan  exceeded  that  of  any  other  State. 
In  1884  the  Gogebic  range  was  opened,  all  three  districts  being  in 
Northwest  Michigan,  and  this  still  further  added  to  its  prominence ; 
but  in  the  same  year  the  Vermilion  mines  in  Northeastern  Minne- 
sota began  to  produce,  and  when  finally,  in  1892  and  1893,  the 
Mesabi  range  was  exploited,  Minnesota  became  a  dangerous  rival. 
In  1901  the  Mesabi  mines  produced  9,303,541  tons  and  the  Ver- 
milion 1,805,996  tons,  a  total  of  11,109,537  tons,  while  Michigan 
raised  only  9,654,067  tons,  this  giving  first  rank  to  Minnesota. 

The  cause  of  this  enormous  increase  is  not  simply  the  opening 
of  new  mines,  for  this  is  but  one  factor  in  the  work,  the  other  fac- 
tor being  the  great  decrease  in  cost  of  transportation.  These  two 
conditions  are  interdependent,  since  the  lessening  in  the  cost  of 
freight  could  not  have  come  about  without  the  transport  of  enor- 
mous tonnages.  In  no  other  part  of  the  world  has  there  been  such 
a  complete  system  of  handling  material  worked  out  on  such  a  gigan- 
tic scale;  the  steam  shovels  in  the  mines,  the  railroads  to  the  ports, 
the  mammoth  docks  and  arrangements  for  loading  vessels  in  a  few 
hours,  the  special  fleet  of  ore  carriers,  the  improvement  of  the  locks, 
the  unloading  machinery  at  the  lower  lake  ports,  and  the  storage 
yards  and  handling  apparatus  at  the  Eastern  furnaces,  each  one 
of  these  is  a  link  in  a  chain  of  specialized  machinery,  by  which  it 
has  become  possible  to  transport  ore  a  thousand  miles  and  make 
pig-iron'  for  less  than  half  a  cent  a  pound. 

Table  XXII-J  shows  the  production  of  the  different  ranges  in 
1901,  and  gives  figures  for  comparison  with  the  other  large  pro- 
ducers. The  three  States  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota, 
constituting  what  is  known  as  the  Lake  Superior  region,  raised 
21,445,903  tons  of  ore.  The  only  competitor  is  the  Minette  dis- 
trict of  Germany,  France,  Belgium  and  Luxemburg,  which  mined 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


649 


17,000,000  tons,  while  Northern  Spain  raised  less  than  half  as 
much,  its  output  being  only  7,740,000  tons. 

TABLE  XXII-J. 
Sources  of  American  Ore  Supply  in  1901. 

U.  S.  GEOL.  SURVEY. 


Lake  Superior 
Ranges. 

Location. 

Date 
when 
opened. 

Output  ; 
tons. 

Fe. 

P. 

S. 

SiO2. 

CaCO3. 

H,0. 

Mesabi 

N  E  Minn 

1892 

9  303  541 

61-64 

.03-.  08 

.01 

3-5 

0  5 

8-12 

Menominee.... 
Marquette  
Gogebic  
Vermilion  
Total  L     ^u 

N.W.Mich. 
N.W.Mich. 
N.W.Mich. 
N.  E.  Minn. 

1877 
1855 

1884 
1884 

3,697,408 
3.597,089 
3,041,869 
1,805,996 

56-62 
60-67 
58-62 
61-67 

.01-.  75 
.02-.  15 
.04-.  08 
.04-J5 

.01 
.02 

.01 
tr. 

36 
2-6 
3-7 

3-5 

1.0 
0.5 
0.3 
0.4 

5-10 
1  12 
10-12 
1-6 

perior    . 

21,445,90S 

Other  States. 

Other  States. 

Alabama 

2  SOI  732 

401  98° 

Pennsylvania     

.  .  .  1  040  6b4 

Rocky  Mountains 

<m  Md 

925  394 

Georgia,  North  and  South  Carolina.     215,599 
Other  States  yn?«nR 

Tennessee  

789  494 

New  York 

420  218 

Total  

404  037 

28,887.479 

The  Marquette  ores  are  magnetites  and  hard  and  soft  hematites, 
and  are  rich  in  iron.  The  ores  from  the  Menominee  and  Gogebic 
ranges  in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  are  hematites  and  are  very  de- 
sirable as  being  in  porous  lumps  and  easily  smelted.  The  Ver- 
milion ores  are  very  rich  hematites  and  in  very  hard  lumps;  the 
softer  kinds  are  lower  in  phosphorus,  while  the  hardest  run  beyond 
the  Bessemer  limit.  The  Mesabi  deposit  is  the  most  easily  mined, 
large  areas  being  close  to  the  surface  and  of  such  a  nature  that  a 
steam  shovel  can  be  used  without  the  use  of  explosives.  The  great 
objection  is  the  fine,  and  in  some  cases  almost  pulverulent  condition 
of  the  ore. 

Different  mines  vary  in  the  character  of  the  product,  some  ore 
being  of  such  an  average  size  that  it  can  be  used  in  a  blast  furnace 
to  the  extent  of  70  per  cent,  of  the  burden,  while  other  beds  are  so 
fine  and  dusty  that  the  average  furnace  manager  will  not  use  over 
20  per  cent.  The  composition  of  the  ore  not  only  in  the  Mesabi 
districts,  but  in  other  mines,  varies  considerably,  and  constant  vigil- 
ance is  necessary  to  insure  the  separation  of  the  "Bessemer"  from 
the  "non-Bessemer,"  by  which  terms  are  meant  those  portions  which 
will  give  a  pig-iron  running  below  0.10  per  cent,  in  phosphorus,  and 


650  THE    IROX    INDUSTRY. 

those  which  will  give  an  iron  above  that  limit.  The  non-Bessemer 
was  formerly  more  or  less  of  a  drug  in  the  market,  but  the  develop- 
ment of  the  basic  open-hearth  furnace  has  furnished  an  outlet  for 
this  off-grade  iron.  In  fact,  it  may  almost  be  said  that  the  exist- 
ence of  so  much  non-Bessemer  ore,  mixed  with  the  Bessemer  and 
therefore  necessarily  taken  out  with  it,  was  the  primal  cause  of  the 
rapid  extension  of  the  basic  open-hearth  process  during  the  last  few 
years. 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  fine  condition  of  Mesabi  ores  prevents 
their  being  employed  alone  in  the  blast  furnace,  and  it  is  necessary 
to  mix  with  them  a  certain  proportion  of  the  ore  from  the  other 
deposits,  commonly  known  as  the  "old  range"  ores.  The  necessity 
of  doing  this  renders  it  possible  for  the  old  mines  to  sell  their  pro- 
duct at  a  higher  price  and  thereby  cover  their  greater  cost,  while  it 
also  renders  useless  the  calculations  in  which  many  foreign  engi- 
neers and  many  American  newspaper  writers  indulge,  whereby  they 
estimate  the  cost  of  pig-iron  on  the  assumption  that  Mesabi  ores 
are  used  exclusively. 

The  price  of  these  ores  has  varied  very  much.  In  1898  the  "old 
range"  Bessemer  ores  from  the  Gogebic,  Marquette  and  Menominee 
were  sold  at  $2.80  per  gross  ton,  delivered  at  lower  ports  on  Lake 
Erie.  In  the  same  year  the  Mesabi  Bessemer  ores  were  $2.20  and 
the  non-Bessemer  $1.80.  In  1900  the  price  was  $5.60  for  old  range 
Bessemer,  $4.60  for  Bessemer  Mesabi  and  $4.10  for  non-Bessemer 
Mesabi.  This  price  does  not  include  the  freight  from  Lake  Erie  to 
Pittsburgh,  but  gives  the  cost  at  Cleveland  or  similar  points. 

In  regard  to  the  relative  amounts  of  the  two  kinds  of  ores  I  will 
quote  from  an  article  by  D.  E.  Woodbridge,  in  The  Iron  Age,  Jan- 
uary 3,  1901. 

"The  fancy  Bessemer  ores  of  the  older  ranges,  excepting  the 
Gogebic  and  new  Vermilion  fields,  are  practically  gone.  On  the 
Mesaba,  whatever  may  have  been  said,  the  far  greatest  share  of 
desirable  Bessemers  is  included  in  the  limits  of  one  township,  or 
close  to  its  edge.  The  Menominee  range  has  little  Bessemer  ore, 
nearly  all  coming  from  the  Aragon,  Loretto  and  Pewabic  mines. 
On  the  Marquette  the  once  famous  Lake  Angeline  mines  are  fast 
Hearing  the  end  of  its  fine  Bessemer  ores,  and  there  remains  but  a 
few  years  more  of  their  production.  All  the  mines  of  the  Oliver 
Company  on  that  range  are  now  classed  as  non-Bessemer,  and  the 
Cleveland  Cliffs  are  disappointingly  light  in  their  Bessemer  pro- 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


651 


duction.  The  ore  bodies  under  Lake  Angeline  are  not  furnishing 
the  percentage  of  high  grade  ores  that  was  expected.  Explorations 
on  the  range  are  showing  few  Bessemer  deposits.  On  the  Gogebic 
one  company  controls  four-fifths  of  the  deposits,  if  one  may  judge 
by  the  production,  and  a  large  share  of  the  rest  is  off  the  market. 
Explorations  around  the  old  Comet  and  Puritan,  Federal  and  Jack- 
pot group  are  said  to  be  producing  good  results,  and  there  are  hopes 
of  some  considerable  tonnage  in  that  section.  On  the  Vermilion 
the  original  mine,  the  hard  ore  property  at  Tower,  is  now  practic- 
ally a  producer  of  non-Bessemer  ores  exclusively.  The  Chandler  is 
reducing  its  output,  and  in  a  very  few  years  will  be  exhausted.  The 
new  mines  of  the  Oliver  Company  are  large  properties  and  are 
growing  larger,  but  they  have  no  effect  on  the  general  situation, 
as  their  ores  are  of  a  class  that  the  owners  will  retain  for  their  own 
use.  On  the  Mesaba  there  have  been  some  satisfactory  explorations 
during  the  year,  but  the  chief  fact  resulting  from  the  immense  ac- 
tivity on  the  range  is  that  its  stores  of  low  grade  non-Bessemers  are 
very  much  in  excess  of  its  fancy  ores.  There  have  been  found  very 
large  deposits  of  lean  ores  and  of  ores  high  in  phosphorus  or  of  ores 
so  fine  and  dusty  that  they  are  discriminated  against;  but  of  high 
grade  desirable  Bessemers  the  discoveries  can  be  counted  quickly. 
It  would  appear  that  the  larger  deposits  of  the  range  have  been 
found  and  that  subsequent  work  will  discover  smaller,  perhaps  more 
inaccessible  and  less  valuable  deposits." 

The  freight  rates  on  the  lakes  vary  so  much  that  it  is  impossible 
to  make  a  clear  statement  for  a  year  or  for  a  month.  A  vessel  may 
be  chartered  for  a  season  or  for  a  definite  amount  at  a  "contract 
rate,"  or  the  ore  may  be  shipped  on  the  best  bargain  that  can  be 
made  at  the  moment — what  is  known  as  a  "wild  rate."  In  the  long 
run  the  two  come  out  about  the  same ;  thus  in  the  ten  years  from 
1890  to  1900  the  average  contract  rate  from  the  head  of  the  lakes 
was  90i/2  cents  per  ton  and  the  wild  rate  90  cents.  In  1887  the 
wild  rates  were  $2.23  and  the  contract  rates  $2.00,  but  in  1900  the 
average  charter  was  $1.25. 

These  figures  are  for  the  full  journey  from  the  head  of  the  lakes, 
Duluth  or  Two  Harbors,  the  rate  being  lower  for  lesser  distances ; 
for  instance,  the  average  contract  rate  from  Marquette  for  the  last 
ten  years  has  been  85  cents  and  for  Escanaba  67%  cents.*  A  cer- 

*  These  figures  are  from  an  article  by  W.  Fawcett  In  The  Iron  Age,  March  21, 
1901. 


652 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


tain  amount  is  shipped  all  the  way  by  rail,  but  this  constitutes  only 
2  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 

The  ores  of  the  Vermilion  range  are  shipped  from  Two  Harbors, 
the  rail  transportation  being  from  70  to  95  miles.  The  Mesabi 
deposits  send  their  product  by  railroad  to  Duluth  and  Two  Har- 
bors, the  distance  being  from  75  to  100  miles.  The  Menominee 
ores  are  all  shipped  from  Escanaba  and  Gladstone,  the  distance 
hauled  being  from  40  to  92  miles.  The  Gogebic  ores  are  mostly 
shipped  from  Ashland,  the  distance  being  from  40  to  52  miles. 
The  Marquette  mines  divide  their  shipments  between  Marquette 
and  Escanaba,  as  it  often  pays  to  make  a  slightly  longer  land  jour- 
ney to  save  a  great  distance  by  water,  and  this  is  especially  true  of 
material  going  to  Chicago. 

TABLE  XXII-K. 
Movement  of  Lake  Superior  Ore. 

COMPILED  BY  THE  IRON  TRADE  REVIEW. 


1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

1901 

Mesabi                   

4.280,873 

4,613,766 

6,626,384 

7,809,535 

9.004.890 

2  715  035 

3.125.039 

3,757,010 

3  457,522 

3,254,680 

Menominee  

1  937.013 

2,522,265 

3.301,052 

3,261.221 

3.605,449 

Gogebic             

2.258.236 

2  498.461 

2.795.856 

2,875.295 

.   2.938.155 

Vermilion             .  . 

1  278  481 

1  265  142 

1,771,502 

1,655  820 

1,786063 

Total           

12  469,638 

14,024  673 

18,251  804 

19,059,393 

20,589,237 

Shipping  Port- 
Two  Harbors  

2  651  465 

2,693  245 

3  973  733 

4,007.294 

5  018,197 

Duluth  

2  376  064 

2  635  262 

3  509  965 

3,888,986 

3  437  955 

2.302  121 

2,803.513 

3,720  218 

3,436.734 

4  022.668 

Marquette  

1  945  519 

2  245  965 

2  733  596 

2,661,861 

2  354  284 

Ashland 

2  067  637 

2  391  088 

2  703  447 

2.633  687 

2  886  252 

Superior 

531  825 

550  403 

878  942 

1  522,899 

2  321  077 

Gladstone  

341  014 

335956 

381  457 

418.854 

117  089 

All  rail  

253  993 

369  941 

350  446 

489.078 

431  715 

Total  >  

12  469  638 

14  024  673 

18  251  804 

1  9  059  393 

20  589  237 

Lake  Erie  Receiving  Port— 
Ashtabula  

3  001  Q14 

2  684  563 

3  341  526 

3  700  486 

3  981  170 

Cleveland  

2  456  704 

2  645  318 

3  223  582 

3  376  644 

3  831  060 

Conneaut.  .  . 

495  327 

1  404  169 

2  320  696 

2*556'  631 

s'  181  019 

Buffalo.  .  .  . 

797  446 

1  075  975 

1  530  016 

1  616  919 

1  475  386 

Erie  

1  311  526 

1  092  364 

1  309  961 

1  240*715 

1  379*377 

Loraiii 

355  188 

536  086 

l'l!2  946 

l'090'235 

721  662 

Fairport  

1  008  340 

912  879 

1  241  013 

1  085  554 

1  181  776 

Toledo  

416  438 

414  012 

792  348 

645  147 

798  298 

Huron... 

198  231 

126  755 

263  600 

qoi  Q-M 

431  311 

Sandusky  

79  792 

136  200 

87  499 

154  542 

33  017 

Total  

10  120  °06 

11  028  321 

1  5  222  187 

1  5  7Q7  787 

17  014  076 

On  docks  Dec.  1  

5  923  755 

5  136  407 

5  530  283 

.  K.  <v)4  ftjn 

5  859  663 

THE    UNITED    STATES. 


653 


o  ( 


654 


THE    IROX    INDUSTRY. 


THE    UNITED   STATES. 


655 


N 


El 


656 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


The  movement  of  ore  during  the  last  few  years  may  be  seen  in 
Table  XXII-K,  while  Fi£.  XXII-C  shows  the  route  followed  to 
Chicago  and  the  Lake  Erie  ports.  The  map  in  Fig.  XXII-B  gives 
more  detail  concerning  the  Eastern  points  to  which  the  ore  is  car- 
ried, while  Figs.  XXII-D  and  XXII-E  give  views  of  the  mining 
districts. 


inn* 


/ 


B 


X 


.= 


/&     £ 
\~s       E 


THE    UNITED   STATES. 


657 


SEC.  XXIId.— Pittsburgh : 

The  great  center  of  the  iron  industry  of  the  United  States  is 
around  Pittsburgh  in  Allegheny  County,  Pennsylvania,  a  map  of 
which  is  shown  in  Fig.  XXII-F.  This  one  county  produces  about 
one-quarter  of  all  the  iron  made  in  the  country  and  hence  might 
be  and  often  is  discussed  separately.  But  from  an  economical 
standpoint  we  must  ignore  political  boundaries  and  embrace  parts 
of  three  States  as  follows : 

Pennsylvania:  Allegheny,  Westmoreland  and  Fayette  counties 
and  the  Shenango  and  Beaver  Valleys,  including  Mercer  and  Law- 
rence counties.  • 

Ohio :  A  section  of  Eastern  Ohio,  including  the  Mahoning  Val- 
ley and  the  Ohio  River  counties. 

West  Virginia:  The  northern  point  between  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio,  comprising  Marshall  and  Ohio  counties  and  Preston  County 
in  the  northeast. 

A  glance  at  Fig.  XXTI-B  will  show  that  this  is  a  logical  and 
natural  grouping.  It  gives  a  rectangle  about  70  miles  north  and 
south  and  about  80  miles  east  and  west,  and  hence  may  be  compared 
with  some  districts  in  other  countries.  The  statistics  for  each 
county  of  Pennsylvania  are  of  record,  and  are  given  'in  Table 
XXII-L,  but  this  cannot  be  done  in  the  case  of  Ohio  or  of  West 
Virginia,  as  these  States  do  not  collect  such  information ;  but  we 
do  have  at  hand  the  total  production  of  pig-iron  and  steel  in  Ohio 
and  the  output  of  pig-iron  in  West  Virginia.  We  also  have  the 
location  and  number  of  converters  and  open-hearth  furnaces  and 
their  productive  capacity  for  each  works,  while  I  am  in  possession 
of  considerable  private  information  as  to  the  output  of  certain  cen- 
ters. This  information  may  not  be  published  in  detail,  but  may  be 
used  in  forming  a  total.  The  result  of  this  investigation  is  given 
herewith : 

Output  of  Pig-Iron  and  Steel  in  the  Pittsburgh  District  in  1901. 


Pig  Iron. 

Steel. 

Allegheny  County  

3  685,665 

5  138  839 

Shenango  Vallev 

979  415 

484  692 

Westmoreland  ,  Fayette,  etc..  .  . 
Mahoning  Vallev  

115,261 
1  404  857 

153,525 
-j        _  . 

527  °58 

Est. 

West  Virginia  

166,597 

|  (1,540,000) 

Totals 

6  879  753 

7  317  056 

658 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 


TABLE  XXII-L. 

Production  of  Pig-Iron  and  Steel  in  Pennsylvania  in  1901; 
Gross  Tons. 

Advance  information,  Pennsylvania  Industrial  Statistics. 
The  figures  are  preliminary  and  differ  slightly  in  one  or  two  cases  from  the  final  report. 


County. 

Rolled  Iron  and  Steel. 

Steel  Ingots. 

Pig  Iron. 

Tons. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

Tons. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

Tons. 

Per  cent, 
of  total. 

5,087,088 
497,985 
443,655 
339,617 
332,123 
326,609 
273,348 
:  271,742 
263,861 
92,760 
86,528 
86,405 
84,157 
79,968 
57,930 
54,867 
41,137 
37,937 
36,781 
31,285 
I  24,899 
24,817 

58.84 
5.76 
5.13 
3.93 
3.84 
3.78 
3.16 
3.14 
3.05 
1.07 
1.00 
1.00 
0.97 
0.92 
0.67 
0.64 
0.48 
0.44 
0.43 
0.36 
0.29 
[0.29 

5,138,839 
426,787 
655,775 
198,150 
267174 
351,845 
152,715 
308,990 
217,518 

64.60 
5.37 
8.24 
•  2.49 
3.36 
4.42 
1.92 
3  88 
2.74 

3,685,665 
312,400 
511,533 
170,816 
359,260 
80,241 
37,347 

50.32 
4  27 
6.98 
2.33 
4.91 
1.10 
0.51 

Dauphin  

Lawrence  

Chester            

Mercer                  

620.155 

8.47 

382,436 
265.065 
239,579 

5.22 
3.62 
3.27 

Berks 

3j570 

0.04 

Lehigh 

Philadelphia     

61,111 

0.77 

Blair 

Miflflin          

Northampton  

68,796 

0.87 

179,647 

2.45 

Columbia 

Delaware  

57,197 

0.72 

Bedford    

99,534 
77,914 
68,342 
55,000 
178,916 

1.36 
1.06 
0.93 
0.75 
2.45 

Fayette  

Jefferson  

Armstrong 

Others  

69,667 

0.81 

46,112 

0.58 

Total 

8,645,166 

100.00 

7,954,579 

100.00 

7,323,850 

100.00 

The  Shenango  Valley,  in  Northwestern  Pennsylvania,  made 
nearly  one  million  tons  of  pig-iron  in  1901,  but  two-thirds  of  its 
product  was  shipped  to  Pittsburgh  for  conversion.  The  Mahoning 
Valley  makes  nearly  half  of  all  the  pig-iron  made  in  Ohio  and 
probably  over  half  of  all  the  steel.  Some  of  the  pig-iron  goes  to 
Pittsburgh,  while  the  furnaces  of  Southeastern  Ohio  ship  consider- 
able quantities  to  the  steel  plants  of  West  Virginia.  In  any  other 
part  of  the  world  districts  like  these  would  stand  alone,  but  they 
are  overshadowed  by  Allegheny  County  in  Pennsylvania,  which  in 
1901  produced  nearly  3,700,000  tons  of  pig-iron  and  over  5,000,000 
tons  of  steel.  It  will  be  noticed  that  1,300,000  tons  of  steel  are 
made  in  excess  of  the  pig-iron  made,  and  it  has  been  stated  before 
that  Pittsburgh  draws  large  amounts  of  pig-iron  from  the  Shenango 
Valley  and  from  all  the  district  round  about. 

This  county  in  1901  produced  "over  23  per  cent,  of  all  the  pig- 


THE    UNITED    STATES.  659 

iron  made  in  the  United  States;  over  33  per  cent,  of  the  Bessemer 
ingots ;  over  47  per  cent,  of  the  open-hearth  steel ;  over  38  per  cent, 
of  all  the  steel  of  all  kinds ;  over  24  per  cent,  of  the  rails ;  over  60 
per  cent,  of  the  structural  shapes,  and  32  per  cent,  of  all  the  rolled 
products."*  Fifty-six  per  cent,  of  all  the  output  was  made  in  the 
converter,  but  it  seems  quite  probable  that  not  many  years  will 
pass  before  Pittsburgh  will  make  more  steel  in  the  open-hearth  fur- 
nace than  in  the  Bessemer  vessel. 

The  foundation  of  this  industry  lies  in  the  coal  fields  of  what 
is  known  as  the  Connellsville  district,  embracing  the  coun- 
ties of  Westmoreland  and  Fayette  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
whole  district  including  this  section  is  approximately  a  square 
of  about  80  miles  on  a  side.  Throughout  this  area  the 
conditions  are  practically  uniform,  the  ore  supply  coming  from 
Lake  Superior  by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  some  Lake  Erie  port, 
and  thence  by  rail.  A  ship  canal  has  been  under  discussion  for 
many  years  from  Lake  Erie  to  Pittsburgh,  but  there  is  little  pros- 
pect of  its  construction.  As  a  rule,  the  plants  near  the  coal  must 
haul  the  ore  farther,  while  the  plants  nearer  Lake  Erie  have  a  longer 
distance  to  bring  the  coke.  In  the  case  of  finished  products  the 
difference  in  freight  is  trifling  on  shipments  to  distant  points.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  explain  the  special  reasons  for  locating  each 
works  at  the  particular  place  where  it  is  built,  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  there  are  economic  and  industrial  conditions  to  con- 
sider, aside  from  the  cost  of  coal  and  ore.  In  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity of  Pittsburgh,  about  every  piece  of  level  ground  is  taken  that 
lies  along  the  river  front  where  water  is  abundant  and  that  can  be 
reached  by  a  railroad.  The  country  is  very  rugged  and  suitable 
sites  for  large  steel  works  are  not  numerous.  In  the  city  itself 
land  needed  for  extensions  by  existing  works  can  only  be  bought  at 
rates  that  would  be  high  in  the  business  district  of  New  York.  In 
many  parts  of  Europe  works  are  built  where  water  is  scarce,  but  in 
America  it  is  considered  essential  that  a  river  be  available,  and  this 
river  is  looked  upon  as  small  unless  it  is  as  large  as  the  Ehine. 
Pittsburgh  stands  at  the  junction  of  two  rivers,  and  both  of  these 
streams  are  bordered  by  very  high  and  steep  hills,  so  that  the  iron 
and  steel  works  extend  in  long  narrow  lines  along  both  banks  of 
both  rivers.  In  some  instances  it  has  been  necessary  for  a  plant 
to  extend  by  going  across  the  river,  and  melted  metal  and  other 

*-Report  Am.  I.  &  S.  Assn.,  1902. 


660  THE   IROX    INDUSTRY. 

materials  are  transported  on  private  bridges.  On  account  of  this 
congested  condition  it  has  been  necessary  to  find  new  locations.  It  is 
also  an  advantage  to  get  away  from  a  city  which  has  more  than  once 
been  a  hot  bed  of  labor  agitation,  and  it  is  a  benefit  to  the  workmen 
to  live  where  the  high  rents  and  costs  of  Pittsburgh  do  not  prevail. 

In  about  the  year  1884,  natural  gas  was  discovered  in  the  region 
around  Pittsburgh,  and  during  the  next  ten  years  this  district  en- 
joyed one  of  the  best  and  most  convenient  fuels  at  very  low  rates. 
Many  plants  are  using  it  to-day,  but  the  cost  is  much  higher  than 
formerly  and  the  supply  is  uncertain  in  the  densely  populated  dis- 
tricts owing  to  the  great  and  varying  amount  used  in  the  houses, 
almost  every  dwelling  being  furnished  with  pipes.  As  a  conse- 
quence many  plants  in  the  city  proper  have  been  forced  to  install 
gas  producers,  but  natural  gas  is  still  used  at  Homestead  in  the 
open-hearth  furnaces  and  for  all  other  purposes,  and  it  is  also  used 
at  Duquesne  and  elsewhere. 

The  advantages  of  this  fuel  are  not  confined  to  its  first  cost,  as  an 
open-hearth  furnace  using  it  becomes  a  proposition  radically  dif- 
ferent from  the  usual  type.  The  gas  needs  no  regeneration  and  is 
introduced  at  the  point  where  the  port  opens  into  the  furnace,  so 
that  there  is  no.  gas  chamber,  and  both  chambers  are  used  for  air. 
There  is  no  tendency  to  leak  from  one  to  the  other  and  no  com- 
bustion if  such  leakage  occurs ;  there  are  no  ports  to  wear  out  and 
to  repair,  and  when  the  furnace  is  rebuilt  or  repaired  the  brick 
work  may  be  laid  in  the  most  rapid  manner,  without  any  attention 
to  making  joints  tight.  The  gas  also  contains  no  sulphur,  so  that 
it  is  easy  to  make  steel  very  low  in  this  element. 

It  is  not  known  how  long  the  supply  of  gas  will  last.  At  the 
present  time  new  wells  are  constantly  being  sunk  and  the  supply 
replenished  from  a  greater  distance  and  a  greater  area,  but  the 
time  seems  to  be  near  when  the  amount  obtained  will  be  so  scanty 
and  the  cost  so  high  that  it  will  be  used  for  household  purposes  only. 

It  is  in  this  district  around  Pittsburgh  that  the  methods  have 
been  developed  in  blast  furnaces  and  rolling  mills  which  have  be- 
come known  throughout  the  world  as  "American  practice/'  and  I 
believe  it  is  but  the  truth  to  state  that  these  standards  have  in  the 
main  been  established  by  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company.* 

•  It  will  be  explained  later,  however,  that  the  system  of  casting  upon  trucks, 
it  which  the  great  products  in  a  Bessemer  plant  are  difficult  to  obtain,  as 
II  as  some  other  features  of  Bessemer  construction,  were  inaugurated  at  the 
works  of  the  Maryland  Steel  Company,  at  Baltimore. 


THE    UNITED    STATES.  661 

The  policy  of  the  Carnegie  management  for  twenty  years  has 
been  diametrically  opposed  to  the  policy  prevailing  in  European 
works,  and  quite  different  from  what  is  possible  in  most  cases. 
Most  manufacturing  corporations  must  distribute  a  very  consider- 
able share  of  their  earnings  in  the  way  of  dividends,  and  the  most 
successful  management  is  the  one  that  distributes  the  most,  without 
much  regard  to  what  happens  to  the  plant ;  but  where  there  are  but 
a  few  stockholders  and  when  the  control  rests  in  a  man  with  a 
definite  plan,  that  plan  can  be  carried  out,  when  in  other  works  the 
plan  might  be  conceived,  but  could  not  be  accomplished. 

The  fundamental  principle  which  has  been  carried  out  at  Pitts- 
burgh was  to  destroy  anything  from  a  steam  engine  to  a  steel  works 
whenever  a  better  piece  of  apparatus  was  to  be  had,  no  matter 
whether  the  engine  or  the  works  was  new  or  old,  and  the  definition 
of  this  word  "better"  was  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  ability  to 
get  out  a  greater  product  and  get  it  out  uninterruptedly.  Such  a 
course  involved  the  expenditure  of  enormous  sums  of  money,  it 
involved  the  constant  return  of  profits  into  the  business,  it  involved 
many  mistakes,  but  it  produced  results,  and  the  economies  arising 
from  the  increased  output  soon  paid  for  the  expenditure.  This 
example  has«exerted  a  great  effect  upon  other  American  steel  works, 
and  is  also  felt  to  a  considerable  extent  abroad. 

The  European  visitor  to  Pittsburgh,  however,  will  find  a  lack  of 
attention  to  many  of  the  minor  economies.  He  will  find  that  the 
saving  of  fuel  does  not  receive  its  rightful  share  of  attention  and 
that  most  of  the  engines  in  use  are  wasteful  and  that  thousands 
of  dollars  are  spent  to  dispense  with  the  labor  of  one  or  two  men, 
while  thousands  of  dollars  in  fuel  are  being  constantly  wasted.  In 
Europe  it  is  the  labor  that  is  wasted  and  the  fuel  saved.  There  is 
a  partial  excuse  in  both  cases.  In  Europe  fuel  is  costly  and  labor 
cheap ;  in  Pittsburgh  fuel  is  cheap  and  labor  costly.  When  a  mill 
is  working  to  its  ultimate  capacity,  it  takes  more  than  one  man 
to  fill  one  job,  because  continuous  attention  and  work  is  physically 
impossible  throughout  twelve  hours,  or  even  eight  hours.  Con- 
sequently in  American  practice,  extra  hands  or  "spell"  hands  must 
be  provided,  something  that  would  be  superfluous  in  most  foreign 
works.  Thus  a  machine  that  saves  the  work  of  "one  man"  really 
saves  more  than  one  man,  and  in  the  case  of  skilled  labor  in  Pitts- 
burgh, this  will  often  represent  from  five  to  ten  or  even  twenty  times 
as  much  as  in  Silesia  or  Lothringen.  On  the  contrary,  fuel  is  cheap 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

in  Western  Pennsylvania,  and  it  is  better  to  waste  money  every  day 
than  to  have  complicated  engines  or  superheaters  or  furnaces  that 
might  get  out  of  order  and  stop  the  works  for  a  day  or  a  week.  It 
may  be  accepted  as  final  that  no  American  engineer  will  install  a 
piece  of  machinery,  no  matter  how  much  economy  is  promised,  if 
there  is  the  least  probability  of  irregular  working  with  a  break  in 
the  continuous  and  uninterrupted  production. 

This  dominant  idea  has  led  to  a  certain  sameness  in  the  general 
methods  of  manufacture  in  America  and  this  has  been  rendered 
quite  natural  by  the  fact  that  the  metallurgical  conditions  are  uni- 
form over  a  very  large  area.  Throughout  the  greater  part  of  Amer- 
ica, the  use  of  Lake  Superior  ores  is  universal,  these  ores  being  of 
two  kinds:  (1)  those  that  give  a  pig-iron  with  not  over  0.10  per 
-cent,  of  phosphorus;  (2)  those  that  give  a  pig-iron  ranging  from 
0.10  to  0.25  in  phosphorus.  The  last,  the  so-called  "non-Bessemer," 
is  sold  at  a  somewhat  lower  price,  and  thus  while  all  of  the  Bes- 
.semer  steel  is  made  in  acid  converters,  a  great  part  of  the  open- 
hearth  product  is  made  on  the  basic  hearth,  the  non-Bessemer  pig- 
iron  being  used  for  this  purpose.  The  very  low  content  of  phos- 
phorus in  the  charge  takes  away  all  difficulties  as  far  as  this  element 
is  concerned,  and  the  metallurgical  problems  therefore  in  Pitts- 
burgh are  comparatively  few;  the  coke  is  good,  the  ores  rich  and 
pure,  the  basic  Bessemer  process  entirely  out  of  the  question,  and 
the  basic  open-hearth  furnace  is  charged  with  a  mixture  almost  fit 
for  an  acid  hearth.  It  is  therefore  much  easier  in  America  than  in 
most  parts  of  Europe  to  make  steel  according  to  rigid  specifications, 
this  being  proven  by  the  fact  that  foreign  metallurgists  refuse  to 
bid  on  contracts  which  are  accepted  as  standard  in  America. 

The  Pittsburgh  district  mines  practically  no  ore,  all  this  coming 
from  the  western  end  of  the  Great  Lakes.  During  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  year  navigation  is  closed  on  account  of  ice,  so  that 
furnaces  working  this  ore  must  arrange  to  store  enough  for  all  win- 
ter. The  time  .varies  with  the  weather,  but  it  may  be  roughly  stated 
that  no  ore  arrives  between  the  first  of  December  and  the  next  May. 
Consequently,  it  is  necessary  to  arrange  for  an  enormous  storage 
yard,  which  is  one  of  the  most  characteristic  features  of  an  Ameri- 
can plant.  In  the  case  of  some  furnaces  not  having  sufficient  room, 
the  ore  may  be  held  on  the  docks  at  the  lake,  but  it  is  very  difficult 
to  handle  during  the  cold  weather. 

The  coke  arrives  by  rail,  and  at  most  furnaces  very  little  is  kept 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


663 


on  hand  as  stock.  It  comes  as  before  stated  from  what  is  known  as 
the  Connellsville  district.  This  coke  is  somewhat  higher  in  ash 
than  that  of  Durham,  but  is  nearly  or  quite  as  good  in  physical 
structure,  and,  of  course,  superior  to  any  coke  on  the  Continent. 
The  coal  contains  from  30  to  35  per  cent,  of  volatile  matter.  The 
beehive  oven  is  used  almost  universally  throughout  the  region,  and 
it  is  the  rule  that  the  coke  is  made  at  the  mine,  but  this  rule  has 
some  important  exceptions,  and  within  the  last  few  years  a  num- 
ber of  by-product  ovens  have  been  erected  at  furnace  plants  and  the 
coal  brought  to  the  works.  In  Sec.  IXe  a  list  is  given  of  all  the 
by-product  ovens  in  the  country.  Only  a  few  of  those  named  are 
in  the  Pittsburgh  district,  viz.,  those  at  Glassport,  Dunbar  and 
Sharon,  Pa. ;  Hamilton,  Ohio,  and  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 

The  coke  from  Connellsville  is  used  not  only  near  home,  but  is 
sent  in  greater  or  less  measure  all  over  the  land.  It  has  been  used 
in  years  gone  by  in  smelting  copper  in  the  Eocky  Mountains,  where 
it  cost  $45.00  per  ton  delivered.  It  is  sent  in  great  quantities  te 
Eastern  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  Maryland,  northward  to 
Buffalo  and  Canada  and  westward  to  Chicago  and  Duluth. 

Table  XXII-M  shows  the  distribution  of  works  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh district,  while  Fig.  XXII-G  illustrates  the  Edgar  Thomson 
Bessemer  plant  at  Braddock.  No  list  of  names  is  given  either  for 
this  district  or  any  other,  as  the  directory  before  referred  to,  issued 
by  Mr.  Swank,  gives  complete  information. 


TABLE  XXII-M. 
Distribution  of  Iron  and  Steel  Works  in  the  Pittsburgh  District. 


Blast  Furn- 
aces. 

Bessemer 
Plants. 

Open  Hearth 
Plants. 

Works 
making 
crucible 
steel 

Works 
having 
rolling 
mills. 

Cok. 

Char 
coal. 

No.  of 
works. 

No.  of 
con- 
verters. 

No.  of 
works 

No.  of 
furn- 
aces. 

Allegheny,  Westmoreland. 
Fayette  and  Washington 
Counties  

37 
19 

23 
3 



7 

1 

4 
2 

16 
2 

8 
4 

28 
5 

118 
21 

13 
4 

73 
22 

29 
13 

Phenango  Valley 

Eastern  Ohio,  including  Ma- 
honing  Valley  and  Ohio 
River  Counties 

West  Virginia  

Total  

82 

14 

30 

33 

139 

17 

137 

664 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


SEC.  XXIIe.— Chicago: 

I  am  Indebted  to  Mr.  C.  E.  Stafford,  president  of  the  Tidewater  Steel  Company, 
at  Chester,  Pa.,  for  much  of  the  information  in  this  article. 

In  the  district  of  Chicago  I  have  included  the  producing  plant  at 
Joliet,  111.,  about  40  miles  to  the  southwest  and  the  rolling  mills  at 
Milwaukee,  Wis./  about  80  miles  to  the  north.  The  metallurgical 
conditions  here  are  exactly  the  same  as  in  Pittsburgh,  and  henco 
need  not  be  discussed  again.  The  coke  is  brought  by  rail  from 
Connellsville  or  from  West  Virginia,  the  distance  ranging  from 
525  to  625  miles.  The  strong  point  of  the  situation  is  the 
comparatively  short  distance  through  which  the  ore  must  be 
brought,  and  the  haul  is  entirely  by  lake  vessels,  this  being  cheaper 


THE    UNITED    STATES.  665 

than  ordinary  ocean  transportation  owing  to  the  special  vessels  used 
in  the  traffic.  The  blast  furnaces  at  South  Chicago  are  on  the 
water  front,  the  vessels  being  unloaded  directly  into  the  stock  yard. 

The  subsidiary  fuel  has  come  from  different  sources  at  different 
times.  The  gas  coals  of  Central  Illinois  contain  as  high  as  45  per 
cent,  of  volatile  matter  and  are  used  for  heating  furnaces,  but  can- 
not be  used  in  open-hearth  work  on  account  of  the  high  content  of 
sulphur.  For  this  reason  the  melting  furnaces  use  the  gas  coal  of 
Pittsburgh,  West  Virginia  and  the  Big  Muddy  field  of  Southern 
Illinois.  Oil  has  been  used  in  the  past,  the  neighboring  refineries, 
working  on  Ohio  and  Indiana  oils,  supplying  residuum  at  a'prico 
which  has  sometimes  been  attractive.  Natural  gas  is  pumped  from 
the  Kokomo  field  of  Indiana  for  domestic  purposes  in  Chicago,  but 
only  a  small  surplus  can  be  had  at  a  price  warranting  its  use  in  the 
steel  works. 

Chicago  is  one  of  the  greatest  railroad  centers  of  the  world,  and 
the  manufacture  of  rails  has  been  the  natural  direction  of  develop- 
ment, one  of  the  greatest  of  American  rail  mills  being  in  operation 
here.  By  virtue  of  the  tributary  railroad  systems  the  Chicago  mar- 
ket has  always  had  a  surplus  of  scrap  for  disposal,  and  this  fact 
perhaps  influenced  the  development  of  a  very  extensive  open-hearth 
plant,  which  has  been  erected  within  a  few  years.  The  plant  in- 
cludes a  slab  mill  for  roughing  down  the  ingot,  the  plates  being  all 
rolled  from  slabs.  Melted  iron  is  used  to  a  great  extent  in  the 
open-hearth  furnaces,  the  iron  being  taken  from  the  same  receivers 
that  take  care  of  the  Bessemer  plant. 

The  industry  of  this  section  is  concentrated  in  the  plants  of  the 
Illinois  Steel  Company.  The  plant  at  South  Chicago  embraces  ten 
blast  furnaces  and  a  Bessemer  plant  which  feeds  a  rail  mill.  The 
converting  department  is  shown  in  Fig.  XXII-H  and  the  rail  mill 
in  Fig.  XXII-I.  The  open-hearth  and  plate  mill  plant  have  already 
been  mentioned.  The  rolling  mill  also  turns  out  a  certain  propor- 
tion of  axle  billets  and  general  merchant  billets,  the  latter  being 
sent  to  the  Bay  View  works  at  Milwaukee  for  finishing  into  splice 
plates,  small  structural  shapes  and  miscellaneous  merchant  bar. 
The  defective  rails,  are  also  sent  from  Chicago  to  Milwaukee  to  be 
rerolled  into  light  rails.  At  Joliet,  about  40  miles  away,  there  is  a 
Bessemer  plant,  fed  partly  by  pig-iron  used  directly  and  partly  by 
iron  brought  from  furnaces  at  the  North  and  Union  Works  at 
Chicago,  which  is  remelted  in  cupolas.  The  mills  at  Joliet  roll 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

splice  bars,  skelp,  wire  rod  and  a  large  amount  of  sheet  bar,  and 
also  send  some  billets  to  the  Bay  View  Works  at  Milwaukee. 


O,  Intermediate  crane ;  6,  Casting  crane;  e,  Converter.;  d,  «,  Elevated  track  from  receiver ; 

/,  Ladle  crane ;  g,  Operating  stand  for  casting  crane ;  h,  To  stripper ;  i,  Slag  track ; 
fc,  Casting  track ;  I,  Casting4 platform ;  m,  Operating  casting  crane ;  n,  Operating  converter. 

FIG.  XXII-H. — BESSEMER  PLANT  AT  SOUTH  CHICAGO,  ILL. 

The  distribution  of  the  plants  in  this  region  is  not  founded  on 
any  special  system,  but  arises  from  the  absorption  of  several  old 
plants  under  one  head.  Certain  rolling  mills,  as  for  instance,  at 
the  North  and  at  the  Union  Works,  have  been  abandoned,  but  it  has 


TJIE    UNITED    STATES. 


667 


668  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

been  profitable  in  the  face  of  extra  freight  and  handling  to  keep  the 
finishing  mills  of  Joliet  and  Milwaukee  in  operation.  The  region 
round  about  offers  an  enormous  market  for  miscellaneous  products, 
there  being  many  large  agricultural  works,  shipyards,  rod  and  wire 
mills  and  other  establishments  making  everything  from  pipes  and 
tubes  to  smaller  cold  stamped  wares.  The  steel  plants  of  Ohio, 
Pittsburgh  and  the  East  are  active  competitors  for  much  of  this 
business,  but  Chicago  naturally  claims  a  large  proportion. 
SEC.  XXIIf.— Alabama: 

Note :  Most  of  the  facts  and  data  herein  set  forth  are  derived  from  a.  mcst 
comprehensive  pamphlet  issued  in  1898  by  the  Alabama  Geological  Survey,  en- 
titled "Iron  Making  in  Alabama,"  by  Dr.  W.  B.  Phillips.  I  am  also  personally 
indebted  to  Dr.  Phillips  for  reading  the  manuscript  concerning  this  State. 

.  The  third  district  in  regard  to  output  of  pig-iron  is  the  northern 
central  part  of  Alabama,  with  Birmingham  as  its  best  known  repre- 
sentative, the  mines  of  the  Red  Mountain  group  contributing  half 
the  total  ore  production  of  the  State.  Nowhere  else  in  America  is 
there  a  great  producing  district  where  ore  and  coal  are  side  by  side. 
The  problem  in  most  other  districts  is  the  smelting  of  good  ore 
with  good  fuel  and  the  making  of  acid  Bessemer  steel.  In 'Ala- 
bama the  conditions  are  much  more  difficult,  and  resemble  those 
confronting  some  metallurgical  centers  of  the  Continent.  The 
ore  is  of  low  grade,  the  limonites  being  better  than  the  hematites 
and  the  richer  hematites  have  been  practically  exhausted.  A  great 
deal  of  the  coke  used  is  made  from  coal  that  has  been  washed  in 
order  to  lower  the  percentage  of  ash  and  sulphur.  The  phosphorus 
in  the  ores  is  not  high  enough  to  render  possible  the  use  of  the 
basic  Bessemer  process,  and  it  is  rather  high  for  the  basic  open- 
hearth  furnace.  This  fact  does  not  mean  that  steel  cannot  be  made 
in  Alabama;  it  merely  means  that  the  cost  of  conversion  will  be 
greater  in  the  long  run  than  in  more  favored  districts,  a  fact  which 
has  not  been  considered  by  some  investors  and  metallurgists. 

The  iron  industry  of  Alabama  has  suffered  from  the  extravagant 
statements  of  promoters,  and  it  may  be  well  to  quote  from  the 
writings  of  W.  B.  Phillips,  who  has  done  so  much  to  forward  the 
interests  of  the  State,  but  who  has  no  word  of  praise  for  those  who 
have  brought  the  district  into  ridicule.  I  quote  from  this  most 
excellent  and  friendly  authority  to  show  that  what  is  here  written 
is  not  put  down  in  malice :  "We  may  keep  the  great  outcrops  of 
ore  for  a  sort  of  show-place  and  continue  to  publish  photographs 
showing  15,  20  and  25  feet  of  ore  as  evidence  of  the  prodigality  of 


THE    UNITED   STATES.  669 

nature.  But  there  is  not  a  single  place  on  Eed  Mountain,  from 
Irondale  to  Kaymond,  where  even  12  feet  of  ore  is  mined,  and  the 
Luge  seams  taken  as  a  whole  are  worthless.  It  is  all  very  well  to 
take  visitors  to  some  great  cut  in  the  seam,  and  ask  them  what  they 
think  of  that  for  ore.  What  they  will  think  depends  entirely  upon 
how  much  they  know  about  the  ore.9'  * 

The  ores  used  in  Alabama  are  of  three  kinds : 

Brown  orer^Limonite. 

Soft  ore=Hematite,  carrying  about  1  per  cent,  of  lime. 

Hard  ore=Hematite,  self-fluxing. 

The  composition  of  each  varies  very  much,  and  sometimes  there 
have  been  found  small  seams  of  ore  running  fairly  low  in  phos- 
phorus, but  in  no  place  and  at  no  time  has  any  considerable  amount 
been  located  wrhich  would  justify  the  hope  of  making  Bessemer  iron 
on  a  large  scale.  Phillips  states  that  the  general  run  of  ore  as  it  is 
smelted  will  give  an  iron  containing  0.20  to  0.80  per  cent,  of  phos- 
phorus, but  in  another  place  (p.  167)  he  states  that  no  furnace  in 
the  State  is  warranted  in  guaranteeing  under  0.75  per  cent,  in  the 
pig-iron. 

BROWN  ORE. 

The  brown  ore  or  limonite  is  the  best  ore  in  the  State  an&  more 
is  being  mined  every  year,  as  new  deposits  are  developed,  but  a 
brown  ore  bank  is  a  very  uncertain  proposition ;  it  may  yield  good 
material  for  a  number  of  years,  or  it  may  be  exhausted  within  a 
comparatively  short  time.  Brown  ore  is  almost  always  a  mixture 
of  lumps  of  ore  with  a  more  or  less  tenacious  clay,  and  a  thorough 
washing  is  usually  necessary.  The  average  composition  as  deliv- 
ered at  the  stockhouse  is  as  follows,  it  being  assumed  that  all  hygro- 
scopic water  is  expelled : 

Fe    51.00       . 

SiO2 9.00 

A12O3 3.75 

CaO    0.75 

P 0.40 

S 0.10 

SOFT  ORE — (HEMATITE). 

The  so-called  soft  ore  of  Birmingham  is  the  result  of  ages  of 
atmospheric  influence  upon  a  deposit  of  hard  calcareous  hematite. 
The  disintegrating  action  has  not  only  softened  the  mass,  but  the 

*  Geological  Survey  of  Alabama,  1898,  p.  277. 


670  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

percolating  water  has  removed  the  lime,  and  as  a  consequence,  the 
percentage  of  iron  is  higher  in  this  soft  ore  than  in  the  underlying 
hard  and  limey  deposit  on  the  dip.  The  extent  of  this  decomposed 
layer  varies  very  much  on  the  dip,  in  some  places  being  300  feet, 
while  in  other  places  the  hard  ore  appears  on  the  surface.  When 
the  overburden  is  stripped  off,  there  is  found  a  seam  of  ore,  quite 
soft,  of  a  deep  red  or  purple  color,  the  so-called  "gouge."  It  may 
be  only  a  few  inches  thick  and  may  run  up  to  two  or  even  three 
feet.  Under  this  comes  the  solid  ore,  diminishing  in  iron  as  the 
depth  increases.  The  best  quality  of  "gouge"  will  carry  52  per 
cent,  of  iron,  while  ten  feet  down  the  limit  of  good  ore  is  reached. 
Including  this  "gouge"  it  is  found  that  the  first  ten  feet  of  the 
seam  will  average  about  47  per  cent,  in  iron,  while  the  second  ten 
feet  will  run  about  42  per  cent.  In  former  times  the  rule  was  to 
send  to  the  furnace  "anything  that  was  red,"  but  operations  are 
now  limited  to  the  upper  ten  feet.  An  average  analysis  of  stock- 
house  samples  shows  as  follows: 

SOFT    RED    ORB. 

Wet.  Dry. 

Fe   47.24  50.80 

SiO8 17.20  18.50 

A12O3 3.35  3.60 

CaO 1.12  1.20 

Water   7.00 

HARD   RED  ORE. 

The  relation  of  the  deposits  of  soft  and  hard  ores  is  shown  by 
Fig.  XXII-J,  which  is  copied  from  the  work  of  Dr.  Phillips.  Some- 
times, as  before  stated,  the  hard  ore  reaches  to  the  surface,  and 
sometimes  both  soft  and  hard  ores  of  the  good  variety  are  lacking. 
but  usually  the  hard  good  ore  is  found,  reaching  to  a  great  depth. 


FIG.  XXII-J. — ORE  DEPOSIT  OF  BIRMINGHAM,  ALA.; 
VERTICAL  SECTION. 


THE    UNITED    STATES.  671 

Xot  many  years  ago  the  soft  ore  was  the  only  kind  used,  but  it 
has  been  found  that  the  supply  will  be  exhausted  in  a  compara- 
tively short  time  and  the  furnaces  are  carrying  more  and  more 
of  the  hard  ore,  some  plants  using  it  almost  alone,  and  as  before 
stated,  there  is  a  greater  proportion  of  limonite  (brown  ore). 

This  hard  ore  naturally  follows  the  same  rules  that  hold  for  the 
soft  ore,  that  the  content  of  iron  decreases  toward  the  dip,  but  it 
will  be  made  clear  by  the  diagram  that  this  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  uniformity  of  the  ore  at  right  angles  to  the  dip.  The  hard 
ore,  as  before  explained,  contains  a  considerable  proportion  of  lime, 
the  relative  amounts  of  other  substances  being  correspondingly  de- 
creased. A  general  average  is  as  follows : 

HARD   ORE. 

Fe 37.00 

SiO2    13.44 

CaO   16.20 

A12O8 3.18 

P 0.37 

S 0.07 

CO8 12.24. 

Water   0.50 

An  examination  of  these  figures  will  show  that  the  ore  is  self- 
fluxing.  This,  of  course,  is  not  true  of  the  output  of  every  part 
of  the  bed,  for  some  parts  give  too  much  silica  and  some  too  much 
lime,  but  it  is  important  to  consider  the  general  fact  because  it 
places  in  a  different  light  the  low  content  of  iron. 

Under  the  subject  of  flux  it*  may  be  well  to  note  that  dolomite  is 
used  quite  generally  in  Birmingham  furnaces,  the  average  compo- 
sition being  as  follows : 

BIRMINGHAM    DOLOMITE. 

Silica 1.50  to  2.00 

Oxide  of  iron  and  alumina 1.00 

Carbonate  of  lime 54.00 

Carbonate  of  magnesia 43.00 

It  is  quite  rare  to  find  dolomite  thus  used,  but  the  results  seem 
to  show  that  magnesia  will  remove  the  sulphur  as  successfully  as 
lime. 

COAL  AND  COKE. 

The  principal  coal  deposit  in  Alabama  is  known  as  the  Warrior 
field,  which  raises  85  per  cent,  of  the  total  output  of  the  State,  the 
chief  centers  being  in  the  counties  of  Jefferson,  Walker  and  Tusca- 


072  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

loosa.  In  1897  the  average  price  at  the  mines  was  88  cents  per  ton. 
Most  of  the  coal  of  the  State  will  give  a  fair  coke,  but  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  wash  it  in  order  to  remove  both  sulphur  and 
ash,  and  this  also  improves  the  quality.  There  was  a  time  when 
furnacemen  talked  of  making  a  fuel  ratio  of  ton  per  ton,  but  that 
day  has  gone  by,  and  it  is  now  considered  good  work  if  a  ton  of  pig 
is  made  with  1.3  tons  of  coke,  while  the  average  is  higher  than  this. 

PIG  IRON. 

The  pig-iron  made  in  Alabama  has  been  sent  to  all  parts  of  the 
country  and  much  of  it  abroad.  There  is  a  comparatively  limited 
demand  in  the  State,  but  there  is  quite  a  market  in  Northern  cities 
within  a  reasonable  distance,  as  for  instance  Cincinnati,  and  a  great 
deal  is  sent  by  rail  and  water  to  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  other 
seaboard  points.  Most  of  this  is  for  foundry  purposes,  and  al- 
though no  one  consumer  takes  an  enormous  quantity,  the  items  foot 
up  a  good  total.  Some  of  this  iron  is  carried  into  the  heart  of 
the  iron  districts  of  Pennsylvania,  and  is  used  to  some  extent  for 
puddling.  The  freight  rates  are  made  as  low  as  possible  by  the 
railroads  to  encourage  business,  but  the  distances  are  very  great. 
The  cost  of  foundry  iron  in  Alabama  is  usually  placed  at  from  seven 
to  eight  dollars  per  ton,  and  the  freight  to  Northern  points  is  often- 
times four  dollars  and  even  more.  The  natural  answer  to  this  con- 
dition is  to  manufacture  the  iron  on  the  spot  into  finished  products, 
and  the  making  of  steel  is  the  most -attractive  field,  but  it  must  be 
considered  that  pig-iron  for  the  basic  open-hearth  furnaces  should 
be  low  in  sulphur  and  silicon,  and  only  a  portion  of  the  product 
of  Southern  furnaces  as  now  operated  will  satisfy  this  condition, 
and  it  is  quite  clear  that  if  only  the  best  of  the  iron  is  available 
for  making  steel,  and  that  if  the  poorer  grades  must  be  sold  at 
prices  below  the  standard,  the  steel  furnace  must  be  charged  a  cor- 
respondingly higher  price  for  its  stock.  That  good  basic  iron  can 
be  made  is  unquestioned,  but  it  will  not  be  made  at  the  same  price 
as  the  average  run  of  foundry  and  forge  irons. 

For  several  years  Alabama  has  occupied  the  fourth  position 
among  the  iron  producing  States,  with  an  annual  output  equal  to 
that  of  Belgium,  or  Scotland;  but  according  to  the  system  of  dis- 
tricts which  we  have  assumed  she  occupies  third  place,  the  great 
producing  part  of  Ohio  being  included  in  the  Pittsburgh  district. 
The  growth  of  the  industry  is  shown  in  Table  XXII-N. 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  673 

TABLE  XXII-K 
Production  of  Pig-iron  in  Alabama. 

Year.  Long  tons. 

1875 22,418 

1880 68,925 

1885 203,069 

1890 816,911 

1895 854,667 

1896 . 922,170 

1897 947,831 

1898 1,033,676 

1899 1,083,905 

1900 1,184,337 

1901 1,225,212 

STEEL. 

During  th'e  last  few  years  great  progress  has  been  made  in  the 
manufacture  of  steel  in  Alabama.  At  first  there  was  much  doubt 
as  to  whether  it  could  be  successfully  made  and  long  and  enthusi- 
astic articles  were  written  describing  the  results  of  the  first  tap  of 
steel,  with  figures  showing  the  percentage  of  carbon,  and  phos- 
phorus, and  sulphur,  and  everything  else,  with  many  more  figures 
about  the  ultimate  strength  and  elastic  limit.  It  is  not  alone  in 
Alabama  that  this  sort  of  nonsense  is  perpetrated,  for  leading  tech- 
nical journals  gravely  copy  figures  showing  the  physical  results  on 
a  piece  of  steel  made  in  some  new  district  as  if  the  information 
were  of  importance.  Nothing  can  be  of  less  moment. 

If  iron  ore  can  be  found,  and  fuel  brought  to  it,  steel  can  be 
made;  and  by  proper  attention  it  can  be  made  equal  to  the  best; 
and  by  proper  treatment  it  can  be  worked  into  a  bar,  and  that  bar 
will  give  a  known  and  definite  tensile  strength,  elastic  limit,  elon- 
gation and  reduction  of  area,  depending  on  the  composition  of  the 
final  metal  and  the  rolling  conditions,  without  any  regard  to  the 
quality  of  the  ore  or  whether  it  was  mined  in  Alabama  or  Japan. 
The  important  point  is  the  cost  of  the  finished  material,  and  this 
can  usually  be  estimated  just  as  well  before  a  pound  of  steel  is 
made  as  it  can  during  the  first  few  weeks  or  months  of  working. 
It  is  necessary  to  know  the  general  character  and  location  of  the 
ere,  and  the  quality  and  location  of  the  coal,  and  some  other  general 
conditions  in  order  to  determine  the  probable  cost  of  pig-iron.  It 
is  necessary  to  know  whether  the  conditions  are  uniform,  and 
whether  the  sulphur  and  phosphorus  vary  very  much  in  order  to 
know  whether  the  practice  can  be  reduced  to  the  most  economical 


574  THE   IKON    INDUSTRY. 

basis.  Knowing  these  things  it  is  possible  to  state  whether  steel 
can  be  made  commercially  and  along  what  lines  the  best  financial 
results  will  be  obtained.  Following  this  the  operation  must  be  con- 
ducted by  intelligent  metallurgists  and  by  honest  managers.  Un- 
fortunately Alabama  has  lacked  these  essentials  in  some  notable 
instances,  but  there  has  been  continual  progress,  and  it  is  believed 
that  the  steel  industry  of  the  State  has  now  acquired  a  secure  foot- 
ing. The  only  important  works,  however,  is  at  Ensley,  where  there 
are  ten  50-ton  basic  tilting  furnaces,  operated  by  the  Tennessee 
Coal,  Iron  and  Railroad  Company. 

One  of  the  great  drawbacks  in  the  South  is  the  labor  question. 
Owing  partly  to  the  climate  and  partly  to  the  absence  of  a  white 
population  trained  to  industrial  pursuits,  it  is  necessary  to  depend 
upon  the  negro,  and  the  colored  man  has  had  no  education  in  this 
line  of  work.  The  whole  history  of  the  race  in  this  country  has 
been  in  agriculture,  and  in  the  days  of  slavery  they  were  treated 
either  like  beasts  of  burden,  or  in  some  cases  like  children.  In 
saying  that  they  were  treated  as  beasts  of  burden  it  is  not  necessary 
to  infer  that  such  treatment  was  necessarily  unkind  or  cruel.  Set- 
ting aside  all  considerations  of  humanity  it  was  the  part  of  economy 
to  properly  feed  and  clothe  the  workmen,  as  it  is  profitable  to  take 
good  care  of  horses.  But  the  important  point  is  that  during  this 
era  the  negro  individually  and  collectively  was  not  called  upon  to 
provide  for  the  future  and  in  most  cases  could  not  provide  if  he 
would. 

It  would  be  too  much  to  expect  that  such  ignorant  men,  suddenly 
loosed  from  thraldom,  would  instantly  become  a  saving,  provident, 
hard-working  people,  and  the  wonder  is  that  so  large  a  proportion 
do  fall  into  this  class.  The  greater  part  of  those  in  the  Southern 
States,  so  I  am  informed,  are  entirely  improvident  and  many  of 
them  will  work  only  long  enough  to  get  a  little  cash,  whereupon 
they  quit  work  and  live  in  idleness  upon  their  earnings.  A  sum- 
mary discharge  has  no  terrors,  as  living  is  cheap  and  their  wants 
few.  I  was  told  by  one  of  the  furnace  managers  in  the  South  that 
he  has  an  average  of  three  names  on  his  payroll  every  year  for  each 
job.  The  two  idle  men  were  spending  most  of  their  money  for 
liquor  and  in  gambling  games,  while  a  certain  proportion  never 
worked,  but  devoted  their  time  to  politics,  and  made  speeches  on  the 
equality  of  colored  men  and  their  right  to  occupy  the  highest  posi- 
tions of  the  land. 


THE   UNITED   STATES.  675 

I  believe  that  this  condition  will  pass  away  in  time.  The  negro 
in  the  North  has  overcome  in  great  measure  this  hereditary  tend- 
ency, although  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  part  of  the  country 
has  received  the  pick  of  the  race,  for  as  a  rule  it  is  the  progressive, 
energetic  and  industrious  man  that  leaves  his  home  to  make  his  way 
in  a  new  field.  There  are  many  agitators  whose  only  vocation  is  to 
wear  good  clothes,  and  there  are  too  many  lazy  and  shiftless  men ; 
hut  this  is  quite  true  of  other  races  in  every  land.  Taking  the 
Northern  colored  people  as  a  whole  the  great  proportion  are  indus- 
trious workmen,  who  are  amenable  to  discipline  and  who  possess 
their  full  measure  of  intelligence.  My  experience  is,  however,  that 
they  do  not  readily  submit  to  dictation  from  one  of  their  own  color, 
and  so  by  their  own  choice  they  perpetuate  the  supremacy  of  the 
white  race. 

SEG.  XXIIg. — Johnstown: 

The  western  central  part  of  Pennsylvania  is  usually  considered  a 
district  by  itself,  the  statistics  including  the  output  of  the  counties 
of  Cambria,  Jefferson,  Armstrong,  Westmoreland  and  Fayette.  The 
last  two  have  already  been  considered  as  part  of  the  Pittsburgh 
district,  while  Jefferson  and  Armstrong  are  of  little  importance. 
It  may,  therefore,  be  well  to  consider  Cambria  County  by  itself, 
since  the  plant  of  the  Cambria  Steel  Company,  at  Johnstown,  is  the 
one  predominant  works  in  this  part  of  the  State.  The  district  pro- 
duces no  ore  and  the  supply  is  brought  from  Lake  Superior.  The 
coke  comes  partly  from  Connellsville  and  partly  from  a  new  instal- 
lation of  by-product  ovens  which  runs  on  the  leaner  coals  of  the 
mountain  field.  The  great  advantage  possessed  by  this  plant  is 
the  cheapness  of  its  coal  supply,  the  hills  in  the  very  outskirts  of 
the  works  furnishing  a  supply  for  steam  purposes.  Its  position  is 
isolated,  but  this  confers  a  benefit  in  the  way  of  labor,  as  it  tends 
to  produce  and,  in  this  case  has  produced,  a  larger  proportion  of 
employees  who  have  been  in  the  service  of  the  company  for  many 
years. 

The  works  not  only  makes  a  large  tonnage  of  standard  rails,  but 
is  now  an  important  factor  in  beam  and  structural  work,  and  has 
for  many  years  operated  very  large  special  shops,  called  the  Gautier 
Department,  wherein  special  steels  are  worked  into  springs,  forks 
and  a  thousand  similar  products. 

SEC.  XXITh.—Steelton: 

Ranking  fifth  among  the  pig-iron  producing  districts   of  the 


676  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

United  States  and  fourth  in  output  of  steel  is  the  district  of  Dau- 
phin and  Lebanon  counties,  in  Pennsylvania.  More  than  one-half 
of  all  the  pig-iron  is  made  in  the  furnaces  of  The  Pennsylvania 
Steel  Company  and  all  the  steel  is  made  at  its  plant  at  Steelton 
near  Harrisburg.  The  northern  part  of  Dauphin  County  includes 
a  part  of  the  Lykens  anthracite  coal  field,,  but  this  has  little  bearing 
on  the  iron  industry,  save  as  offering  a  certain  amount  of  steam 
fuel  in  the  smaller  sizes  made  at  the  breakers.  The  ordinary 
bituminous  coal  is  brought  from  Clearfield  and  gas  coal  from 
Westmoreland,  while  most  of  the  coke  is  from  Connellsville,  al- 
though considerable  "mountain"  coke  has  been  used. 

The  distinguishing  feature  of  this  district  is  the  deposit  of  ore 
at  Cornwall,  near  Lebanon.  The  hills  in  which  the  ore  occurs  were 
held  in  private  hands,  by  legacies  from  father  to  sons,  from  1732 
down  to  1894;  but  in  that  year  the  Lackawanna  Iron  and  Steel 
Company  acquired  a  one-third  interest  and  in  1901  The  Pennsyl- 
vania Steel  Company  bought  a  still  larger  share,  these  two  com- 
panies together  now  owning  a  majority  of  the  stock.  This  mine  has 
been  worked  since  1740,  and  up  to  the  end  of  1900  had  produced 
14,000,000  tons  of  ore^which  is  more  than  had  been  obtained  up 
to  that  date  from  any  other  one  deposit  in  the  United  States,  and 
up  to  1893  it  was  the  largest  single  producer.  The  Port  Henry 
mines  in  New  York  have  raised  two-thirds  as  much,  having  been 
operated  since  1804.  Some  of  the  Lake  Superior  deposits  will 
soon  sum  up  a  greater  total,  for  the  Vermilion  range  in  Minnesota 
in  1899  turned  out  1,750,000  tons,  while  the  maximum  ever  raised 
at  Cornwall  was  769,020  tons  in  1889.  The  Vermilion  mine  is 
selected  since  the  other  divisions  of  the  Lake  Superior  district  in- 
clude many  separate  mines  under  one  range  name.  The  present 
rate  of  production  at  Cornwall  is  about  750,000  tons  per  year,  and 
in  the  tables  of  the  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  compiled  by  John  Birkinr 
bine,  there  is  no  other  mine  north  of  Alabama  and  east  of  Michigan 
which  raised  as  much  as  100,000  tons  in  1900.  The  extent  of  the 
deposit  is  not  definitely  determined,  but  it  is  known  that  an  enor- 
mous body  of  ore  is  available,  which  may  be  mined  open  cut.  The 
ore  is  a  magnetite,  very  low  in  phosphorus,  but  intimately  mixed 
with  clayey  matter,  and  it  is  peculiar  in  that  the  deposit  is  per- 
meated by  streaks  of  copper  bearing  sulphides.  Some  of  these 
streaks  can  be  separated,  but  there  is  such  a  complete  mixing  of  the 
minerals  that  the  ore  as  mined  contains  a  considerable  quantity  of 


UNIVERSITY 

rQKHlL^ 

THE   UNlTlilJ   01 A  res.  6< 

both  of  these  elements.  The  copper  varies  very  much  and  it  is 
impossible  to  take  a  true  sample,  but  experience  proves  that  the 
pig-iron  made  from  selected  ore  will  contain  about  0.60  per  cent. 
of  copper,  while  the  run  of  the  mine  will  give  a  somewhat  higher 
proportion. 

The  sulphur  in  the  ore  will  run  from  2.00  to  2.50  per  cent.,  and 
roasting  is  always  practiced,  about  half  the  sulphur  being  removed 
in  this  way.  Formerly  anthracite  was  used  in  the  kilns,  but  the 
latest  type  uses  the  waste  gases  from  the  tunnel  head.  Leaving 
out  of  the  question  the  country  rock  and  streaks  of  silicious  stone 
which  are  cast  aside  by  superficial  inspection,  the  run  of  mine  con- 
tains from  40  to  42  per  cent,  of  iron  and  about  20  per  cent,  of  silica, 
with  a  small  proportion  of  lime  and  magnesia.  It  has  been  stated 
that  the  roasted  ore  going  to  the  furnaces  contains  from  1.00  to 
1.25  per  cent,  of  sulphur,  and  about  40  per  cent,  of  iron,  so 
that  in,  order  to  make  100  pounds  of  pig-iron,  the  ore  will  carry 
from  2.5  to  3.0  pounds  of  sulphur  into  the  furnace.  There  will 
also  be  needed  about  1.5  tons  of  coke  carrying  1.0  per  cent,  of  sul- 
phur, or  1.5  pounds  per  100  pounds  of  iron,  and  there  will  therefore 
be  from  4.0  to  4.5  pounds  of  sulphur  added  per  100  pounds  of  iron. 
In  ordinary  blast  furnace  practice,  where  the  ore  has  no  sulphur 
and  the  fuel  ratio  is  one  to  one,  the  total  sulphur  added  per  100 
pounds  of  iron  will  be  1.0  pound,  so  that  in  using  Cornwall  ore  the 
sulphur  in  the  burden  is  from  four  to  five  times  as  much  as  in 
ordinary  practice. 

It  has  been  found  by  experience,  long  before  the  reason  was  fully 
understood,  that  it  was  necessary  to  run  the  Cornwall  furnaces 
extremely  hot  in  order  to  make  good  iron  and  the  reason  for  this 
will  be  quite  clear  when  the  sulphur  question  is  considered.  As  a 
consequence,  the  good  iron  is  generally  very  high  in  silicon,  usually 
containing  over  two  per  cent,  and  very  frequently  from  three  to 
four  per  cent.  For  thirty  years  this  iron  has  been  used  in  the  mak- 
ing of  Bessemer  steel  at  Steelton,  usually  forming  about  one-third 
of  the  total  charge,  but  sometimes  it  has  been  converted  alone.  It 
has  also  been  used  for  many  years  by  the  Lackawanna  Company  at 
their  Scranton  works  for  the  manufacture  of  rails,  the  ore  being 
smelted  at  the  mine  and  the  pig-iron  remelted  at  the  steel  plant. 
Quite  a  large  amount  of  iron  is  also  sold  to  makers  of  steel  castings 
and  for  use  in  acid  open-hearth  furnaces,  because  when  smelted 
with  the  best  coke,  the  phosphorus  in  the  pig-iron  will  be  from 


<578  THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

.025  to  .0-i  per  cent.,  and  this  metal  brings  a  premium  in  the  market 
and  is  even  sent  in  considerable  quantities  into  the  Pittsburg  dis- 
trict. 

There  are  several  blast  furnaces  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
Cornwall  banks,  some  of  them  owned  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel 
Company,  some  by  the  smaller  stockholders  in  the  ore  company, 
some  by  private  individuals,  and  some  by  the  Lackawanna  Com- 
pany, as  before  mentioned,  the  latter  possessing  also  a  plant  of  232 
Otto  Hoffman  ovens  at  Cornwall.  The  Lackawanna  Company 
lias  for  years  operated  a  steel  works  at  Scranton,  but  has  now  aban- 
doned this  situation  and  is  moving  to  Buffalo,  N".  Y.,  and  the  pig- 
iron  from  Cornwall  will  be  carried  to  that  point.  The  only  works 
therefore  in  the  district  which  is  a  steel  producer  is  The  Pennsyl- 
vania Steel  Company.  This  company  was  not  the  first  to  produce 
Bessemer  steel  in  this  country,  but  it  was  the  first  to  make  it  regu- 
larly and  to  continue  its  manufacture  on  a  commercial  scale.  The 
Bessemer  plant  was  built  in  1868.  and  from  that  time  onward  has 
been  a  factor  in  the  steel  trade  of  the  country.  During  the  last  ten 
years  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  has  not  attempted  to  in- 
.crease  the  rail  making  capacity  of  its  Steelton  plant  to  keep  pace 
with  some  of  its  competitors,  but  has  expanded  in  several  other 
directions : 

(1)  By  building  a  new  railmaking  and  shipbuilding  plant  at 
Sparrow's  Point,  near  Baltimore,  known  as  the  Maryland  Steel 
Company,  of  which  more  will  be  said  later. 

(2)  By  making  a  specialty  of  frogs,  switches  and  general  railway 
equipment,  the  plant  at  Steelton  being  the  largest  in  the  country 
in  this  line  of  work.     It  divides  with  two  other  shops  all  the  busi- 
ness of  street  railway  equipment,  and  has  invaded  to  a  considerable 
extent  the  foreign  markets. 

(3)  By  enlarging  its  open-hearth  departments  for  the  making  of 
special  steels. 

(4)  By  the  development  of  a  bridge  shop  which  has  become 
widely  known  for  some  very  large  operations,  among  which  may  be 
mentioned  the  following : 

Niagara  steel  arch,  550  feet  span,  double  track  railroad. 
Duluth  draw-bridge,  500  feet  draw  span. 
Gotkeik  viaduct  in  Burmah,  320  feet,  high,  2280  feet  long. 
The  new  East  River  Suspension  Bridge,  1700  feet  span. 
Between  Steelton  and  Harrisburg  are  the  plate  rolling  mills  of 


THE    UNITED    STATES.  679 

the  Central  Iron  and  Steel  Company,  while  some  smaller  establish- 
ments exist  nearby,  and  the  output  of  finished  iron  and  steel  in 
Dauphin  County  stands  second  only  to  that  of  Allegheny  County 
among  the  counties  of  Pennsylvania. 

Fig.  XXII-K  shows  the  Bessemer  plant  at  Steelton  and  Fig. 
XXII-L  a  cross-section  of  the  open-hearth  department. 
-    SEC.  XXIIi. — Sparrow's  Point: 

In  the  western  part  of  Maryland  the  Cumberland  coal  field  has 
been  Jmown  as  an  important  producer  for  over  fifty  years.  This 
field  is  located  in  Allegheny  and  Garrett  counties  in  the  extreme 
west  of  the  State,  and  extends  from  the  north  branch  of  the  Poto- 
mac River  and  Piedmont  to  the  Pennsylvania  State  line,  but  the 
mining  operations  occupy  only  half  that  distance,  or  about  fifteen 
miles.  There  is  however  a  very  heavy  production  in  proportion  to 
the  area,  and  the  coal  ranks  among  the  best  for  steam  purposes  and 
is  sent  in  large  quantities  to  New  England  and  other  Eastern  points. 

The  iron  and  steel  industry  of  the  State  is  entirely  independent 
of  the  fuel  production,  as  it  is  practically  all  represented  by  one 
plant  in  the  extreme  eastern  part,  which  makes  use  of  the  Cumber- 
land coal  only  in  an  incidental  way.  This  plant  is  the  Maryland 
Steel  Company,  which  is  really  an  extension  of  the  works  of  The 
Pennsylvania  Steel  Company,  at  Steelton,  Pa.,  and  which  is  in  fact 
owned  by  this  latter  company,  although  in  law  the  companies  are 
entirely  distinct  and  are  operated  independently.  This  is  the  only 
rail-making  plant  in  America  on  tidewater,  and  we  might  say  the 
only  large  steel  works.  There  are  some  plants,  like  the  Pencoyd 
works  at  Philadelphia  and  one  or  two  others,  which  are  situated  on 
the  seaboard,  but  neither  their  supply  of  raw  material  nor  the  field 
in  which  they  market  their  products  has  been  greatly  influenced  by 
their  situation.  Moreover,  their  positions  were  not  chosen  with 
foreign  trade  in  view,  but  solely  with  the  idea  of  supplying  the 
wants  of  the  great  industrial  and  commercial  centers  immediately 
around  them. 

The  plant  was  started  in  the  year  1887  on  entirely  new  ground, 
on  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  about  15  miles  south  of  Baltimore.  It  is 
far  from  any  other  seat  of  the  iron  industry  and  was  founded  with 
the  broad  plan  of  receiving  ore  from  Cuba,  converting  it  into  fin- 
ished steel  products,  and  loading  on  vessels  for  shipment  abroad  or 
for  New  England  points,  or  for  points  on  the  South  Atlantic  or 
Gulf  Coast  without  any  charges  for  land  freights.  This  compre- 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


681 


682  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

hensive  scheme  has  been  interrupted  by  two  untoward  circum- 
stances :  First,  by  the  general  financial  panic  of  1893;  second,  by 
the  Spanish-American  War,  which  was  waged  upon  the  very,  prop- 
erty of  the  company  at  Santiago  de  Cuba,  the  great  pier  in  the  har- 
bor, so  often  mentioned  in  the  public  press,  having  been  built  and 
used  by  the  company  for  the  handling  of  the  ore.  Moreover,  even 
the  declaration  of  peace  did  not  solve  the  difficulties,  for  the  Span- 
ish workmen  had  been  driven  from  the  mines,  while  the  Cubans 
preferred  the  generous  charity  of  the  United  States  to  the  more 
independent  position  of  earning  their  living. 

During  the  war  period  the  works  ran  partly  on  Lake  Superior 
ore,  and  since  then  in  great  measure  on  the  supply  from  Spain,  but 
it  is  now  certain  that  a  sufficient  supply  will  be  available  for  many 
years  from  the  mines  in  Cuba.  .  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company 
was  the  pioneer  in  the  development  of  the  mining  industry  of  this 
island,  its  Jurugua  mines  being  first  worked  in  1884.  It  was  fol- 
lowed in  1892  by  the  Spanish-American  Company,  which  developed 
property  only  a  short  distance  from  the  Jurugua  deposit.  The 
Sigua  Company  has  also  done  some  work  and  the  Cuban  Steel  Ore 
Company  has  opened  a  new  field,  but  neither  of  these  has  raised  a 
very  large  quantity  of  ore.  The  Spanish-American  Company  has 
now  been  bought  by  The  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company,  which  also 
holds  an  interest  in  the  Cuban  Steel  Ore  Company,  so  that  this 
company  controls  practically  all  the  mines  which  have  been  active 
and  large  producers  of  iron  ore  in  Southeastern  Cuba.  This  ore 
will  be  used  not  only  at  Sparrow's  Point,  but  at  Steelton,  Pa. 

The  ore  is  a  mixture  of  magnetite  and  hematite,  and  occurs  in 
hard  lumps  irregularly  streaked  with  pyrites,  the  proportion  of  the 
latter  not  being  sufficiently  high  to  require  roasting.  Table 
XXII-0  shows  the  shipments  from  the  Cuban  mines  since  their 
opening  and  the  composition  of  the  ore. 

The  total  shipments  up  to  the  close  of  1901  have  been  5,050,858 
tons,  of  which  some  was  sent  to  Nova  Scotia  and  some  to  England. 
The  United  States  however  took  98.6  per  cent,  of  the  total  output, 
most  of  this  being  used  at  Sparrow's  Point  and  a  large  proportion 
of  the.  rest  at  Steelton,  but  considerable  quantities  of  the  ore,  espe- 
cially of  the  Spanish-American,  have  been  used  at  blast  furnaces 
or  open-hearth  plants  on  the  North  Atlantic  seaboard. 

The  coke  used  at  Sparrow's  Point  has  been  brought  from  Con- 
nellsville  and  West  Virginia,  but  a  plant  of  200  coke  ovens  is  now 


THE   UNITED    STATES. 


683 


under  construction  which  will  use  exclusively  the  coal  of  the  Poca- 
hontas  field.  The  steel  plant  consists  of  two  18-ton  acid  lined  con- 
verters and  these  supply  a  mill  which  rolls  either  rails  or  billets,  the 
piece  being  finished  from  the  ingot  to  the  hot  bed  without  reheating 
the  bloom.  This  plant  also  has  one  of  the  largest  shipyards  in 
America.  In  the  construction  of  the  Bessemer  plant  there  were 
two  radical  innovations  introduced  by  its  now  president,  F.  W. 
"Wood.  The  old  swinging  hydraulic  ladle  cranes  were  discarded,  and 
a  traveling  crane  introduced  for  the  first  time.  As  this  was  before 
the  general  use  of  electricity,  the  motive  power  was  a  steam  engine 
carried  on  the  bridge,  although  electric  power  has  since  been  applied. 

TABLE  XXII-0. 
'Shipments  of  Ore  from  Southeastern  Cuba;  Gross  Tons. 


Year, 

Jurugiia 
Iron  Co. 

Spanish 
American 
Iron  Co 

Sigua  Iron 
Co. 

Cuban  Steel 
Ore  Co. 

Total  . 

1884  

25,295 

25  2  •") 

1885  

80  716 

80  T  > 

1886        

1V>  074 

112  0  t 

1887  

94  240 

94  2-0 

1888   

206  061 

206  0")1 

1889 

260  291 

260  2°1 

1890  

363  842 

363  842 

1891               

264  262 

264  262 

1892  

335  236 

6  418 

341  654 

1893     .... 

337  155 

14  020 

351  175 

1894...  

156,826 

156  826 

1895     

307  .503 

74  991 

382  494 

1896 

298  885 

114  110 

412  995 

1897  

248  256 

206029 

454  285 

1898              .  . 

83  696 

84  643 

168  339 

1899  

161  783 

215  406 

377'l89 

1900 

154  871 

292  001 

446  872 

1901  

199  764 

334  833 

17  651 

552  248 

Total  

3,690,756 

1,322,013 

20438 

17  651  ' 

5050858 

Total  to  foreign  ports 

70  160 

Aver  composition  of  cargoes. 

Fe  .. 

57  00 

63  30 

65  85 

62  80 

s  

0  288 

0  092 

0  037 

0  211 

p   ....      

0  025 

0  032 

0  015 

0  036 

The  most  radical  change  however  was  in  placing  the  molds  on 
trucks  ready  for  casting,  these  trucks  with  the  molds  being  then 
taken  to  the  rolling  mill  while  the  steel  is  solidifying.  A  me- 
chanical stripper  then  removes  the  molds  from  the  ingots  in  close 
proximity  to  the  heating  furnaces,  all  the  exhausting  labor  of  the 
"pit"  being  abolished  and  the  ingots  charged  hotter  in  the  rolling 
mill  furnaces.  The  consumption  of  fuel  for  heating  at  Sparrow's 


G84  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

Point  has  been  as  low  as  20  pounds  per  ton  of  ingots  rolled.  This 
arrangement  of  casting  on  trucks,  which  was  first  put  in  operation 
here,  is  now  the  standard  construction  not  only  in  America  but  in 
the  most  progressive  plants  of  Europe.  A  minor  novelty  in  this 
plant,  but  an  advance  in  line  with  more  recent  progress,  was  the 
installation  of  the  Bessemer  blowing  engine  near  the  blast  furnace 
boilers  in  order  to  use  the  excess  power  developed  at  the  smelting 
plant. 

During  the  last  few  years  the  Maryland  Steel  Company,  or,  as  it 
is  often  known  from  its  location,  "Sparrow's  Point,"  has  furnished 
a  great  proportion  of  the  rails  exported  from  America.  This  is 
quite  a  natural  result  of  its  situation,  and  also  of  the  fact  that  the 
United  States  Government  exacts  no  duty  on  the  iron  ore  which 
goes  into  articles  of  export. 

Following  is  a  statement  showing  the  amount  of  steel  rolled  in 
the  last  four  years  with  the  amount  of  material  exported.  There 
is  also  given  in  Fig.  XXII-M  a  plan  of  the  rolling  mill  at  Spar- 
row's Point,  while  Fig.  XXII-K  gives  a  cross  section  of  the  Bes- 
semer plant  at  Steelton,  Pa.,  showing  the  above  described  method 
of  casting  on  trucks  as  applied  at  a  later  time. 

1898                  1899                   1900  1901 

Production 130,804  225,645  225,618  277,853 

Exported    63,972                85,976  102,254  83,673 

Per  cent,  export 48.9                    38.1                    45.3  30.1 

'  SEC.  XXIIj.— Cleveland: 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  supply  of  ore  for  the  furnaces  of 
Pennsylvania  comes  down  the  Great  Lakes  and  is  unloaded  at  ports 
on  the  southern  and  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Erie.  It  is  quite  evident 
that  a  furnace  at  the  port  of  entry  will  have  no  land  freight  to  pay 
on  the  ore,  and  will  haul  less  than  one  ton  of  coke,  while  the  fur- 
naces near  the  fuel  must  haul  !2/3  tons  of  ore.  The  proposition  is 
quite  simple  from  a  mathematical  standpoint,  but  a  glance  at  the 
map  will  show  that  there  are  some  circumstances  which  disturb 
the  calculations,  for  a  position  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  does 
not  increase  the  sphere  of  commercial  influence  as  much  as  might 
l:e  expected.  On  the  north  the  tariff  of  Canada,  as  well  as  her 
limited  needs,  bars  the  way,  while  on  the  west  is  the  competition 
of  Chicago.  There  is  no  reliable  communication  eastward;  the 
falls  at  Niagara  have  given  rise  to  two  canals,  one  on  American 
territory  to  New  York  by  way  of  the  Hudson  Eiver,  and  one  in 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


685 


Ul 

I 

o 

o 


f 


(536  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

Canada,  the  Welland  Canal,  connecting  with  the  St.  Lawrenue. 
Great  sums  have  been  spent  by  Canada  to  create  an  economical  way 
of  shipping  by  water  from  her  western  provinces  to  the  ocean,  but 
she  is  struggling  not  only  with  a  commercial  but  a  political  com- 
plication. The  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  from  Quebec  to 
Montreal  is  not  satisfactory,  but  the  latter  place  will  not  allow 
Quebec  to  get  all  the  trade.  Consequently  much  money  is  spent  to 
improve  the  river  channel  which  can  be  used  only  a  part  of  the 
year,  when  there  already  exists  a  subsidized  government  rail- 
way which  can  carry  the  freight  to  Quebec  at  less  cost.  The  same 
condition  exists  to  some  extent  in  the  United  States,  where  the 
people  are  urged  to  make  a  ship  waterway  out  of  the  present  Erie 
Canal,  when  the  interest  on  the  money  needed  to  do  this  would 
probably  pay  the  freight  by  railroad  on  all  the  material  brought 
down.  In  both  the  case  of  the  Canadian  and  American  canals 
there  is  the  serious  objection  that  traffic  is  entirely  suspended  for 
three  or  four  months  in  the  winter,  while  in  the  case  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  River  there  is  the  additional  disadvantage  that  the  navi- 
gation of  the  lower  bay  for  several  hundred  miles  js  very  dangerous 
on  account  of  the  prevailing  fogs.  Of  late  years  the  question  of 
marine  insurance  has  become  a  serious  matter. 

All  of  these  matters  have  an  important  bearing  on  the  question  of 
locating  a  steel  plant  on  Lake  Erie,  as  proven  by  the  stress  laid  on 
water  transportation  by  canal  and  by  the  St.  Lawrence  when  each 
new  project  is  started.  These  objections.,  however,  arc  by  no  means 
prohibitory.  The  advantages  are  self-evident,  nnd  it  may  be  said 
that  the  trend  of  new  enterprises  is  toward  this  district.  One  of 
the  first  to  make  the  journey  was  the  Lorain  Steel  Company. 
There  had  been  for  some  years  a  rolling  mill  near  Johnstown,  Pa  , 
which  bought  blooms  from  the  Cambria  Company  and  made  rails 
for  street  railways.  A  new  company  was  formed  and  a  new  works 
built  near  Cleveland,  equipped  not  only  for  street  or  "girder"  rails, 
but  for  standard  rails,  a  complete  blast  furnace  and  Bessemer  plant 
being  erected  on  entirely  new  ground.  Since  that  time  Lorairi  ha> 
been  one  of  the  centers  of  steel  production  in  the  United  States. 
It  divides  with  Steelton  the  work  of  making  all  the  rails  and  most 
of  the  equipment  for  the  street  railways  of  the  United  States,  and 
both  of  these  plants  have  taken  a  part  in  foreign  trade  in  this  line 
of  work. 

The  more  immediate  vicinity  of  Cleveland  has  played  a  very 


THE    UNITED    STATES.  687 

Important  part  in  the  steel  industry  of  this  country  for  a  long 
period.  The  Otis  Steel  Company  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the- 
manufacture  of  open-hearth  fire-box  steel,  and  its  name  has  been 
known  all  over  the  land.  The  Cleveland  Boiling  Mill  Company 
was  a  factor  in  the  rail  situation  twenty  years  ago,  but  has  long 
since  turned  its  product  into  different  forms  of  special  work,  it 
being  one  of  the  largest  producers  of  wire  rod  in  the  country. 

SEC.  XXIIk. — Colorado: 

The  only  great  iron  or  steel  producing  district  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Eiver  is  centered  in  the  Minnequa  Works  at  Pueblo,  Colo., 
but  its  tributary  mines  cover  an  area  which  would  overshadow  a 
European  empire.  The  Colorado  Fuel  and  Iron  Company  owns 
over  30  mines  in  the  State  and  5  mines  in  New  Mexico.  The  coke 
used  at  the  steel  works  all  comes  from  Southern  Colorado,  about 
90  miles  from  Pueblo,  the  coal  containing  about  30  per  cent,  of 
volatile  matter,  and  occurring  in  beds  about  6  feet  thick.  It  is 
washed  and  then  gives  a  good  hard  coke  containing  about  16  per 
cent,  of  ash.  The  steam  and  gas  coals  are  brought  about  50  miles. 
In  Colorado  can  be  found  coals  of  every  description  from  anthracite 
to  lignite,  the  beds  having  been  exposed  to  severe  geologic  disturb- 
ances and  to  the  heat  of  numerous  volcanic  intrusions. 

The  iron  ore  comes  mainly  from  three  sections.  At  Sunrise, 
Wyo.,  350  miles  from  Pueblo,  there  is  an  enormous  deposit  of  red 
hematite  running  as  high  as  62  per  cent,  in  iron,  which  can  be 
mined  with  a  steam  shovel.  At  Fierro,  N.  M.,  600  miles  from 
Pueblo,  is  a  large  deposit  of  hard  magnetic  ore  running  up  to  61 
per  cent,  in  iron.  At  Orient,  Colo.,  which  is  125  miles  from  the 
works,  is  a  deposit  of  easily  reducible  limonite  containing  about  50 
per  cent,  of  metallic  iron.  All  of  these  ores  are  well  within  the 
Bessemer  limit  of  phosphorus. 

At  Leadville,  about  100  miles  away,  there  is  a  deposit  running 
about  30  per  cent,  in  manganese  and  in  Eastern  Utah,  about  400 
miles  distant,  one  with  50  per  cent,  of  manganese.  The  spiegel  for 
the  steel  plant  is  smelted  at  the  Minnequa  plant  at  Pueblo. 

A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  this  district  is  protected  by  a 
great  distance,  and  a  consequent  high  transportation  charge,  from 
the  competition  of  Eastern  works,  and  that  it.has  an  enormous  area 
as  its  natural  market.  Unfortunately,  most  of  this  country  is  very 
sparsely  settled  and  contains  few  industrial  centers,  but  with  the 
constant  westward  trend  of  population,  the  wants  of  railroads  and 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

of  miscellaneous  users  have  increased,  and  there  is  a  demand  not 
only  for  a  large  works  but  for  the  local  production  of  a  large  variety 
of  finished  articles. 

In  answer  to  this  demand  very  extensive  improvements,  amount- 
ing practically  to  a  new  plant,  are  now  under  way  at  Pueblo,  and 
when  completed  there  will  be  five  blast  furnaces,  a  Bessemer  plant 
equipped  with  two  15-ton  converters,  an  open-hearth  plant  with 
six  50-ton  basic  furnaces,  one  40-inch  blooming  mill,  24-inch  re- 
versing structural  mill,  rod,  sheet,  tin  plate,  wire  and  nail  mills. 

SEC.  XXIII. — Eastern  Pennsylvania: 

In  addition  to  the  Steelton  district,  already  described,  there  are 
several  seats  of  industry  which  should  be  mentioned  in  the  eastern 
portion  of  Pennsylvania.  Up  to  the  present  year  the  city  of  Scran- 
ton  was  the  center  of  two  old  established  plants  concentrated  under 
one  management,  and  they  were  a  very  considerable  factor  in  the 
rail  trade.  The  whole  plant  is  now  being  moved  to  Buffalo,  N".  Y., 
where  it  can  receive  Lake  Superior  ores  without  any  charge  for 
railroad  transportation.  The  Scranton  Company  owns  a  consider- 
able share  in  the  Cornwall  ore  property  and  will  make  iron  at  thik 
latter  point  and  transport  it  to  Buffalo  for  remelting  to  mix  with 
the  iron  from  lake  ores. 

The  Bethlehem  Works  was  formerly  one  of  the  great  rail  pro- 
ducers, but  has  not  rolled  rails  for  many  years.  It  is  now  engaged 
almost  exclusively  in  making  open-hearth  steel  forgings  and  has 
the  most  complete  plant  in  the  country  for  this  work.  It  divides 
with  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company  the  work  on  armor  plate  for  the 
war  vessels  of  the  United  States,  and  turns  out  guns  and  shafts  of 
the  largest  size.  This  plant  is  now  enlarging  its  open-hearth  de- 
partment and  intends  to  remodel  its  old  rail  mill  and  enter  the  field 
as  makers  of  angles,  ship  shapes  and  other  structural  material. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Philadelphia  are  the  Midvale  Steel  Com- 
pany and  the  Pencoyd  Works,  the  Phcenixville  Iron  and  Steel  Com- 
pany and  the  Tidewater  Steel  Company.  The  first  of  these  does  a 
large  amount  of  work  in  the  line  of  special  steels  and  forgings, 
while  Pencoyd  and  Phcenixville  are  especially  known  as  bridge  and 
structural  shops,  making  all  forms  of  structural  materials  for  their 
own  use  and  also  for  the  outside  trade.  The  Pencoyd  Works  came 
into  general  notice  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  on 
account  of  its  delivery  of  the  well  known  Atbara  bridge  in  the 
Soudan. 


THE    UNITED    STATES.  689 

There  are  a  large  number  of  blast  furnaces  scattered  throughout 
Eastern  Pennsylvania,  mainly  in  the  Lehigh  and  Schuylkill  val- 
leys, and  a  very  considerable  amount  of  pig-iron  is  made.  Most  of 
this  goes  into  the  general  foundry  trade,  but  some  is  used  in  the 
neighboring  steel  plants.  During  recent  years  these  furnaces  have 
quite  generally  used  the  ores  of  Lake  Superior  with  Connellsville 
coke. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Chester,  Pa.,  not  far  from  Philadelphia, 
there  is  a  marked  concentration  of  steel-casting  plants,  this  being 
one  of  the  greatest  centers  in  this  line  of  work,  while  Coatesville, 
Pa.,  is  prominent  for  its  plate  mills. 

In  Table  XXII-A  I  have  divided  Eastern  Pennsylvania  in  a  way 
somewhat  different  from  that  followed  by  Mr.  Swank.  He  has 
always  put  the  Schuylkill  Valley  separate,  but  has  not  included 
Philadelphia,  which  lies  on  both  sides  of  this  river.  I  have  com- 
bined, under  the  title  of  Southeast  Pennsylvania,  the  plants  of  the 
Schuylkill  Valley  with  those  of  Philadelphia,  Chester  and  Delaware 
counties.  This  is  a  logical  arrangement  and  brings  out  more 
forcibly  the  importance  of  this  region  as  a  producer  of  iron  and 
steel. 

SEC.  XXIIm. — New  Jersey,  New  York  and  New  England: 

On  the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain  and  in  the  northern  basin  of 
the  Hudson  Eiver  there  are  very  considerable  deposits  of  magnetite, 
which  played  quite  an  important  part  in  the  early  history  of  the 
American  iron  industry,  being  the  base  of  supplies  for  the  Bes- 
semer plant  formerly  operated  at  Troy,  N".  Y.  Owing  to  the  lack 
of  fuel  it  was  necessary  to  transport  either  coke  or  anthracite  coal 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  with  the  advent  of  cheap  Lake  Superior 
ores  the  manufacture  of  steel  at  this  point  was  abandoned  many 
years  ago.  An  attempt  was  made  in  recent  years  to  operate  a  basic 
Bessemer  plant,  but  the  conditions  were  not  such  as  to  warrant  a 
continuance  of  the  operations.  Some  of  the  rolling  mills  at  Troy 
have  been  working  on  stock  from  Western  steel  works. 

The  ores  are  rather  difficult  to  mine,  and  the  annual  output  has 
been  decreasing  save  as  a  higher  price  in  boom  years  encourages  an 
abnormal  activity,  so  that  the  amount  raised  in  New  York  is  only 
about  one-third  of  the  quantity  turned  out  twenty  years  ago.  There 
are  many  large  beds  besides  those  already  developed,  but  nearly  all 
the  ores  of  this  district  contain  a  very  considerable  proportion  of 
titanium,  which  gives  trouble  in  the  blast  furnace  as  well  as  in 


THE    IROX    INDUSTRY. 

• 

ihe  Bessemer  vessel,  on  account  of  the  infusibility  of  slags  contain- 
ing titanic  acid.  This  substance  is  so  seldom  found  in  prohibitory 
quantities  in  iron  ores  in  other  districts  that  prospectors  and  in- 
vestors have  many  times  sunk  large  sums  of  money  in  properties 
which  have  proved  worthless.  This  line  of  magnetic  deposits  ex- 
tends in  a  southwesterly  direction  across  the  northern  portion  of 
New  Jersey  and  into  Pennsylvania,  where  it  appears  as  the  Corn- 
wall ore  hills.  The  character  of  the  ore  varies  very  much  through- 
out its  length,  its  main  point  of  resemblance  being  in  its  magnetic 
property,  the  titanium  being  entirely  absent  in  the  more  southern 
fields.  A  great  many  mines  have  been  worked  in  New  Jersey  in 
years  gone  by,  but  either  from  the  exhaustion  of  the  deposits  or 
from  the  inferior  quality  or  from  the  high  cost  of  mining,  many 
of  them  have  ceased  operation,  so  that  the  amount  now  produced 
in  the  State  is  only  half  what  was  raised  in  1880. 

Taking  the  whole  magnetic  field  from  Northern  New  York  to 
Southeastern  Pennsylvania,  it  may  roughly  be  said  that  the 
Cornwall  deposit,  which  is  described  under  the  Steelton  district, 
produces  half  the  total,  while  New  York  and  New  Jersey  divide 
the  remainder  with  an  annual  production  of  about  300,000  tons 
each.  The  iron  made  in  these  two  States  enters  to  a  limited  extent 
into  the  steel  industry,  some  of  it  being  sold  to  open-hearth  fur- 
naces, but  most  of  it  is  used  in  the  general  foundry  trade.  Very 
much  money  has  been  spent  on  electric  concentrating  plants 
throughout  this  whole  region,  the  most  extensive  outfit  having  been 
erected  in -Northern  New  Jersey  by  Edison,  who  spent  several  years 
in  experiments.  The  ore  used  by  him  contained  only  about  18 
per  cent,  of  iron  and  was  a  hard  compact  rock,  so  that  the  expense 
per  ton  of  finished  concentrate  was  very  heavy.  The  operation  of 
bricking  was  not  entirely  satisfactory  and  the  whole  work  was  dis- 
continued about  two  years  ago,  but  in  other  places  less  ambitious 
installations  have  been  worked  with  more  or  less  success  from  time 
to  time. 

Some  of  the  steel  plants  of  this  district  are  of  considerable  im- 
portance, although  some  are  legacies  from  the  days  when  the  East 
held  the  supremacy  in  the  iron  trade.  (In  the  iron  world  the 
term  "East"  means  the  region  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  east  of 
the  Allegheny  Mountains.)  A  few  kept  pace  with  modern  im- 
provements, but  in  no  works  east  of  Pennsylvania  is  there  to-day 
a  complete  plant  of  blast  furnaces,  steel  producers  and  rolling  mills, 


THE    UNITED   STATES. 


691 


neither  is  there  a  Bessemer  converter  in  steady  operation,  the  works 
being  engaged  principally  in  the  production  of  specialties  or  of 
supplying  the  local  markets  with  structural  and  other  material. 

Table  XXII-P  gives  information  concerning  the  distribution  by 
States. 

TABLE  XXII-P. 
Iron  and  Steel  Plants  in  New  England,  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 


Blast 
Furnaces. 

Bessemer  Plants. 

Open  Hearth 

Plants. 

State. 

Coke. 

Char- 
coal. 

Works 
having 
standard 
con- 

Works 
having 
special 
con- 

No. of 
works. 

No.  of 
furn- 
aces. 

Works 
making 
crucible 
steel. 

Works 
having 
rolling 
mills 

verters. 

verters. 

1 

3 

1 

4 

14 

1 

7 

Rhode  Island.  .  .  . 

1 

2 

2 

4 

1 

1 

1 

2 

5 

New  York  

16 

3 

* 

6 

11 

3 

21 

New  Jersey 

11 

4 

9 

5 

17 

Total 

27 

10 



2 

16 

37 

11 

53 

*The  Troy  works  is  idle. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

GREAT  BRITAIN. 

SEC.  XXIIIa.— General  "View: 

As  far  as  the  coal  and  iron  industry  is  concerned,  the  term  Great 
Britain  may  be  considered  to  embrace  only  England,  Wales  and 
Southern  Scotland.  These  divisions  of  the  Empire  cover  about 
88,000  square  miles,  an  area  almost  exactly  the  same  as  that  cov- 
ered by  the  States  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  combined.  The  pop- 
ulation of  this  island,  however,  is  from  three  to  four  times  as  great 
as  that  of  these  two  States,  while  the  pig-iron  production  in  1900 
was  about  the  same,  the  output  of  the  blast  furnaces  of  Great 
Britain  in  that  year  being  8,960,000  tons,  while  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio  made  8,837,000  tons.  In  1901  Great  Britain  fell  to  7,761,- 
000,  while  Pennsylvania  alone  made  7,343,000  and  Ohio  3,326,000 
tons.  In  both  cases  a  great  part  of  the  ore  was  brought  a  long 
distance  by  water,  to  England  by  the  ocean,  and  to  Pennsylvania 
by  the  Great  Lakes ;  but  Great  Britain  was  compelled  to  find  a  for- 
eign output  for  nearly  half  her  product,  while  the  home  demand 
in  America  offered  a  market  for  all  except  a  small  portion  of  the 
output. 

In  Fig.  XXIII-A  are  shown  the  districts  into  which  the  country 
may  conveniently  be  divided.  The  statistics  of  output  as  given  in 
the  figure  and  in  these  pages  do  not  agree  with  the  reports  of  the 
British  Iron  Trade  Association  because  I  have  taken  the  data  from 
the  Home  Office  Reports,  which  are  published  later  than  the  Asso- 
ciation Reports  and  are  made  up  from  the  sworn  statements  of  the 
manufacturers.  The  difference  is  over  one  hundred  thousand  tons 
in  the  total  production  of  pig-iron.  It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that 
the  figures  shown  in  the  enclosures  embrace  the  surrounding  dis- 
trict. The  enclosure  in  Durham  represents  also  Northumberland, 
and  the  latter  division  raised  one-quarter  of  the  coal  credited  to  the 
two  counties.  The  lack  of  room  makes  it  difficult  to  locate  the 
squares  upon  the  map  exactly  as  statistics  would  require;  it  must 

692 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


693 


therefore  be  remembered  that  Barrow  is  in  Lancashire,  and  hence 
the  product  of  the  Barrow  Steel  Works  is  included  in  the  enclosing 
lines  shown  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  county  where  there  was 


EMLAXD  AO  WALES 

[[|[SCALEC[F  MILES 
10      0     10   20    30    40    50 

STATISTICS  OF  PRODUCTION} 
1  Unit  =  WOO  Tons  per  Year. 

Imports    —- — ^—« 


FIG.  XXIII-A. 


room  for  the  figures.  The  map  is  thus  intended  as  a  general  guide, 
but  not  as  an  accurate  scientific  graphical  diagram.  The  statistics 
shown  on  the  map  are  for  1899,  but  the  figures  for  1900  are  given 


694 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


in  Table  XXIII-B.  The  changes  do  not  in  any  way  alter  the  gen- 
eral outline  of  results,  but  in  the  later  table  I  have  tried  to  improve 
somewhat  on  the  method  of  grouping. 


COAL  FIELDS 

OF 

GREAT  BPJTA1N 


46          60         80       100 


FIG.  XXIII-B. 

Fig.  XXIII-B  shows  a  map  of  the  coal  fields  of  Great  Britain, 
taken  from  an  exhaustive  treatise  on  the  subject.*  A  glance  will 
show  that  fuel  is  distributed  widely  throughout  the  island.  More- 

*  Les  Charbons  Brittaniques ;  Loz6 ;  Paris,  1900. 


GREAT    BRITAIN.  695 

over,  most  of  the  coal  gives  a  good  coke,  that  of  Durham  being 
especially  noted  for  its  quality.  The  Home  Office  reports  show 
that  in  1900  the  total  exports  of  coal  were  44,089,197  tons,  of  which 
18,460,070  tons  came  from  the  ports  in  South  Wales,  15,315,091 
tons  from  the  ports  on  the  Northeast  Coast,  and  7,377,094  tons 
from  Scotland,  these  three  districts  supplying  over  93  per  cent,  of 
all  the  coal  exported. 

There  were  985,365  tons  of  coke  sent  over  sea,  and  of  this  South 
Wales  contributed  112,918  tons,  Scotland  131,273  tons,  while  the 
Northeast  Coast  shipped  624,317  tons,  the  product  of  Durham  and 
Xorthumberland.  The  Durham  district  therefore  supplies  only 
one-third  of  the  coal  exported,  but  furnished  five-eighths  of  the  coke. 

The  coal  was  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  France  taking  the 
most,  8,314,697  tons;  Germany  next  with  5,938,178  tons,  Italy 
5,115,125  tons,  Eussia  3,116,099  tons,  almost  all  to  her  northern 
ports ;  while  Belgium  received  1,152,109  tons.  The  Pacific  Coast  of 
the  United  States  took  34,880  tons,  while  even  the  Atlantic  coast 
had  5,265  tons. 

The  coke  also  was  spread  all  over  the  earth ;  thus  out  of  a  total  of 
985,365  tons,  the  best  customer  was  Spain  and  the  Canaries  with 
155,561  tons,  probably  as  return  cargo  for  the  ore  vessels;  next 
comes  Norway  with  93,683  tons,  Holland  89,293  tons,  Northern 
Eussia  86,950  tons,  Sweden  79,879  tons.  Of  the  leading  iron  pro- 
ducing nations  Belgium  took  39,409  tons,  Germany  44,444  tons, 
France  47,832  tons,  Austria  10,203  tons,  and  the  Pacific  Coast  of 
America  15,367  tons.  The  shipments  to  Spain  and  to  Northern 
Eussia  are  important,  since  these  two  districts  depend  upon  out- 
side sources  for  their  fuel.  It  will  be  noticed  that  Holland  re- 
ceived 93,000  tons,  but  it  is  quite  certain  by  comparing  the  statis- 
tics of  neighboring  countries  that  this  coke  went  mostly  to  Ger- 
many and  Belgium.  The  same  confusion  is  found  in  the  reported 
exports  of  pig-iron.  Similar  serious  errors  are  found  in  the  record 
of  American  exports,  where  shipments  to  the  interior  of  Europe 
appear  against  the  port  of  entry. 

The  steel  industry  of  the  country  is  largely  dependent  upon  its 
supply  of  foreign  ore.  It  was  about  1865  that  the  imports  of  ore 
were  worth  mentioning,  but  according  to  Bell*  they  probably  were 
not  over  10.000  tons  per  year.  In  1867  they  had  risen  to  86,568 
tons;  in  1870  to  400,000  tons,  and  in  1880  to  3,000,000  tons.  Some 

*  Principles  of  Manufacture,  p.  453. 


696 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


ore  comes  from  Greece,  Algeria,  Italy,  Sweden  and  other  countries ; 
but  90  per  cent,  of  the  imported  ore  comes  from  Spain,  where 
some  of  the  largest  English  companies  have  their  own  ore  prop- 
erties. This  ore  goes  impartially  to  the  north,  south,  east  and 
west.  Scotland  gets  one  million  tons  a  year;  the  West  Coast  re- 
ceives an  equal  quantity,  and  both  the  northeast  district  around 
Middlesborough,  and  Glamorganshire  in  the  southwest,  receive 
double  this  amount.  Table  XXIII-A  shows  the  origin  of  the  ores 
imported  into  the  Kingdom  in  1882,  1886,  1890,  1895,  1899  and 
1900. 

TABLE  XXIII-A. 

Imports  of  Iron  Ore  into  Great  Britain  from  Different  Countries. 


1882 

1886 

1890 

1895 

1899 

1900 

3  072,955 

2,533,939 

3,627.646 

3,807.188 

6,186  022 

5,551,559 

Greece  

17  969 

79007 

193  353 

319  759 

304  648 

Algeria     

91  097 

201  601 

205670 

162  525 

231  361 

141  624 

80  904 

105  193 

98  055 

Italy... 

89231 

35546 

79  312 

127  317 

94  771 

88  532 

France  .  •  •  . 

38  274 

4H  165 

Other  Countries  

31,663 

33,543 

W,6i(jS 

79.024 

79,198 

65,383 

Total.  .. 

3  284  946 

2  822  598 

4  031  265 

4  450  311 

7  054  578 

6  °97  963 

Almost  all  this  imported  ore  is  transformed  into  acid  steel  either 
by  the  Bessemer  or  open-hearth  processes.  The  native  ores  pro- 
duced in  the  Yorkshire  North  Hiding  (the  Cleveland  district),  in 
Lincolnshire,  Staffordshire  and  elsewhere,  go  into  basic  steel,  or 
wrought-iron,  or  into  the  general  pig-iron  supply.  It  must  not 
be  forgotten  in  studying  the  map  that  the  distances  are  all  small  in 
comparison  with  those  familiar  to  American  conceptions.  From 
the  Scotch  iron  works  south  of  Glasgow  to  the  coal  mines  of  Gla- 
morganshire in  South  Wales  is  less  than  three  hundred  miles, 
while  across  the  island  from  the  steel  works  at  Barrow  to  the  coke 
fields  of  Durham  is  only  seventy  miles.  On  this  account  the  great 
works  in  England  have  arranged  themselves  not  so  much  with  rela- 
tion to  their  raw  material  as  with  regard  to  a  market  for  their 
output  and  to  subsidiary  conditions.  Cardiff  and  Glasgow  bring 
ore  across  the  sea  to  their  coal  beds,  while  Middlesborough  brings 
the  fuel  to  the  ore,  and  Barrow  pays  freight  on  a  part  of  both  fuel 
and  ore ;  but  in  each  of  these  cases  the  steel  works  is  on  tidewater, 
a  most  important  factor  in  a  nation  that  depends  on  foreign  trade. 


GREAT    BRITAIN.  697 

In  other  cases  there  are  local  conditions,  as  in  Staffordshire  and 
South  Yorkshire,  where,  during  long  years  and  even  centuries, 
there  have  grown  up  industries  like  those  of  Sheffield  and  Bir- 
mingham that  call  for  large  quantities  of  steel  and  iron  to  be 
worked  up  into  finished  articles  of  commerce. 

In  considering  the  short  distances  covered  by  raw  material  it  is 
necessary  to  remember  that  freight  rates  are  much  higher  in  Eng- 
land than  in  America.  The  normal  charge  for  carrying  a  ton  of 
pig-iron  from  South  Staffordshire  to  London,  a  distance  of  120 
miles,  is  from  $2.40  to  $2.90,  and  for  carrying  coke  100  miles  from 
South  Durham  to  Cumberland  the  rate  is  $1.80  per  ton.*  In  the 
United  States  the  rate  on  pig-iron  from  Pittsburg  to  Philadelphia, 
a  distance  of  353  miles,  is  $1.77.  On  coke  between  the  same  points 
it  is  $1.95.  It  will  be  found  that  the  rate  on  coke  is  considerably 
over  three  times  as  high  as  in  America,  while  on  pig-iron  it  is 
four  to  five  times  as  much. 

Both  Scotland  and  Middlesborough  have  specialties  in  furnish- 
ing supplies  to  the  great  shipbuilding  industries  on  the  Clyde 
and  on  the  Northeast  Coast.  The  vessels  launched  in  1900  in 
Great  Britain  footed  up  about  1,500,000  tons,  and  we  may  make  a 
rough  estimate  that  this  took  about  500,000  tons  of  steel  and  iron. 
This  would  mean  one-twelfth  of  all  the  wrought-iron  and  steel 
made  in  the  Kingdom  and  the  large  share  of  this  business  goes  to 
the  two  districts  mentioned. 

In  Table  XXIII-B  is  given  more  detailed  information  concern- 
ing the  distribution  of  the  iron  industry"  in  the  year  1900.  The 
statistics  of  steel  output  are  taken  from  the  report  of  the  British 
Iron  Trade  Association,  while  the  figures  for  coal,  ore,  blast  fur- 
naces and  pig-iron  are  from  the  Home  Office  Reports.  The  tables 
at  the  end  of  each  section  giving  the  number  of  blast  furnaces, 
converters  and  open-hearth  furnaces,  are  from  a  supplement  of 
the  Iron  and  Coal  Trades  Review,  issued  July  5,  1901.  A  slight 
but  unimportant  disagreement  may  be  found  in  one  or  two  in- 
stances between  the  two  sources  of  information. 

In  Tables  XXIII-C,  D  and  E  are  given  the  results  of  an  inquiry 
into  the  history  of  the  iron  trade  during  the  last  twenty  years. 
Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Swank,  of  the  American  Iron  and 
Steel  Association,  of  Philadelphia,  I  was  able  to  get  a  file  of  the 
Home  Office  Reports  from  1882  to  1900,  with  the  exception  of 

*  Report  of  Commissioners  of  British  Iron  Trade  Association,  p.  95. 


698 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


1885,  and  the  absence  of  figures  for  that  year  in  the  following  pages 
is  thus  explained.     Under  the  separate  districts  I  have  given  de- 

TABLE  XXIII-B. 
Production  of  Coal,  Ore,  Iron  and  Steel  in  Great  Britain  in  1900. 

Data  on  Coal,  Ore  and  Pig  Iron  from  Home  Office  Reports;   on   Steel   from 
British  Iron  Trade  Association. 


District. 

Coal. 

Ore. 

Pig  Iron. 

Blast  Furnaces. 

Wrought 
Iron. 

Tons. 

P.C. 

Tons. 

P.C. 

Tons. 

P.C. 

Total. 

Active. 

Tons. 

P.C. 

No'h  Yorkshire 
(Cleveland).. 
Durham    and 
Northumberl'd 
Scotland  

3,742 

46,315,240 
33,112,204 
39,083,973 
28,246,937 
26,865,193 
14.227.076 
3,109,615 

2.106,443 
23,871,544 
6,292,012 

1,822,622 
124699 

21 
14 
17 
13 
12 
6 
1 

1 
11 
3 
1 

5,493,733 

19,124 
849031 
29,472 
56,944 
1,733,791 
1,084,797 
843 

4,298,145 
2,858 
359,506 

323 
99,641 

39 
*6 

'12' 
8 

31 
3 

2,136,584 

973  010 

1,156,885 
841,528 
290,601 
1,585925 
596,807 
66,586* 

636,653 
561,626 
113,486 

24 

11 
13 
9 
3 

18 
7 
1 

7 
6 

1 

82 

39 
102 
68 
28 
81 
75 
5 

47 
54 
17 
6 

65 

30 
82 
30 
I8- 
60 
39 
4 

32 
43 

8 
4 

198,000 

17 

206,000 

18 

South  Wales... 
So'h  Yorkshire 
West  Coast  
Staffordshire.  .  . 
North  Wales... 
Eastern  Central 

137.000 
175000 
379,000 
31,000 

12 
15 
33 
2 

Dt-  rby  and  Not- 
tingham   
Other  parts  of.  . 
England  
Other  parts  of 

36,000 

3 

Ireland 

1 

Total  

225,181,300 

100 

14,028,208 

100 

8,959,691 

100 

604 

405 

1,162,000 

100 

*Output  in  1899. 


District. 

Production  of  Steel. 

Bessemer. 

Open  Hearth. 

Bessemer  and 
Open  Hearth. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Tons. 

P.C. 

Tons. 

P.C. 

Tons. 

P.C. 

Tons. 

P.C. 

Tons. 

P.C. 

27 

No'h  Yorkshire 
(Cleveland).. 
Durham    and 
Northumberl  'd 
Scotland  

64,000 

1.3 

269,000 

5.5 

975,000 

20.0 

25,000 

0.5 

1,333,000 

960,000 
520,000 
210,000 
118,000 
77,000 

19.6 
10.6 
4.3 
2.4 
1.5 

3,000 

'  47,000 

39,000 
14S1000 
30,000 

To 

0.8 
3.0 
0.6 

963,000 
960,000 
588,000 
659,000 
367,000 
30000 

20 
20 
12 

14 

7 

100 

South  Wales.... 
So'h  Yorkshire 
West  Coast  

440.000 
250.000 
502,000 

9.0 
5.1 
10.3 

"  8l',o66" 

"iie 

142000 

2.9 

North  Wales.  .  . 

Total  

1,256,000 

25.7 

492,000 

10.0 

2,860,000 

58.4 

292,000 

5.9 

4,900,000 

tailed  statistics,  but  in  the  three  tables  just  mentioned  I  have  taken 
the  average  for  four  periods. 

The  striking  fact  is  hereby  made  plain  that  England  in  regard 


GREAT   BRITAIN". 


699 


TABLE  XXIII-C. 
Production  of  Pig-iron  in  Great  Britain;  one  unit=1000  Tons. 

Data  for  1830,  1860,  1870  and  1880  from  Bell ;  later  figures  from  Home  Office 
Reports. 


District. 

1830. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

Average 

3882  to 
1884  incl. 

Average 

1886  to 
1890  incl. 

Average 
1891  to 
1895  incl. 

Average 
1896  to 
1900  incl. 

Northeast  Coast  .        .... 

5 

659 

1  627 

2  416 

2,666 

2,642 

2  638 

3  194 

West  Coast 

169 

678 

1  541 

1  676 

1,589 

1  284 

1  576 

Scotland     

37 

937 

1,206 

1,049 

1,081 

922 

826 

1  128 

South  Wales 

278 

1  019 

1  073 

927 

897 

807 

734 

770 

Eastern  Central    

8 

75 

386 

434 

505 

494 

641 

Staffordshire 

213 

617 

892 

610 

551 

542 

506 

586 

Central     

18 

126 

180 

367 

435 

388 

417 

521 

South  Yorkshire  
Shropshire  

29 
73 

98 
145 

78 
112 

307 

88 

291 

70 

197 
50 

213 
45 

296 
10 

North  Wrales 

25 

49 

43 

58 

42 

48 

40 

59 

Others  

166 

69 

48 

108 

Total  

678 

3,827 

5,964 

7,749 

8,309 

7,759 

7,245 

8,889 

TABLE  XXIII-D. 
Production  of  Iron  Ore  in  Great  Britain;    one  unit=1000  tons. 

Data  for  1860,  1870  and  1880  from  Bell ;  later  figures  from  Home  Oflice  Reports. 


District. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

Average 
1882  to 
1884  incl. 

Average 
1886  to 
1890  incl. 

Average 
•1891  to 
1895  incl. 

Average 
1896  to 
1900  incl. 

Northeast  Coast  

1  484 

4298 

6  528 

6  439 

5416 

4  700 

5  639 

Eastern  Central 

118 

1  048 

2  765 

2  824 

2  897 

2  974 

4  018 

West  Coast  

990 

2,093 

2  759 

2861 

2  569 

2  199 

1  943 

Staffordshire     .      .  . 

1  543 

1  378 

1  798 

1  898 

1  341 

925 

l'025 

Scotland         .... 

2  150 

3,500 

2  664 

2  172 

1  226 

785 

887 

Bristol  Channel 

828 

865 

534 

314 

197 

160 

120 

Central  

376 

385 

153 

17 

15 

11 

4 

Shropshire       .      ... 

166 

338 

227 

226 

92 

51 

g 

256 

308 

287 

172 

78 

72 

fiC 

North  Wales  

85 

59 

43 

3 

1 

1 

32 

99 

268 

253 

193 

178 

330 

Total  

8  024 

14  371 

18  026 

17  184 

14  025 

12  055 

14  031 

to  her  iron  industry  seems  to  be  in  a  stationary  condition.  Her 
output  of  ore  has  decreased  in  the  last  twenty  years,  but  is  now  in- 
creasing, owing  mostly  to  the  development  of  the  lean  ore  beds  of 
Eastern  Central  England,  including  Leicestershire,  Lincolnshire 
and  Northamptonshire.  There  has  been  a  very  decided  increase  in 
the  amount  of  ore  imported  and  the  production  of  pig-iron  has 
been  thus  sustained,  but  the  second  period  shows  a  smaller  product 
than  the  first,  the  third  less  than  the  second,  and  the  great  increase 
in  the  fourth  period  does  not  bring  the  output  very  far  beyond  the 
rate  of  production  from  1882  to  1884. 


'00  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

TABLE  XXIII-E. 
Imports  of  Iron  Ore  into  Great  Britain  at  Different  Ports. 


District. 

Average  1882 
to  1884  iucl. 
Tons. 

Average  1886 
to  1890  incl. 
Tons. 

Average  1891 
to  1895  incl. 
Tons. 

Average  1896 
to  1900  incl. 
Tons. 

Northeast  Coast  .  .  •  .  

948,000 

1,488,000 

1,920,000 

2,354  000 

-  1,434,000 

1,347.000 

1,183,000 

1,387,000 

382,000 

575,000 

694,000 

1  394,000 

West  Coast           

294,000 

317,000 

166,000 

882000 

Others  

11,000 

15,000 

15,000 

31,000 

Total    

3  069,000 

3,742,000 

3,978,000 

6  048,000 

This  stationary  character  in  the  total  output  is  true  of  almost 
every  district,  the  Eastern  Central  region  being  the  only  one  that 
has  increased  its  output  of  pig-iron  to  any  notable  extent.  The 
other  districts  have  held  their  own  by  importing  more  and  more 
ore,  and  have  maintained  a  remarkable  regularity  of  tonnage,  the 
order  of  precedence  to-day  being  practically  the  order  of  twenty 
years  ago. 

In  this  lack  of  development  England  stands  alone.  By  referring 
to  the  tables  in  Chapter  XXXIII  it  will  be  found  that  since  1880 
Russia  has  increased  her  output  of  pig-iron  5.66  fold,  the  United 
States  4.14,  Austria-Hungary  3.13,  Germany  3.09,  Belgium  1.68, 
France  1.58,  Sweden  1.30,  while  England  in  1901  made  almost 
exactly  the  same  tonnage  of  pig-iron  as  she  smelted  in  1880.  The 
output  of  steel  has  been  increased  as  follows :  The  United  States 
10.80  fold,  Sweden  10.35,  Germany  9.62,  Austria-Hungary  8.46, 
Belgium  4.96,  Russia  4.94,  France  4.03,  and  England  3.57.  It  is 
not  my  purpose  to  discuss  the  causes  why  England  has  stood  still, 
but  it  is  necessary  to  keep  the  plain  fact  in  mind  and  to  know  that 
it  is  as  true  of  each  district  as  for  the  whole  country. 

SEC.  XXIIIb.— The  Northeast  Coast: 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Arthur  Cooper,  manager  of  the  Northeastern  Stfel 
Works,  for  a  careful  reading  of  this  section. 

The  Northeast  Coast  is  the  great  iron  and  steel  producing  dis- 
trict, making  more  than  one-third  of  all  the  pig-iron  and  more  than 
one-quarter  of  all  the  steel  of  the  Kingdom,  and  nearly  one-fifth 
of  all  the  puddled  iron.  Middlesborough  is  the  center  where  the 
coke  of  Durham  meets  the  ore  from  Spain,  or  from  the  Cleveland 
Hills,  and  the  finished  steel  finds  an  outlet  either  in  the  shipyards 
along  the  Tees,  or  by  water  to  other  ports  of  the  Kingdom,  or  of 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


701 


other  countries.  The  Cleveland  beds  produce  40  per  cent,  of  all 
the  ore  raised  in  the  island.  This  is  all  smelted  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  mines,  and  in  the  annual  report  of  C.  E. 
Muller  &  Co.  of  January  14,  1902,  it  is  stated  that  out  of  a  total 
of  79  blast  furnaces  in  operation  in  the  Northeast  in  1901  there 
were  43  smelting  Cleveland  ore,  the  others  presumably  being  on 
imported  material.  A  small  proportion,  about  one-seventh,  of  the 
Cleveland  iron  is  converted  into  steel,  mostly  by  the  basic  Bes- 
semer process,  but  almost  all  of  the  steel  made  in  the  district  is 


DURHAM  COAL  FIELD 


'E     A 


^    Newcastle) 


'Gateshead0 


Durham 


! 'Bishop 


«# 


mth 

rath  Shield^ 

mderland 


Nortonc 
tocktonm 


rest  Hartlepool      x 

ilbuisn 
Inborn 


FIG.  XXIII-C. 

made  from  Spanish  ore.  The  Cleveland  deposit  is  not  rich  enough 
in  either  phosphorus  or  manganese  to  give  a  proper  iron  for  the 
basic  Bessemer,  and  it  is  necessary  to  add  to  the  burden  a  certain 
proportion  of  other  ores  which  are  richer  in  these  elements;  con- 
sequently most  of  the  product  goes  into  foundry  and  forge  pig  for 
use  both  at  home  and  abroad.  The  output  of  Middlesborough  fur- 
naces, especially  those  of  Bell  Brothers,  forms  the  foundation  of 
foundry  practice  throughout  the  northern  part  of  the  continent; 
it  is  often  used  alone,  but  is  mixed  with  iron  of  lower  phosphorus 


702 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 


to  make  the  better  class  of  castings.  On  another  page,  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  ore  deposits  of  Lincolnshire,  Leicestershire  and 
Northamptonshire,  further  remarks  will  be  made  on  the  recent  de- 
velopments in  the  lean  ore  deposits  of  England. 

Fig.  XXIII-C  shows  the  relation  of  the  coal  field  of  Durham  to 
the  district  around  Middlesborough,  while  Fig.  XXIII-D  shows 
the  Cleveland  ore  deposits.* 


.QWynyard 


Seaton  Carew 


CLEVELAND  ORE  BEDS 


ESTON 
Ormesby0  Nonnanby  MINES 


N 


FIG.  XXIII-D. 

The  Cleveland  ore  is  a  carbonate  and  the  composition  is  given  by 
Kirchhoff  as  follows : 

Per  cent. 

Protoxide  of  iron 35.37 

Peroxide  of  iron 1.93 

Protoxide  of  manganese 1 .00 

Alumina 6.95 

Lime 6.63 

Magnesia   3.73 

Silica 10.22 

Carbonic  acid    .  22.02 


Sulphur 

Phosphoric  acid 
Organic  matter  . 
Moisture  . . 


0.1  Of 
1.15 
1.20 
9.80 


*  These  maps  are  taken  from  certain  letters  written  by  C.  Kirchhoff  for  The 
Iron  Age,  of  which  he  is  editor,  and  he  has  kindly  granted  permission  for  their 
reproduction  here.  I  am  also  indebted  to  the  same  letters  for  much  informa- 
tion concerning  this  district 

t  From  other  sources  of  information  I  believe  that  the  average  content  of 
sulphur  is  nearer  0.25. 


GREAT   BRITAIN.  703 

Metallic  iron   28.85 

Phosphorus    0.50 

Loss  by  calcination 29.58 

"   Iron  in  calcined  stone 40.96 

The  composition  of  calcined  stone  is  given  by  the  same  writer  as 
follows : 

Per  cent. 

Peroxide   of   iron 59.77 

Oxide  of  manganese 0.99 

Alumina 9.28 

Lime   9.23 

Magnesia 5.41 

Silica    13.66 

Sulphur    0.12 

Phosphoric  acid 1.41 


Total    99.87 

Metallic  iron 41.84 

Phosphorus 0.62 

The  ore  varies  considerably  in  different  parts  of  the  field,  the 
above  being  a  fair  average.  In  many  cases  the  content  of  iron  .is 
less  and  there  is  consequently  a  greater  proportion  of  silica  and 
earthy  matter  so  that  a  larger  quantity  of  fuel  and  stone  is  re- 
quired. For  this  reason  considerable  differences  in  practice  and 
in  cost  will  be  found  between  furnaces  very  near  together  in  Mid- 
dlesborough. 

The  ore  deposit,  at  its  northern  edge,  sometimes  contains  as 
much  as  32  per  cent,  of  iron  and  in  exceptional  cases  even  33  per 
cent.  The  thickness  of  the  bed  is  also  greatest  at  this  point, 
measuring  15  feet  7  inches  at  the  mines  of  Bolckow,  Vaughan  & 
Co.  Toward  the  south  it  grows  thinner  and  at  the  points  marked 
with  a  cross  upon  the  map  it  divides  into  two  seams  of  about 
four  feet  each.  The  quality  also  falls,  and  at  the  extreme  outcrop 
at  Whitby  there  is  only  25  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron. 

The  ore  is  calcined  to  expel  carbonic  acid,  and  this  removes  also 
the  water  and  organic  matter,  so  that  the  roasted  product  contains 
about  40  per  cent,  of  iron.  The  figures  above  quoted  from  Kirch- 
hoff  give  41.84  per  cent,  of  iron  and  13.66  per  cent,  of  silica. 
Information  from  other  sources  leads  me  to  think  that  the  figures 
quoted  are  rather  roseate  and  refer  to  the  best  records  rather  than 
to  the  average  supply.  I  have  been  told  that  the  general  run  of 
ore  after  calcining  will  carry  only  40  per  cent,  of  iron  with  silica 
up  .to  19  per  cent. 


704  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

The  average  selling  price  of  this  ore  from  1870  to  1883  is  given 
by  Bell  as  $1.02  per  ton  at  the  mines,  with  30  cents  freight,  mak- 
ing a  total  of  $1.32  per  ton  delivered  at  the  furnace.  The  value 
in  1899  is  given  in  the  Home  Office  Reports  at  $1.01  per  ton  at 
the  mine.  Counting  a  short  haul  and  the  cost  of  calcining,  it  can 
hardly  be  less  than  $1.15  per  ton  for  a  30  per  cent,  ore;  this  is 
3.83  cents  per  unit,  and  if  the  Cleveland  pig  contains  92  per  cent, 
of  iron,  the  cost  of  the  ore  per  ton  of  pig  will  be  $3.52.  Kirchhoif 
gives  the  cost  of  the  ore  delivered  at  the  furnaces  of  Bolckow, 
Vaughan  as  85  cents  per  ton,  to  which  must  be  added  the  cost  of 
calcining.  For  a  30  per  cent,  ore  this  means  a  little  over  3  cents 
per  unit  or  about  $3.00  per  ton  of  pig-iron. 

The  composition  of  the  coal  from  Durham  varies  somewhat  ac- 
cording to  the  seams  from  which  it  comes,  but  the  beds  are  very 
much  alike  and  the  coals  are  often  mixed.  The  average  of  four 
samples  quoted  by  Bell  is  as  follows : 

Per  cent. 

C 80.51 

H 4.49 

O+N 8.03 

S 1.26 

Ash 5.16 

Water 1.01 


100.46 


The  fixed  carbon  was  70.32  per  cent,  and  the  loss  in  coking  is 
given  by  Bell  and  by  Kirchhoff  as  usually  over  40  per  cent,  in  bee- 
hive ovens.  By  far  the  greater  quantity  of  Durham  coke  is  made 
in  this  type  of  oven,  although  progressive  works  in  Middlesborough 
are  now  introducing  the  by-product  process.  Bell  states  that  the 
coke  runs  6.60  per  cent,  in  ash  and  0.96  per  cent,  in  sulphur. 
Kirchhoff  gives  the  detailed  composition  of  four  samples,  an  aver- 
age of  which  is  as  follows : 

Per  cent. 

Carbon   88.16 

Sulphur   1.11 

Ash 9  33 

Water 1.40 


100.00 


The  distance  from  the  mines  in  South  Durham  to  the  furnaces 
in  Middlesborough  is  from  20  to  30  miles,  and  the  freight  is  about 
50  cents  per  ton. 


GREAT   BRITAIN.  705 

The  coke  is  hard  and  strong  and  is  in  demand  abroad,  very  con- 
siderable quantities  being  exported.  Over  60  per  cent,  qf  all  the 
coke  sent  abroad  by  England  in  1900  was  shipped  from  the  North- 
east Coast.  There  were  also  heavy  shipments  of  coal,  the  propor- 
tion coming  from  this  district  being  one-third  of  the  total  exports. 
As  above  shown,  the  ash  in  Durham  coke  is  considerably  less  than 
is  found  in  some  other  first-class  cokes  and  this  decreases  to  a  slight 
extent  the  amount  of  silicious  material  entering  the  blast  furnace. 
The  amount  of  fuel  needed  for  a  ton  of  Cleveland  iron  is  given  by 
Bell  as  1%  tons,  and  in  exceptional  cases  it  may  be  lower,  but  from 
information  received  from  most  excellent  authority,  I  believe  this 
is  more  often  the  hope  than  the  actuality.  Taking  the  whole  cam- 
paign of  the  furnace  and  considering  the  amount  actually  paid  for 
on  board  cars,  there  are  probably  few  furnaces  at  Middlesborough 
getting  along  with  less  than  1*4  tons,  and  there  are  many  using 
more.  The  cost  of  this  coke  is  given  by  Kirchhoif  as  $1.82  to 
$2.20  per  ton  at  the  mines,  and  the  cost  therefore  at  the  furnaces 
at  Middlesborough  will  be  from  $2.30  to  $2.70  per  ton.  The  sell- 
ing price  is  considerably  above  this,  running  from  $3.15  to  $3.50 
per  ton. 

When  smelting  the  Cleveland  iron  stone,  the  amount  of  lime- 
stone necessary  varies  with  the  character  of  the  ore.  Bell  gives 
the  amount  needed  as  1175  to  1350  pounds  per  ton  and  the  cost  as 
80  cents  per  ton  delivered  at  the  furnace.  The  cost  of  stone  under 
these  conditions  would  be  from  43  to  49  cents  per  ton  of  iron. 
Kirchhoff  gives  "also  about  1300  pounds  of  stone  per  ton  of  iron, 
but  gives  the  cost  of  the  stone  at  $1.20  per  ton,  making  an  item  of 
about  70  cents  per  ton.  My  own  information  from  authoritative 
sources  agrees  with  the  amount  of  stone  above  given,  but  Cochrane, 
in  a  detailed  investigation  of  Cleveland  practice  and  the  use  of 
lime,  shows  a  consumption  of  about  1600  pounds.  In  this  case, 
however,  the  ore  contained  only  26.9  per  cent,  of  iron.  From  an- 
other source  I  have  been  given  the  figure  of  1900  pounds  of  stone 
at  a  cost  of  $1.10  per  ton  of  stone,  representing  about  95  cents  per 
ton  of  pig-iron. 

We  may  therefore  estimate  the  cost  of  Cleveland  pig-iron  for 
those  who  own  their  own  coal  mines  and  ore  beds,  counting  noth- 
ing for  the  money  invested,  and  also  the  cost  for  those  who  do  not 
own  their  own  supplies. 


106  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

Minimum.  Fair 

Complete.  practice. 

Per  ton  Pig-iron.                              ownership.  Market  prices. 

Fuel  1%  tons  @2.40 $2.70 

"     1%   tons  @3.30 $4.10 

Stone  1300  Ibs 70  .95 

Ore 3.00  3.50 

$6.40  $8.55 

If  we  add  to  these  items  60  cents  for  labor  and  25  cents  for  sup- 
plies, which  are  figures  given  by  Kirchhoff,  we  "have  a  total  of 
$7.25  for  the  best  managed  and  best  equipped  plants  owning  their 
own  coal  and  ore  mines,  and  $9.40  for  other  plants  buying  their 
raw  material  and  using  somewhat  more  fuel.  There  are  still  other 
works  which  show  a  considerably  higher  cost.  In  these  totals  are- 
not  included  the  item  of  general  expenses  and  administration,  andi 
it  does  not  include  the  interest  and  depreciation  account,  so  that 
they  by  no  means  represent  the  actual  cost  of  making  pig-iron  in 
Cleveland.  They  may,  however,  be  compared  with  many  similar 
calculations  where  the  cost  of  pig-iron  in  different  localities  -is  con- 
fidently predicted,  as  in  such  cases  these  latter  items  are  always 
ignored.  It  may  also  be  pertinent  to  the  question  to  record  that 
the  selling  price  of  Cleveland  iron  in  the  winter  of  1900-01  was 
$11.20  per  ton,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  money  was 
lost  in  the  transaction. 

Thus  it  is  quite  clear  that  Cleveland  iron  can  be  made  cheaply, 
but  it  is  also  true  that  it  is  an  undesirable  metal.  It  contains  so 
much  phosphorus  that  it  is  hard  to  use  in  a  basic  open-hearth  fur- 
nace, although  it  is  perfectly  certain  that  it  can  be  so  used.  On 
the  other  hand  it  contains  so  little  phosphorus  that  it  is  not  well 
fitted  for  the  basic  Bessemer.  In  order  to  get  iron  for  the  basic 
converter  it  has  been  customary  to  enrich  the  phosphorus  content 
by  adding  a  certain  proportion  of  puddle  cinder,  and  to  raise  the 
manganese  by  using  manganiferous  imported  ores.  With  the  di- 
minution of  the  supply  of  puddle  cinder  it  is  necessary  to  use  a 
certain  amount  of  basic  converter  slag  in  the  blast  furnaces,  and 
no  matter  what  the  mixture  may  be,  the  silicon  must  be  kept  low, 
thus  requiring  a  very  large  amount  of  lime  to  flux  the  high  silica 
in  the  ore.  Taking  everything  together,  the  cost  of  making  iron 
fit  for  the  basic  converter  is  given  by  Kirchhoff  at  from  $1.00  to 
$1.50  per  ton  above  the  figures  just  recorded  for  the  ordinary 
product.  For  open-hearth  work  the  manganese  is  not  necessary 


GREAT   BRITAIN.  707 

and  the  phosphorus  an  injury.  It  would  seem  therefore  as  if  a 
cheap  iron  could  be  made  for  this  purpose,  while  the  phosphorus 
might  be  lessened  if  necessary  by  mixing  with  foreign  ores. 

The  price  of  Spanish  ore  in  the  winter  of  1900-01  was  about 
$2.61  at  Bilbao,  with  the  low  ocean  freight  of  $1.03,  making  a 
total  of  $3.64  per  ton  at  Middlesborough.  As  the  ore  contains 
about  49  per  cent,  of  iron  this  gives  a  cost  of  7.43  cents  per  unit, 
or  about  $7.06  per  ton  of  iron.  The  assumption  that  the  ore  con- 
tains only  49  per  cent,  of  iron  may  seem  rather  pessimistic,  but 
the  decrease  in  the  quality  of  the  Spanish  ores  has  been  a  serious 
matter.  This  subject  was  discussed  in  'the  presidential  address  of 
William  Whitwell  before  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  and  he  gave 
the  composition  of  Eubio  ores  as  imported  at  Middlesborough  in 
1890  and  1900.  The  comparison  is  as  follows : 

1890  1900 

Fe  dry 55.50  52.80 

Water 9.00  9.10 

Fe  as  received 50.50  47.99 

Silica 7.10  10.09 

The  ocean  freight  on  ore  is  usually  30  cents  higher  than  the 
figures  just  given,  which  would  make  the  ore  cost  $3.94  per  ton,  or 
a  trifle  over  8  cents  per  unit,  or  about  $7.60  per  ton  of  iron.  The 
silica  in  this  ore  runs  about  one-half  as  high  as  in  the  Cleveland 
stone,  and  the  quantity  of  limestone  needed  is  much  less,  and  the 
amount  of  fuel  will  be  about  0.95  tons  per  ton  of  pig-iron.  The 
cost  therefore  of  the  ore,  fuel  and  stone  for  a  ton  of  hematite  pig- 
iron  will  be  as  follows: 

Low  freight.  Usual  freight. 

Ore $7.06  $7.60 

Coke 2.66  2.66 

Stone   (about) 50  .50 

$10.22  $10.76 

Adding  to  this  the  same  amount  for  labor  and  supplies  as  in 
the  case  of  Cleveland  iron,  viz.,  85  cents,  we  have  the  cost  of  hema- 
tite iron  from  $11.10  to  $11.60,  not  reckoning  the  items  of  general 
expense  or  interest.  In  the  winter  of  1900-01  the  selling  price  was 
about  $13.85  per  ton. 

The  most  important  steel  works  on  the  Northeast  Coast  are 
given  in  Table  XXIII-F.  The  works  of  Bell  Brothers  have  not 
been  large  producers  of  steel  in  the  past,  but  they  have  lately  put 
in  an  extensive  open-hearth  plant.  Fig.  XXIII-E  shows  a  plan 


708 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


O 

O 


W 
g 

I 

g 


XI 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


709 


of  the  works  of  the  Northeastern  Steel  Company,  at  Middlesbor- 
ough.  In  Tables  XXIII-G  and  H  are  given  data  concerning  the 
industrial  history  of  the  district. 

TABLE  XXIII-F. 
Iron  and  Steel  Plants  on  the  Northeast  Coast. 


Name  of  Works. 

Location. 

Blast. 
Furnaces. 

Bessemer 
Converters. 

Open  Hearth 
Furnaces. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Middlesbro'.  ... 

30 
4 

4 

6 
4 

10 

Durham  

7 

27 
11 
10 
8 
23 
6 

""2" 

6 

Middlesbro'  

Palmers  Shipbuilding  Co 

Jarrowon  Tyne. 

5 

Annstrong,Whitworth  &  Co.  (Elswick) 

Newcastle  

12 

4 

8 
6 
51 

Edw  Williams 





8 



123 

4 

10 

107 

8 

TABLE  XXIII-G. 

Production  of  Ore  and  Pig-iron  and  Imports  of  Ore  on  the  North- 
east Coast. 

See  also  Tables  XXIII-C  and  XXIII-D  for  data  before  1882. 


Year. 

Ore  Raised. 

Ore  Im- 
ported. 

Pig  Iron. 

North 
Yorkshire. 

Dur- 
ham. 

Total. 

North 
Yorkshire. 

Durham. 

Northum- 
berland. 

Total*. 

1882.. 
1883.. 
1884.. 
1885 

6,326,314 
6,756,055 
6,052,608 

83,726 
50,248 
49,091 

6,410.040 
6,806,303 
6,101,699 

1,098,000 
951,000 
795,000 
834  000 

1,803,508 
1,867,329 
1,725,823 

815,671 
823,659 
779,131* 

93,422 
88,535 

2,712,601 
2,779,523 
2,504,954 

1886.. 
1887.. 
1888.. 
1889.. 
1890.. 
1891.. 
1892.. 
1893.. 
1894.. 
1895.  . 
18%.. 
1897.. 
1898.  . 
1899.. 
1900.. 

5,370,279 
4,980,421 
5,395,942 
5,657,118 
5,617,573 
5,128,303 
3,411,400 
4,625,520 
5,048,966 
5,285,617 
5,678,368 
5,679,153 
5,730.413 
5,612,742 
5,493.733 

1,759 
2,506 
40,233 
3,991 
11.488 
7,715 
9,275 

5,372,038 
4,982,927 
5,436,175 
5,661,109 
5,629,061 
5,136,018 
3,420,675 
4,625,520 
5,051,645 
5,304,681 
5,697,645 
5,696,005 
5,751,281 
5,629,702 
5,512,779 

1,015,000 
1,475,000 
1,426,000 
1.660,000 
1,864,000 
1,569,000 
1,522,000 
2,061,000 
2,410,000 
2,037,000 
2,360,000 
2,337,000 
2,283,000 
2.457,000 
2,330,000 

1,735,885 
1,841,444 
1,856,274 
1,915,050 
1,961,328 
1  769,492 
1,333,656 
1,943,404 
2,088,299 
2.058,279 
2,209,074 
2,134,507 
2,095,131 
2.211,222 
2,136,584 

700,836* 
682,797* 
774,984* 
802,267 
792,932 
814,875 
610,892* 
770,510* 
885,568* 
867,878* 
1,002,852* 
1,063,134* 
1,103,495* 
1,040,174* 
973,010* 

2,436.721 
2,524,241 
2,631,258 
2,782,466 
2,837,599 
2,631,183 
1,944,548 
2,713,914 
2,973,867 
2,926157 
3,211,926 
3,197,641 
3,198,626 
3,251,396 
3,109,594 

65,149 
83,339 
46,816 

2,679 
19,064 
19,277 
16,852 
20,868 
16,960 
19,046 

'Including  Northumberland. 


710 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


TABLE  XXIII-H. 
Imports  of  Iron  Ore  at  Ports  on  the  Northeast  Coast. 


Year. 

Middles- 
borough. 

New- 
castle. 

North  and 
South 
Shields. 

Stockton. 

Hartle- 
pool. 

Sunder- 
land. 

Others. 

Total. 

1882. 
1883. 
1884. 
1885. 
1886. 
1887. 
1888. 
1889. 
1890. 
1891. 
1892 

498,000 
444,000 
398,000 
397,000 
507,000 
844,000 
724,000 
855,000 
947,000 
778,000 
886000 

307,000 
295,000 
179,000 
179,000 
240,000 
276,000 
357,000 
374,000 
513,000 
388,000 
242000 

82,000 
39,000 
42,000 
53,000 
38,000 
48,000 
21,000 
25,000 
80,000 
58,000 
86000 

114,000 
56,000 
64,000 
69,000 
89,000 
116,000 
116,000 
125,000 
129,000 
148,000 
123000 

11,000 
30,000 
64,000 
58,000 
76,000 
113,000 
104,000 
181,000 
147,000 
126,000 
111000 

64,000 
79,000 
47,000 
77,000 
64,000 
69,000 
95,000 
97,000 
47,000 
71,000 
74  000 

22,000 
8,000 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 
9,000 
9,000 
3,000 
1,000 

1,098,000 
951,000 
795,000 
834,000 
1,015,000 
1,475,000 
1,426,000 
1.660,000 
1,864,000 
1,569,000 
1  522  000 

1893. 
1894. 
1895 

1,269,000 
1,444,000 
1  273  000 

268,000 
385,000 
358000 

89.000 
149,000 
154000 

251,000 
237,000 
164000 

90,000 
86,000 
46  000 

94,000 
108,000 
42  000 

"i',666' 

2,061,000 
2,410.000 
2  037  000 

1896. 
1897. 
1898. 
1899. 
1900. 

1,391,000 
1,193,000 
1,103,000 
1,334,000 
1,251,000 

345!000 
319,000 
325.000 
300,000 
252,000 

2181000 
413,000 
352,000 
377,000 
402,000 

190,000 
235,000 
252,000 
206,000 
258,000 

120,000 
94,000 
178,000 
151,000 
116,000 

94,'000 
81,000 
67,000 
87,000 
49,000 

2,000 
2,000 
6,000 
2,000 
2,000 

2,360,000 
2.337,000 
2,283,000 
2,457,000 
2,330,000 

SEC.  XXIIIc. — Scotland  (Ayrshire  and  Lanarkshire)  : 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  James  Riley,  formerly  general  manager  of  the  Steel 
Company  of  Scotland  and  of  the  Glasgow  Iron  and  Steel  Company,  for  a  careful 
review  of  this  section. 

The  iron  industry  of  Scotland  dates  back  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  and  has  played  an  important  part  for  half  a  century. 
It  was  well  along  in  the  last  century  before  there  was  any  appre- 
ciation or  knowledge  of  the  value  of  the  blackband  from  the  coal 
measures  which  at  that  time  existed  in  great  quantities  throughout 
Ayrshire  and  Lanarkshire.  This  blackband  was  roasted  and  gave 
an  ore  making  63  per  cent,  of  pig-iron,  and  it  was  raised  very  near 
the  furnaces.  In  1870  Scotland  produced  3,500,000  tons  of  ore, 
but  in  1880  this  had  dropped  to  2,660,000  tons.  Half  of  this  was 
blackband,  but  the  price  had  risen  to  $3.60  per  ton  at  the  pit.  In 
1900  only  597,826  tons  of  ore  were  raised  from  the  coal  measures, 
the  price  being  officially  given  as  about  $2.40  per  ton  at  the  pit 
mouth,  and  this  constituted  70  per  cent,  of  all  the  ore  raised  in 
Scotland. 

The  ore  production  in  1900  was  less  than  6  per  cent,  of  the  total 
for  the  Kingdom,  while  in  1870  it  was  about  25  per  cent.  The 
figures  given  on  the  map  refer  only  to  the  counties  of  Ayr  and 
Lanark,  which  produce  two-thirds  of  all  the  coal  and  ore  mined 
in  Scotland,  and  smelt  practically  all  the  pig-iron,  but  in  the  tables 
I  have  used  the  totals  for  Southern  Scotland. 


GREAT    BRITAIN.  711 

The  pig-iron  industry,  in  spite  of  the  disappearance  of  the  black- 
band  and  the  importation  of  foreign  ores  to  take  its  place,  still 
retains  a  distinctive  characteristic  in  the  use  of  raw  so-called 
"splint"  coal  in  the  blast  furnace.  The  composition  of  good  Lan- 
ark coal  is  as  follows : 

Per  cent. 

C 66.00 

H 4.34 

O+N 12.03 

S 0.59 

Ash 5.42 

Water   11.62 


100.00 
Fixed   carbon    53.4 

This  coal  when  charged  in  a  raw  state  into  the  furnace  will  not 
fuse  and  get  sticky,  provided  the  furnace  is  not  more  than  70  feet 
high.  The  heating  value  of  this  coal  is  only  about  80  per  cent,  of 
Durham  coal,  but  counting  the  loss  of  fuel  value  in  -the  coking 
process,  there  is  a  slight  advantage,  ton  for  ton,  in  the  Scotch 
coal  charged  in  the  furnace  over  the  Durham  coal,  which  must  first 
be  coked.  When  using  this  raw  coal  the  furnace  gases  contain 
quite  a  quantity  of  hydrocarbons,  and  it  is  found  profitable  to  put 
up  scrubbers  and  collect  the  tar  and  ammonia  before  the  gas  passes 
to  the  boilers  and  stoves.  The  best  beds  of  Lanarkshire  coal  are 
approaching  exhaustion,  and  recently  some  plants  have  experi- 
mented in  the  making  of  a  poor  coke  from  the  local  coal  and  using 
it  as  a  mixture  with  the  inferior  splint  coals,  but  this  practice 
seems  to  make  no  progress.  A  very  considerable  amount  of  coke 
is  made  in  the  Kilsyth  district,  but  this  is  used  for  foundry  pur- 
poses. The  district  of  Ayrshire  and  Lanarkshire  produces  9  per 
cent,  of  all  the  coal  raised  in  the  Kingdom,  and  exports  large 
quantities.  In  spite  of  the  great  decrease  in  the  supply  of  native 
ore,  the  production  of  pig-iron  has  been  sustained  by  the  use  of 
Spanish  ores,  but  there  has  been  very  little  increase,  the  amount 
smelted  having  remained  nearly  constant  during  the  last  forty 
years.  This  statement  concerning  the  stationary  production  of 
the  district  was  questioned  by  Mr.  Eiley,  and  I  therefore  append 
the  statistics  in  Table  XXTTT-T ;  the  figures  prior  to  1885  are  taken 
from  a  paper  by  Mr.  Eiley,*  and  the  later  data  from  the  Home 
Office  Reports. 

*  Jour.  I.  and  8.  I.,  1885. 


712 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


TABLE  XXIII-I. 
Production  of  Pig-Iron  in  Scotland. 

Period.  Production  per  year. 

Inclusive.  Tons. 

1861  to  1865 1,122,600 

1866  to  1870 1,089,800 

1871  to  1875 1,021,600 

1876  to  1880 993,600 

1881  to  1885 1,084,400 

1886  to  1890 922,217 

1891  to  1895 826,128 

1896  to  1900 1,128,161 

Scotland  now  makes  12  per  cent,  of  the  pig-iron  and  20  per  cent, 
of  the  steel  made  in  the  Kingdom.  As  before  stated,  most  of  the 
ore  is  imported  from  Spain,  and  the  pig-iron  is  used  on  the  spot 
to  make  acid  open-hearth  steel  for  shipbuilding  and  other  purposes. 

TABLE  XXIII-J. 
Iron  and  Steel  Plants  in  Scotland  (Ayrshire  and  Lanarkshire  )\ 


Name  of  Works. 

Location. 

Blast 
Furnaces. 

Bessemer 
Converters. 

Open  Hearth 
Furnaces. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Steel  Co.  of  Scotland  j 
David  Colville  &  Sons  (Dal- 
zell) 

Newton....  j 
Glasgow  j 





30 

18 
6 
12 
8 
3 
9 
9 
8 
8 

1 

Glasgow  I.  and  S.  Co  

Wishaw 

4 

Flemington 

Giengarnock  

Clydebrldge                   .  .  •  • 

Ayrshire  
Cambuslang. 
Mossend 

12 

4-10  tons 

Clydesdale 

Summerlee  &  Mossend  Co. 

Mossend  

7 

Wm  Baird  &  Co 

Scattered.... 
Coltness  
Scattered... 

26 
9 
11 
'26 

Win  Dixon          . 

Total     

95 

4 

111 

1 

Scotland  makes  only  a  small  amount  of  Bessemer  steel  and  hardly 
any  basic  open-hearth,  but  she  makes  as  much  acid  open-hearth 
steel  as  Cleveland,  each  of  them  making  one-third  of  all  that  kind 
of  metal  made  in  Great  Britain.  Table  XXIII-J  gives  a  list  of 
the  principal  plants  in  Scotland.  Most  of  the  steel  plants  make 
plates  and  miscellaneous  structural  bars.  In  Tables  XXIII-K  and 
L  are  given  certain  items  of  statistical  information;  the  importa- 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


713 


or  ore  come  mostly  to  ports  on  the  western  shore,  but  a  con- 
siderable quantity  is  brought  to  Grangemouth  and  other  ports  on 
the  Firth  of  Forth. 

TABLE  XXIII-K. 
Production  of  Ore  and  Pig-iron  and  Imports  of  Ore  in  Scotland. 

See  also  Tables  XXIII-C  and  XXIII-D  for  data  before  1882. 


Year. 

O 

re. 

Pig  Iron. 

Raised. 

Imported. 

Ayr. 

Lanark. 

Total. 

1882  

2  404  177 

385000 

350423 

775  577 

1,126  000 

1883 

2  228  851 

356  000 

356  751 

772  249 

1  129000 

1884  

1*883*158 

406000 

292  287 

695,713 

988,000 

1885     .. 

487  000 

1886  

1506  731 

418000 

301,464 

634,337 

935,801 

1887  ... 

1*321  899 

545000 

301  652 

630'588 

932  240 

1888 

1  '238'  597 

552000 

320  374 

707  400 

1  027  774 

1889.... 

l'06l'734 

647000 

320'654 

657*549 

978,203 

1890 

'998  835 

714  000 

240  848 

4%  218 

737066 

1891  

748336 

360000 

201  063 

473  013 

674  076 

1892 

872  435 

840  000 

276  788 

695  705 

972  493 

1893  

847*406 

654000 

246  939 

546  116 

793,055 

1894     
1895  

631,304 
824  673 

598*000 
1020000 

182,546 
326,454 

459,697 
722,320 

[642,243 
1  048  774 

1896        .... 

983  670 

1  296000 

360247 

753,791 

1  114038 

1897 

936  850 

1  403  000 

369  836 

766  671 

1  136  507 

1898     

824'  219 

1*444*000 

314302 

748245 

1  062*547 

1899 

843  585 

1456000 

345488 

825342 

1  170  830 

1900  

849,031 

1,372,000 

376,498 

780,387 

1,156,885 

TABLE  XXIII-L. 
Imports  of  Iron  Ore  at  Ports  in  Scotland. 


Year. 

Glasgow. 

Ardrossan. 

Ayr. 

Troon. 

Otherg. 

Total. 

1882... 

251  000 

55000 

9000 

14000 

56000 

385000 

1883  

280000 

25000 

7000 

2000 

42000 

356  000 

1884,  

265,000 

40,000 

9000 

3000 

89000 

406000 

1885  

292,000 

15000 

29000 

5000 

146000 

487  000 

1886  

246000 

8000 

23000 

2000 

139000 

418000 

1887  

303  000 

15*000 

34000 

6000 

187  000 

545000 

1888  

323,000 

38*000 

17000 

2000 

172*000 

552  000 

1889  

358,000 

43000 

44000 

11000 

191  000 

647  000 

1890  

330,000 

60000 

91  000 

31  000 

202000 

714*000 

1891  

241.000 

17000 

36000 

4000 

62  000 

360  000 

1892.... 

516000 

114000 

59000 

31000 

120  000 

840  000 

1893  

355,000 

149000 

59000 

42000 

49000 

654  000 

1894  

302000 

171000 

36000 

31  000 

58  000 

598  000 

1895  

521,000 

252,000 

80000 

51  000 

116000 

1  020000 

1896  

589,000 

410000 

96000 

77000 

124000 

1  296  000 

1897  

730000 

438000 

100  000 

52000 

83  000 

1  403  000 

1898 

655000 

487  000 

15°  000 

71  000 

79  000 

1  444  000 

1899 

730000 

402000 

112  000 

102  000 

110  000 

1*456  000 

1900 

698  000 

372  000 

92  000 

117  000 

93  000 

1  372  000 

714  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

SEC.  XXIIId.— South  Wales: 

In  this  district  I  have  included  Glamorganshire  and  the  Eng- 
lish counties  of  Monmouth  and  Gloucester.  It  is  in  the  latter  that 
we  find  the  ancient  district  still  bearing  the  title  of  the  Forest  of 
Dean,  which  was  once  famous  as  an  iron  district,  but  which,  in 
1900,  produced  only  9885  tons  of  ore,  no  pig-iron  being  made  in 
its  borders. 

The  iron  industry  of  South  Wales  was  founded  on  a  local  supply 
of  lean  clay  band  running  about  30  per  cent,  in  iron.  In  1860  the 
above  mentioned  counties,  together  with  two  or  three  neighboring 
ones  that  are  no  longer  producers,  raised  830,000  tons  of  ore  and 
in  1870  the  amount  was  a  trifle  larger.  From  then  the  production 
rapidly  decreased,  being  only  about  half  as  much  in  1880,  while 
now  it  is  a  negligible  quantity.  The  production  of  pig-iron  has 
remained  nearly  stationary  from  1860  until  now.  Before  the  local 
ores  failed  the  hematites  of  the  West  Coast  were  brought  in,  and 
then  by  almost  providential  dispensation  the  mines  of  Northern 
Spain  were  developed,  and  from  that  time  South  Wales  has  run 
almost  exclusively  on  this  imported  supply. 

In  former  times  the  coal  from  certain  districts  at  works  near 
Merthyr  was  used  directly  in  the  furnace  in  the  same  way  as  in 
Scotland,  but  this  practice  has  been  discarded  and  a  somewhat 
richer  coal  is  now  coked.  The  volatile  matter  in  this  coal  is  rather 
low,  running  from  16  to  22  per  cent.,  and  some  seams  contain  30 
per  cent,  of  ash,  but,  by  washing,  this  may  be  reduced  so  that  the 
coke  contains  only  about  10  per  cent,  and  very  good  results  are 
obtained.  The  Spanish  hematites  imported  at  Cardiff  in  1899 
contained  only  about  50  per  cent,  of  iron  and  from  7  to  14  per  cent, 
of  silica,  but  they  were  smelted  with  about  one  ton  of  coke  per  ton 
of  iron.  Some  of  the  older  iron  works  are  situated  in  the  interior, 
a  legacy  from  ancient  times,  but  new  plants  are  being  placed  on 
tidewater,  thus  reducing  the  freight  on  both  raw  material  and 
finished  product. 

The  northern  shore  of  the  Bristol  Channel  produced  almost 
exactly  the  same  quantity  of  steel  in  1900  as  Scotland.  Unlike 
Scotland,  half  of  the  output  is  Bessemer,  but  like  Scotland,  it  is 
all  acid,  both  Bessemer  and  open-hearth.  This  district  in  1900 
raised  17  per  cent,  of  all  the  coal  mined  in  the  island  and  fur- 
nished 42  per  cent,  of  all  the  coal  exported  from  the  Kingdom, 
and  11  per  cent,  of  all  the  export  coke.  It  made  about  9  per  cent. 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


715 


of  all  the  pig-iron  and  20  per  cent,  of  all  the  steel.     The  amount  of 
puddled  iron  made  is  very  small.     This  arises  from  the  fact  that 


Gas  Producers 


Siemens  Furnaces 


^...^.^  *»*,»**,**,. 


QFeed, 


ODDDDD  oaQOIj[jertical  ru 


FIG.  XXIII-F. — DOWLAIS  WORKS,  CARDIFF,  WALES. 

there  are  no  cheap  native  ores  and  it  does  not  pay  to  put  iron  from 
Spanish  ores  into  puddled  bar. 


716 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 


Fig.  XXIII-F  shows  a  ground  plan  of  the  new  open-hearth  plant 
and  plate  mill  of  the  Dowlais  Iron  Company  at  Cardiff,  this  being 

TABLE  XXIII-M. 
Iron  and  Steel  Plants  in  South  Wales. 


Name  of  Works. 

Location. 

Blast 
Furnaces. 

Bessemer  Con- 
verters. 

Open  Hearth 
Furnaces. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Blaenavon  Iron  Co  
CrawshayBros.  (Cyfarthfa) 
Ebby  Vale  S.  and  1.  Co.  ... 
Guest  Keen  &  Co.,  form-  1 
erly  Dowlais  Iron  Co  .  .  f 
Nettlefolds 

Blaenavon  
Merthyr  Tydfil 
Ebby  Vale  
Dowlais  

9 
9 

{  »  I 

2 
4 
6 
6 

2 
2 

2 

2 
8 
6 

Cardiff.  ... 

Tredegar  

5 

8 
5 
6 
5 
5 
37 

Landore  

2 
2 

Pontardawe  Steel  Works 

Morriston.  . 

Other  open  hearth  plants.. 

9 

8 

Other  blast  furnace  plants. 
Total 

69 

84 

TABLE  XXIII-K 
Production  of  Pig-Iron  and  Imports  of  Ore  on  the  Bristol  Channel. 

See  also  Tables  XXIII-C  and  XXIII-D  for  data  before  1882. 


Year. 

1882  

Ore  Imported. 

Pig  Iron. 

Glamorgan- 
shire. 

Monmouth- 
shire. 

Gloucestershire 
and  Wiltshire. 

Total. 

.481,000 
.575,000 
.247,000 
.275,000 
,134.000 
,335.000 
,342,000 
,447,000 
.478,000 
,091.000 
,170000 
,164.000 
,268,000 
.221,000 
,297.000 
1,554,000 
910.000 

404,350 
384,128 
378,275 

530,084 
522,135 
473.116 

934,434 
906,263 
851,391 

1883  
1884  :. 
1885  

1886  
1887  

268.828 
310,000 
424,681 
426.854 
416,874 
424,533 
420,710 
444,356 
454,363 
447,715 
464,486 
470,443 
319,280 

397.768 
457,448 
446.259 
399.538 
407,848 
336,033 
263.297 
236,089 
254,551 
'266,961 
315,935 
334,373 
176,035 

666,596 
767,448 
870,940 
864,501 
863,826 
798,510 
718,650 
714,818 
734,373 
704,676 
780,421 
804,816 
495,315 
929,415 
841,528* 

1889  

38.109 
39,104 
37,944 
34,643 
34,373 
25,459 

1890  .     . 

1891 

1892  
1893  

1894  

1895  
1896  
1897  
1898  

1900  

1,704000 
1,471,000 

578,741 

350,674 

In  the  statistics  of  the  Home  Office  for  1900  the  product  of  Glamorgan- 
lire  is  combined  with  Denbigh,   and   Monmouth  with   Flint,    both   of  which 
ombinations  are  questionable.    To  get  the  total  for  1900  I  have  subtracted 
the  output  of  Denbigh  and  Flint  for  1899  from  the  total  given  for  1900 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


717 


one  of  the  best  arranged  plants  in  Great  Britain.  Table  XXIII-M 
gives  a  list  of  the  principal  plants  in  the  district,  and  Tables 
XXIIKN"  and  0  give  certain  statistics. 

TABLE  XXIII-0. 
Imports  of  Iron  Ore  at  Ports  on  the  Bristol  Channel. 


Year. 

Cardiff. 

Newport. 

Swansea. 

Others. 

Total. 

1882 

599  000 

738000 

144000 

1  481  000 

1883 

656  000 

749000 

170000 

1  575000 

1884 

481  000 

627'  000 

139000 

1  247  000 

1885  
1886  
1887  

440,000 
443,000 
472000 

673,000 
571,000 
742,000 

159,000 
113,000 
112,000 

3,000 
7,000 
9,000 

1,275,000 
1,134,000 
1,335,000 

10OU 

544  ooo 

694  000 

104000 

1  342000 

1889   

633,000 

678,000 

135IOOO 

1,000 

1417,000 

1890  
1891 

647,000 
486  000 

778,000 
469000 

151,000 
135,000 

2,000 
1,000 

1,478,000 
1,091,000 

1392    

583000 

439,000 

146,000 

2,000 

1,170,000 

1893 

644000 

377,000 

137,000 

6,000 

1,164,000 

1894  ........ 

640,000 

448,OfO 

178,000 

2,000 

1,268,000 

1895  
1896 

653,000 
655000 

415,000 
453  000 

152,000 
189000 

1,000 

1,221,000 
1  297  000 

1897 

723000 

620,000 

210,000 

1,000 

1,554,000 

1898 

478  000 

247  000 

185000 

910000 

1890  

832,000 

619,000 

251,000 

2,000 

1,704,(00 

1900  

780,000 

435,000 

255,000 

1,000 

1,471,000 

SEC.  XXIIIe. — Lancashire  and  Cumberland: 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  J.  M.  While,  general  manager  of  the  Barrow  Works,  for 
reading  the  manuscript  relating  to  this  district. 

The  county  of  Lancaster  reaches  across  Morecambe  Bay  and 
includes  Barrow-in-Furness  and  the  Barrow  Steel  Works.  It  is 
in  this  detached  portion  of  Lancashire  and  the  neighboring  portion 
of  Cumberland  that  all  the  ore  is  raised  and  a  great  part  of  the 
iron  and  steel  made.  It  is  the  custom,  however,  to  keep  the  records 
by  geographical  rather  than  by  natural  lines,  and  the  output  of 
Barrow-in-Furness  is  combined  with  the  output  of  South  Lan- 
cashire and  sometimes  with  that  of  Derby.  This  last  named 
county  produces  no  ore,  but  its  output  of  both  coal  and  pig-iron  is 
about  two-thirds  as  muoli  as  Lancashire.  The  figures  on  the  map 
therefore  give  a  somewhat  wrong  impression,  as  it  would  naturally 
be  inferred  that  the  ore  of  Lancashire  was  produced  in  the  southern 
portion.  The  enclosure  is  so  placed  to  indicate  the  seat  of  the  iron 
manufacture  in  that  part  of  the  county  and  in  Derbyshire.  In 
Table  XXIII-B  the  county  of  Derby  is  joined  to  Nottingham  to 
make  a  separate  district. 

The  especial  feature  of  Cumberland  and  Northwest  Lancashire  is 


718  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

the  deposit  of  what  is  known  as  West  Coast  hematites.  Up  to 
1830  these  beds  were  little  known  and  no  pig-iron  was  smelted  in 
either  Cumberland  or  Lancashire.  In  1854  the  production  of  ore 
was  579,000  tons,  but  this  was  sent  to  South  Wales  and  South  Staf- 
fordshire. In  1860  the  output  had  increased  to  990,000,  in  1870 
it  was  2,093,000,-  and  in  1880  it  reached  2,759,000  tons.  With  this 
great  development  of  the  ore  beds,  blast  furnaces  sprang  up  both 
in  Cumberland  and  Northwest  Lancashire,  and  in  1860  there  were 
169,000  tons  of  pig-iron  smelted.  In  1870  this  had  increased  to 
678,000  tons,  while  in  1880  the  record  was  1,541,000  tons.  It  will 
be  found  that  in  1880  the  amount  of  ore  mined  in  these  two  coun- 
ties, which  as  above  stated  was  2,759,000  tons,  is  just  sufficient  to 
account  for  the  production  of  1,541,000  tons  of  pig-iron,  since  the 
ore  contained  about  54  per  cent,  of  metal;  so  that  although  there 
were  over  3,000,000  tons  of  foreign  ore  unloaded  that  year  at  Brit- 
ish ports,  it  would  not  seem  as  if  foreign  ore  was  needed  in  this 
vicinity.  Nevertheless  the  Home  Office  Eeports  for  1882  show 
that  some  300,000  tons  were  imported  on  the  West  Coast.  One- 
third  of  this  came  to  Chester  and  Liverpool  and  hence  need  not  be 
considered  as  directly  competing  with  the  local  ore,  but  another 
third  was  unloaded  at  Fleetwood,  just  across  the  bay  from  Barrow, 
while  one-third  was  taken  to  Barrow,  Workington,  Whitehaven  and 
Maryport,  on  the  very  borders  of  the  ore  region. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  these  hematites  were  a  most  Important 
factor  in  the  iron  industry.  A  large  quantity  of  the  pig-iron  was 
exported,  much  of  it  to  America,  its  low  phosphorus  content,  often 
about  .04  per  cent.,  rendering  it  especially  valuable  for  acid  Bes- 
semer work.  That  day  has  passed  away  and  the  deposits  are  thin- 
ning out.  In  1900  there  were  only  1,733,791  tons  of  ore  mined, 
or  only  five-eighths  of  the  output  in  1880.  The  pig-iron  produc- 
tion in  the  two  counties  is  maintained  by  the  use  of  Spanish  ores. 
The  coke  is  brought  from  Durham,  a  distance  of  from  60  to  100 
miles,  or  from  West  Yorkshire. 

The  supply  of  ore  at  one  mine  has  been  prolonged  by  building  a 
sea  wall  through  an  arm  of  a  bay  and  pumping  the  pond  dry.  The 
success  of  this  undertaking  led  to  a  larger  project  along  the  same 
line  when  the  newly  won  territory  showed  signs  of  exhaustion. 
The  value  of  the  iron  ore  is  given  in  the  Home  Office  Eeports  as 
$3.95  per  ton  for  a  51  per  cent,  ore,  equal  to  7.74  cents  per  unit, 
and  at  this  rate  the  ore  will  cost  $7.35  for  each  ton  of  pig-iron 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


719 


containing  95  per  cent,  of  iron.  This  does  not  include  the  trans- 
portation from  mine  to  furnace.  It  must  also  be  noted  that  the 
Home  Office  Eeports  for  1899  gave  the  metallic  content  of  the  ore 
as  53  per  cent,  on  the  average,  while  the  figure  for  1900  is  ahout 
51  per  cent.  The  value  per  ton  however  is  given  at  a  higher  figure 
in  1900,  notwithstanding  the  poorer  quality. 

The  two  counties  of  Lancaster  and  Cumberland  in  the  year  1900 
produced  26,86.5,193  tons  of  coal,  or  about  12  per  cent,  of  the  total, 
almost  all  of  this  coming  from  Lancashire.  The  production  of 
pig-iron  was  1,585,925  tons,  or  about  18  per  cent,  of  the  total, 
while  the  steel  constituted  14  per  cent,  of  the  outturn  of  the  King- 
dom. There  were  also  produced  175,000  tons  of  puddled  bar,  being 
15  per  cent,  of  the  total  output  of  the  Kingdom.  Almost  all  of 
this  was  made  in  Lancashire. 


TABLE  XXIII-P. 
Iron  and  Steel  Plants  in  Cumberland  and  Lancashire. 


Name  of  Works. 

Location. 

Blast  Fur- 
naces. 

Bessemer  Con- 
verters. 

Open  Hearth 
Furnaces. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Barrow  Hem.  S.  Co  
London  &  Northwestern. 
Moss  Bay  .... 

Barrow  in  Furness... 
Crewe  

12 

4 
4 

7 

10 

Workington   ... 

4 

3 

Cammell,  Chas.,  &  Co..  .  . 
Bolton  I.  &  8  Co  

Bolton  

5 

Wigan  C  &  I  Co 

Wigan 

10 

6 

Salford  

Manchester    

2 

Millom  &  Askam  Co  
Carnforth  Hem.  I.  &  S.Co. 
N'rth  Lonsdale  I.  &  S.  Co. 

Cammell  &  Co  ...  j 

N'rth  west'rn  H.I.&  S.  Co. 
Others  

Askham 

9 
4 

4 

Derwent  ) 

8 

5 
25 

Solway  J 

Total         

81 

24 

6 

The  principal  plants  are  given  in  Table  XXIII-P,  the  Barrow 
Works  being  in  Northwest  Lancashire,  in  Barrow-in-Furness,  and 
the  other  large  works  in  Cumberland.  The  furnaces  of  Millom 
and  Askam  Company  make  iron  for  the  open  market,  and  one  of 
them,  started  in  August,  1901,  is  built  on  the  most  modern  Ameri- 
can lines. 

Tables  XXlII-Q  and  E  give  statistics  concerning  this  district. 
The  imports  of  ore  at  Chester,,  Liverpool  and  Manchester  are: 


720 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


grouped  separately,  as  these  ports  supply  quite  a  different  region 
from  the  northern  points.  It  is  likely  that  a  considerable  propor- 
tion of  the  imports  at  these  more  southern  harbors  goes  to  fur- 
naces outside  of  Lancashire, 

TABLE  XXIII-Q. 

Production  of  Ore  and  Pig-Iron  and  Imports  of  Ore  on  the  West 

Coast. 

See  also  Tables  XXIII-C  and  XXIII-D  for  data  before  1882. 


< 

)re  Raised. 

Ore  Im- 

Pig Iron. 

Veai-. 

Cumberland. 

Lancashire. 

Total 

ported 

Cumberland. 

Lancashire 

Total. 

1882.. 

1,726,235 

1,410,111 

3,136,351 

302.000 

790,999 

1,001,181 

1.792,180 

1883.. 

1,478,062 

1,372,815 

2  850  877 

302,000 

796.770 

876,445 

1  673.215 

1884.. 
1XR.S 

1,358,090 

1,237,285 

2,595,375 

279.000 
223,000 

715,328 

845.792 

1.561.120 

1886.. 

1,261,655 

1  216.193 

2.477,848 

308.000 

695.048 

715.228 

1.410.276 

1887.. 

1.480,553 

U92.467 

2,673.020 

368.000 

755.441 

945,258 

1.700.699 

1888.. 

1,67380* 

1.106.013 

2.679,817 

232.000 

745.740 

854.238 

3.599.978 

1889.. 

1.594!461 

1021.990 

2,616.451 

272,000 

761.748 

900.433 

1.662.181 

1890.. 

1.431.159 

968.467 

2.399.626 

404.000 

737.026 

832.614 

1,569  640 

1891: 

1,417,860 

977.130 

2,394.990 

148,000 

715.305 

724,750 

1.440.05;* 

1892.. 

1.355,007 

845395 

2.200.402 

237,000 

593,245 

605,478 

1.198.723 

1893.  . 

1,352.410 

876.672 

2.229.082 

180,000 

584.401 

713,052 

1,297.453 

1894.. 

1286.590 

870,617 

2.157.207 

122.000 

606,899 

688,744 

1295643 

1896.. 

1215,410 

798,325 

2.013.735 

143,000 

540.298 

648,740 

1,189,038 

1896.. 

1  279.558 

816.570 

2.096.128 

458.000 

680,001 

771,420 

1,451,421 

1897.. 

1  294,160 

783.427 

2  077,587 

643,000 

706.893 

819,475 

1,526.368 

1898.. 

1,251,764 

749.427 

2,001,191 

806.000 

732,853 

886,210 

1.619,063 

1899.. 

1,137,750 

670,924 

1.808,674 

1.402.000 

744,065 

954.637 

1.698.702 

1900.. 

1,103,430 

630,361 

1,733,791 

1,102,000 

729,074 

856,851 

1,585.925 

TABLE  XXIII-R. 
Imports  of  Iron  Ore  at  Ports  on  the  West  Coast. 


Year. 

Barrow. 

Mary  port. 

Workington. 

Chester,  Liv- 
erpool, and 
Manchester. 

Others. 

Total. 

1882..  . 
1883..  . 
1884  . 

26.000 
5.000 

13000 
6.000  ' 
12  000 

51.000 
41.000 
27  000 

97.000 
129.000 
141  000 

115.000 
121,000 

on  om 

302.000 
302.000 

1885.  . 
1886.  - 
1887.  . 
1888.  . 
1889.  . 
1890.  . 
1891.  . 
1892.  . 

10,000 
21,000 
9,000 
19,000 
21,000 
99.000 
27.000 
47.000 

27,000 
60.000 
125,000 
126.000 
113.000 
185,000 
61.000 
75000 

25.000 
35,000 
48.000 
12.000 
14,000 
7,000 
1,000 

138,000 
156.000 
151,000 
56,000 
111.000 
88,000 
51.000 
105000 

23,000 
36000 
35.000 
19,000 
13.000 
25.000 
8.000 
10  000 

223.000 
308.000 
368.000 
232.000 
272.000 
404.000 
148.000 
237  000 

1893.  . 

24,000 

67000 

8^000 

4  000 

1  80  000 

1894.  . 

16,000 

55000 

46  000 

5  000 

1  Vi  flflfl 

1895.  . 
1896.  . 
1897.  . 
1898.  . 
1*99.  . 
1900.  . 

33,000 
154,000 
126,000 
203,000 
450.000 
304,000 

61.000 
188,000 
381.000 
357,000 
523.000 
482,000 

15,000 
37.000 
44.000 
118.000 
219.000 
145,000 

32.000 
68,000 
81.000 
83.000 
103,000 
70.000 

2.000 
11.000 
11.000 
45.000 
107,000 
101.000 

143,000 
458.000 
643000 
806.000 
1,402  000 
1  102.000 

GREAT   BRITAIN, 


721 


SEC.  XXIIIf.— South  Yorkshire: 

The  district  of  South  and  West  Yorkshire  includes  the  historic 
iron  works  of  Bradford,  Leeds  and  Sheffield.  It  has  never  been  a 
great  producer  of  iron  ore  or  of  pig-iron,  but  the  town  of  Sheffield 
was  known  five  hundred  years  ago  as  a  maker  of  steel,  and  it  was 
here  that  the  crucible  process  had  its  birth.  The  present  impor- 
tance of  the  district  comes  from  the  old  established  works  and  the 
subsidiary  steel-using  establishments  and  finishing  mills  that  have 
grown  up  around  some  of  the  landmarks  of  the  iron  trade. 


TABLE  XXIII-S. 
Iron  and  Steel  Plants  in  South  Yorkshire. 


Name  of  Works. 

Location. 

Blast  Furn- 
aces. 

Bessemer  Con- 
verters. 

Open  Hearth 
Furnaces, 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Brown,  Bay  ley  &  Co.,  Attercliffe. 
Bessemer,  H.,  &  Co  .  Bessemer  — 
Fox  Samuel  &  Co  

Sheffield.. 



2 
2 
2 
2 

'."..'.'.'.'. 

4 
2 

Steel,  Peach  &  Tozer,  Phcenix  
Cammell  &  Co    Cv  clops  

i% 

3 
6 

t; 

Scott,  Waiter.  Leeds  Steel  Works, 
Parkgate  Iron  Co  

Leeds  
Sheffield.. 

3 
5 
3 

4 

1 
5 
4 

5 

Brown,  J  .  &  Co  ,  Atlas  

Firth  &  Sons  Norfolk  

Vickers  Sons  &  Maxim                           " 

4 
3 

7 

Hadfield  St  Fdy  Co  " 

Others  ...                                

W.  Yorkshire  Iron  and  Coal  Co  

5 
4 
6 

Lowmoor  Co  

Others             . 

Total          

5 

26 

39 

i 

TABLE  XXIII-T. 
Production  of  Pig-Iron  in  South  Yorkshire  (Sheffield.) 

See  also  Tables  XX11I-C  and  XX11I-D  for  data  on  ore  production,  and  for  years  before  1882 


Year. 

Output. 

Year. 

Output 

Year. 

Output. 

Year 

Output 

1882..... 

321  ,430 

1887  

178.455 

1892...     . 

261.537 

1897  

294.846 

1883  

304.381 

1888  

190.846 

1893...     . 

155.027 

1898  

297.490 

1884  

248,313 

1889  

229.029 

1894...     . 

225.185 

1899  

305.583 

1885  



1890  

248,581 

1895... 

195123 

1900  

290.601 

1886  

137.307 

Ib91  

2^8.354 

1896...     . 

289.497 

In  1900  it  raised  13  per  cent,  of  all  the  coal  produced  in  Great 
Britain.     It  produced  very  little  iron  ore  and  made  only  290,601 


722  THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

tons  of  pig-iron,  or  3  per  cent,  of  the  total  output;  but  it 
588,000  tons  of  steel,  this  being  12  per  cent,  of  the  total  of  the 
Kingdom.  It  also  made  137,000  tons  of  puddled  bar,  or  12  per 
cent,  of  the  total  made. 

The  principal  steel  works  in  the  district  are  shown  in  Table 
XXIII-S,  and  the  yearly  output  of  pig-iron  is  given  in  Table 
XXIII-T. 

SEC.  XXIIIg.— Staffordshire: 

It  is  customary  to  divide  this  county  into  a  northern  and  south- 
ern portion.  Forty  years  ago  the  south  produced  more  ore  than 
the  north  and  three  times  as  much  pig-iron.  The  ore  was  a  poor 
ironstone  imbedded  in  the  shale  of  the  coal  formations,  but  the 
deposit  has  slowly  become  exhausted  and  it  is  necessary  to  excavate 
so  much  shale  that  the  selected  ore  is  very  expensive.  For  these 
reasons  the  mining  of  ore  has  almost  ceased  in  this  southern  por- 
tion and  the  furnaces  run  on  hematite  from  Lancashire,  or  Spain, 
blackband  from  North  Staffordshire,  or  the  cheap  but  silicious 
ores  of  Northamptonshire,  which  need  only  be  hauled  60  miles. 

In  North  Staffordshire  the  ore  consists  mainly  of  blackband. 
Bell  gives  the  details  of  the  occurrence  in  one  mine  as  follows  : 

(1)  Blackband  14  inches  thick  lying  on  the  top  of  18  inches  of 
poor  coal. 

(2)  "Red  slag  ironstone,"  16  inches  thick,  lying  above  2  feet  of 
poor  coal. 

(3)  "Red  mine  stone"  20  inches  thick  with  18  inches  of  coal. 
There  is  also  a  bed  of  clay  ironstone  3%  feet  in  thickness.    The 

yield  of  pig-iron  from  the  calcined  blackband  is  about  50  per  cent, 
and  the  value  in  1900  is  officially  reported  as  $1.82.  The  amount 
raised  in  that  year  was  1,083,421  tons,  so  that  this  deposit  is  of  no 
small  economic  interest. 

The  whole  county  in  1900  produced  14.227,076  tons  of  coal,  or 
6  per  cent,  of  the  total  output ;  1,084,797  tons  of  ore  or  8  per  cent, 
of  the  total,  almost  all  being  in  the  northern  portion  as  above 
stated;  596,807  tons  of  pig-iron  or  7  per  cent,  of  the  total,  this 
being  nearly  equally  divided  between  north  and  south.  It  made 
367,000  tons  of  steel,  or  7  per  cent,  of  the  total.  Of  this  amount 
142,000  tons  were  Bessemer  steel,  all  made  in  basic  vessels, 

The  county  also  made  379,000  tons  of  puddled  bar  in  530  fur- 
naces, which  is  one-third  of  the  entire  output  of  Great  Britain. 
Two-thirds  of  this  is  made  in  South  Staffordshire.  This  is  the 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


723 


-only  district  in  Great  Britain  where  the  puddling  industry  is  hold- 
ing its  own. 

Table  XXIII-U  gives  the  annual  output  of  ore  and  pig-iron. 

TABLE  XXIII-U. 
Production  of  Ore  and  Pig-Iron  in  North  and  South  Staffordshire. 

See  also  Tables  XXIII-C  and  XXII I  D  for  data  before  1882. 


Ore 

Pig  Iron. 

North. 

South. 

Total. 

North. 

South. 

Total. 

1882 

1  887  120 

135  4QQ 

2  022  529 

275  577 

247667 

523  244 

1883 

l'(582  600 

114  644 

l'797  244 

267  911 

285  325 

553*236 

1884  

l'783'800 

89'  945 

l'  873'  745 

296256 

279'  737 

575*993 

1885  

1886  

1  499300 

91  755 

1  591  055 

233500 

'  236  137 

469  637 

1887 

840400 

97  618 

938  018 

260201 

240  724 

500  925 

1888  

1  629'  277 

60*491 

1  689'768 

279  169 

310  451 

589  620 

1889 

1  211  496 

51  182 

1  262  678 

276  219 

328489 

604  708 

1890  

1  1*3'447 

41,063 

l'224'510 

255,777 

289,648 

545  425 

1891  .  . 

1  023  885 

47  236 

1  071  121 

232254 

311  816 

544  070 

1892  

'99fl'895 

49*745 

l'040'640 

241,416 

308  194 

549  610 

1893.  . 

770607 

38  172 

808779 

199  010 

285531 

484  541 

1894  

815  368 

31  147 

846515 

210,069 

282302 

492'  371 

1895  

828  856 

31  205 

860061 

193647 

265411 

459058 

1896 

901  356 

30096 

931  452 

236  176 

308  459 

544  635 

9897  .  . 

892'  421 

34'  100 

926'  521 

242688 

324'  059 

566*747 

1898 

1  058  349 

53  363 

1  111  712 

268357 

332  869 

601  226 

1899  

1  '020'  932 

48'826 

1  '069*758 

283212 

338'283 

621*495 

1900.  .  .  . 

1  040  605 

44  192 

1  084,797 

272  617 

324  190 

5%  807 

SEC.  XXIIIh.— North  Wales: 

In  the  Home  Office  Report  for  1900  the  statistics  for  North  and 
South  Wales  are  combined  in  a  very  curious  way,  for  the  pig-iron 
output  of  Denbigh  in  North  Wales  is  included  in  Glamorganshire 
in  the  south,  while  that  of  Flint,  adjoining  Denbigh,  is  combined 
with  the  southern  English  county  of  Monmouth.  In  Tables 
XXIII-C  and  D  will  be  found  data  on  the  output  of  ore  and  pig- 
iron.  In  making  up  the  averages  I  have  assumed  that  the  output 
in  1900  for  Denbigh  and  Flint  was  the  same  as  in  1899  and  have 
corrected  the  figures  for  the  southern  counties  accordingly. 

SEC.  XXIIIi. — The  Eastern  Central  District;  Lincoln,  Leices- 
ter and  Northampton;  and  the  Central  District;  Derby  and  Not- 
tingham : 

The  eastern  shore  of  England,  just  south  of  the  Humber,  is  not 
usually  regarded  as  one  of  the  great  iron  centers  of  the  world,  but 
it  is  of  considerable  consequence.  The  three  counties  of  Lincoln, 
Leicester  and  Northampton  in  1900  produced  over  30  per  cent,  of 


724  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

all  the  ore  raised  in  Great  Britain,  and  they  made  nearly  as  much 
pig-iron  as  South  Wales  and  more  than  Staffordshire. 

The  ore  of  Lincolnshire  is  an  oolite,  occurring  in  a  bed  measur- 
ing from  ten  to  twenty  feet  thick,  and  is  very  easily  mined.  It  is 
only  two  or  three  feet  below  the  surface  and  is  worked  in  open 
quarry.  It  varies  very  much  and  Bell  gives  the  composition  for 
each  foot  in  depth  for  eight  successive  feet,  stating  that  the  results 
are  typical.  The  figures  show  that  in  the  wet  state  the  iron  was 
anywhere  from  21  to  37  per  cent.,  and  in  the  dry  state  from  21 
to  45  per  cent.  The  ore  is  sorted  more  or  less  by  hand-and-eye 
inspection,  and  the  average  product  in  a  dry  state  carries  34  per 
cent,  of  iron  with  about  6  per  cent,  of  silica  and  28  per  cent,  of 
carbonic  acid  and  lime,  the  latter  making  the  ore  self-fluxing.  It 
is  even  a  little  too  calcareous  and  needs  mixing  with  a  silicious  ore. 
Its  value  is  given  as  75  cents  at  the  mines.  The  ore  was  once 
undoubtedly  a  carbonate,  but  by  exposure  it  has  been  changed  to  a 
hydrated  peroxide  and  it  is  therefore  used  without  calcining. 

Northampton  raises  an  increasing  amount  of  a  very  lean  and 
silicious  iron  ore,  some  of  which  is  smelted  nearby,  and  the  rest 
sent  to  Staffordshire  and  elsewhere.  The  ore  gives  about  38  per 
cent,  in  the  pig-iron,  and  is  worked  in  the  open  from  a  bed  18  feet 
thick.  After  paying  royalty  the  ore  can  be  delivered  at  nearby 
furnaces  for  65  cents  per  ton.  This  gives  a  cost  of  $1.70  for  the 
ore  per  ton  of  pig-iron,  but  the  high  silica  renders  the  smelting 
costly. 

The  deposits  in  this  part  of  England  are  related  geologically  to 
the  Cleveland  beds  and  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  southern  out- 
crop. The  use  of  these  lean  ores  is  a  rather  recent  development, 
just  as  in  Luxemburg  the  Minette  deposit  has  come  only  recently 
into  great  prominence.  In  1830  there  were  only  5300  tons  of 
iron  made  from  the  lean  ores  of  Cleveland  and  Lincolnshire.  In 
1860  Cleveland  mined  1,480,000  tons  of  ore  and  by  1870  this  had 
risen  to  4,300,000  tons,  and  by  1880  to  6,260,000  tons.  The  in- 
crease has  not  continued  in  Cleveland,  which  in  1900  mined  only 
5,493,733  tons,  but  the  mines  of  the  southern  district  are  coming 
to  the  front.  In  1860  this  region  raised  only  118,000  tons,  in 
1870,  1,048,000  tons,  in  1880,  2,766,000  tons,  while  in  1900  the 
output  of  the  three  counties  of  Lincoln,  Leicester  and  Northamp- 
ton reached  4,298,145  tons.  Thus,  although  the  production  of 
the  Cleveland  district  has  fallen  since  1880,  the  total  production 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


725 


of  the  lean  ores  from  this  geological  horizon  has  increased  from 
9,026,000  to  9,818,000  tons.  Estimating  the  average  iron  content 
of  the  ore  at  32  per  cent,  and  the  iron  in  the  pig  at  93  per  cent, 
this  amount  of  ore  represents  about  3,300,000  tons  of  pig-iron,  or 
about  37  per  cent,  of  the  total  pig-iron  made  in  the  Kingdom. 

TABLE  XXIII-V. 
Production  of  Ore  and  Pig-iron  in  Eastern  Central  England. 

See  also  Tables  XXIII-C  and  XXIII-D  for  data  before  1882. 


Or 

e. 

Pig  Iron. 

Yc&r. 

Leicester. 

Lincoln. 

Northamp- 
ton. 

Total. 

Lincoln  and 
Leicester. 

Northamp- 
ton. 

Total. 

1882.. 

267,802 

1.287,289 

1,333,085 

2,888,186 

201,561 

192,115 

393,676 

1883.. 

294,825 

1,107,793 

1,290,087 

2,692,705 

237,068 

216,641 

453,709 

1884.. 

261,837 

1,348,693 

1  279,783 

2,890,313 

259,398 

196,212 

455,610 

1885 

1886.. 

390,687 

1,193,621 

996,440 

2,580,748 

242,342 

197,853 

440,195 

1887.. 

372,773 

1,305,929 

935,473 

2,614,175 

251,869 

236,390 

488,259 

1888.. 

535.831 

,345,101 

1,066,746 

2,947,678 

298,673 

236,841 

535,514 

1889.. 

582,858 

,560,690 

1,257,080 

3;400,548 

336,175 

230,820 

566,995 

1890 

609,964 

1,052,409 

1,278,381 

2,940,754 

268,405 

225,046 

493,451 

1891.. 

6i6,125 

,214,131 

1,043,541 

2,903,797 

284,766 

194,395 

479,161 

1892 

680,985 

,459,404 

1,120,365 

3,260,754 

279,556 

177,817 

457,373 

1893.. 

471.098 

,039,112 

719.071 

2,229,281 

216,575 

143,815 

360,390 

1894.. 

568,026 

,554,286 

1,130,773 

3.253,085 

343,616 

223,348 

566,964 

1895.. 

598,551 

,554462 

1,082,252 

3,225,265 

349.232 

254,744 

603,976 

18%.. 

702,842 

,576779 

1,263,650 

3,543,271 

361,029 

274,462 

635,491 

1897.. 

714,651 

,765,365 

1,264  915 

3,744,931 

363,487 

249,824 

613,  311 

1898.. 

696.015 

848.404 

1,406150 

3,950.569 

381,824 

250,835 

632.659 

1899.. 

677,667 

2,094,330 

1,779.710 

4,551,707 

408,989 

279,301 

688,290 

1900.. 

750,708 

1,924,898 

1,622,539 

4,298,145 

388,745 

247,908 

636,653 

TABLE  XXIII-W. 
Production  of  Pig-iron  in  Derbyshire  and  Nottinghamshire 

(Central  England). 
Statistics  formerly  kept  separate,  but  now  combined. 

See  also  Tables  XXIII-C  and  XXIII-D  for  data  before  1882. 


Year. 

Derby. 

Nottingham 

Total. 

Year. 

Derby  and  Not- 
tingham. 

1882 

372  650 

73085 

445735 

1892  

481  449 

1883  
1S84 

353,474 
359338 

68,740 
78  175 

422,214 
437-513 

1893  
1894  

343!  115 
376  726 

1835    

1895  

413  454 

1S86 

296213 

50119 

346,332 

1896  

455  487 

1887 

296  118 

1897 

488  472 

1383         

362.744 

1898  

529*208 

1339      

378  464 

91  650 

470  114 

1899  

571  994 

2890  

387.760 

75-300 

463  660 

1900  

561  626 

1891  

387.127 

83821 

470.951 

726  THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

In  the  counties  of  Lincoln,  Leicester  and  Northampton  there  are 
47  blast  furnaces,  of  which  32  were  active  in  1900.  In  Derby  and 
Nottingham  there  are  54  furnaces,  43  being  active.  It  might  seem 
from  a  glance  at  the  map  that  Nottinghamshire  should  be  com- 
bined with  Lincolnshire  and  Leicestershire,  but  in  the  Home  Office 
Keports  its  output  of  pig-iron  is  joined  with  that  of  Derbyshire. 
Neither  Derby  nor  Nottingham  produces  iron  ore  in  quantity  worth 
mentioning,  so  that  the  apparently  arbitrary  division  is  founded  on 
good  reason,  Tables  XXIII-V  and  W  give  detailed  information 
concerning  these  two  districts. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

GERMANY. 

SEC.  XXI Va.— General  View: 

The  discussion  of  the  German  iron  industry  as  it  appeared  in 
the  former  edition  was  founded  principally  on  knowledge  gained 
by  personal  inspection.  There  were  also  at  hand  a  most  valuable 
series  of  letters  by  Kirchhoff,  which  were  printed  in  The  Iron 
Age,  of  which  he  is  editor.  They  began  in  May,  1900,  and  later 
were  issued  in  book  form.  The  manuscript  for  the  former  edi- 
tion was  submitted  both  to  Dr.  Wedding,  of  Berlin,  and  Herr 
Schrodter,  editor  of  Stahl  und  Eisen  at  Dusseldorf.  Since  this 
book  was  published  it  has  been  read  by  other  friends  in  Germany, 
and  I  ami  indebted  particularly  to  Mr.  Franz  J.  Miiller,  General 
Director  of  The  Rheinische  Steelworks  at  Ruhrort,  and  to  0.  von 
Kraewel,  Superintendent  of  the  same  Company,  for  a  very  critical 
review,  and  their  information  has  been  used  in  this  edition.  Much 
matter  has  also  been  derived  from  a  paper  by  Brugmann.*  It 
need  hardly  be  said  that  none  of  my  friends  can  be  held  responsible 
for  personal  or  political  opinions. 

In  the  matter  of  statistics  Germany  is  lamentably  weak.  The 
Government  regularly  gathers  an  immense  mass  of  figures,  which 
are  duly  published  in  all  the  journals  and  technical  papers,  but 
they  are  worthless.  I  spent  much  time  and  money  collecting  the 
records  for  the  former  edition,  but  must  state  that  they  were  in 
error.  Germany  recognizes  three  kinds  of  product:  (1)  Ingots 
for  sale;  (2)  half  finished  product;  (3)  finished  product;  but  if 
one  works  sells  ingots  to  another,  and  the  second  works  makes 
billets  and  sells  them  to  a  third  mill  for  rerolling,  then  this  steel 
is  put  in  the  total  three  separate  times.  A  very  large  amount  is 
actually  added  twice,  because  almost  all  the  wire  mills  in  Germany 
are  independent.  Within  the  last  two  or  three  years,  the  total 
production  of  ingots  in  the  whole  of  Germany  has  been  collected. 
Before  that  time  no  statistics  were  reliable,  and  even  now  tihere  are 
no  data  published  as  to  the  output  of  separate  districts.  I  am  able 
however  to  present  in  tihis  edition  for  the  first  time,  a  reasonably 

*  Jour.  I.  AS.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1902. 


728 


THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 


accurate  estimate  by  high  authority  of  the  output  by  districts  for 
the  year  1902-03.  The  figures  will  be  found  in  Table  XXIV-C. 
They  differ  widely  from  the  former  statement,  but  it  will  be  noted 


t 


that  the  present  figures  cover  the  output  of  ingots,  while  the  pre- 
vious edition  took  cognizance  only  of  finished  material,  fhus  ex- 
cluding billets  for  export  either  abroad  or  outside  the  district. 


GERMANY. 


729 


The  data  on  steel  works  and  blast  furnaces  and  puddling  plants 
have  been  taken  from  the  Gemeinfassliche  Darstellung  des  Eisen- 
hiittenwesens  for  1900.  The  boundaries  of  each  district  have  been 
faithfully  reproduced  from  a  drawing  by  Dr.  Wedding,  but  it  is 
'impossible  to  take  these  limits  as  true  for  all  the  statistics  given. 
For  instance,  the  map  shows  the  area  of  the  Ruhr  coal  basin,  which 

TABLE  XXIV-A. 
Production  of  Pig  Iron,  Ore,  Coke  and  Coal  in  Germany. 

Note :     Districts  are  in  the  order  of  their  pig-iron  output. 

Data  for  1899  from  Wedding ;  for  1900  from  Schrb'dter ;  details  for  pig-Iron, 
ore  and  coal  for  1900  are  not  at  hand  in  the  same  grouping  as  given  here,  but 
the  totals  as  published  for  each  province  indicate  that  the  output  is  about  the 
same  for  each  division  in  1899  and  1900. 


District. 

Pig  Iron,  1899. 

Ore,  1899. 

Coke,  1900. 

Coal,  1899. 

Tons. 

Per 

Cent. 

Tons. 

Per 

Cent. 

Tons. 

Per 
Cent. 

Bituminous. 
Tons. 

Lignite. 
Tons. 

Ruhr     

3,186,704 
1,290,264 
982,930 
744,672 
656,942 
596,565 
152,7^6 
124,1*3 
115,200 
83,321 
80.342 
21,012 
none 
95,811 

39 
16 
12 
9 

8 
.  7 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 

""2" 

212,794 
6,972,758 
6,014,394 
476,823 
2,119,145 
none 
16,584 
799,728 
128.430 
184,020 
none 
756.758 
8,108 
28,558 
122,981 

1 
39 
34 
3 

12 

j{ 

9,644,000 
none 
none 
1.947,000 
none 
894,000 
267,000 

all  others 
33.000 

75 

is" 

55,184,138 
1,071,103 
none 
27,959,689 
none 
9,589.636 
1.764,398 
none 
547.822 
638.153 
none 
none 
4,546,756 
338,058 
none 

none 
none 
none 
609,515 
none 
none 
3.927,257 
1.544,805 
none 
37,277 
none 
277,337 
1,292,348 
1,851.542 
24,664,585 

Lothringen  
Luxemburg  — 
Silesia 

Siegen  

Stiar 

7 
2 

ii 

Aachen  

Ilsede 

Osnabruck  .... 
Bavaria  
Pomerania  
Lahn  
Saxony 

4 

74,000 

i 

Others  

Cent.  Germany 
Total  . 

1 

8,130,655 

100 

17,989,635 

100 

12,859.000 

100 

101,639,753 

34,204,666 

TABLE  XXIV-B. 

Movement  of  Ore  in  Germany  in  the  Year  1899  in  the  Districts 
Importing  or  Exporting  Across  the  Frontier. 


District. 

Lothringen 
and  Lux- 
emburg. 

Ruhr. 

Silesia. 

Pomerania. 

12,987  152 

212  794 

476,823 

none 

1  807  421 

1,271,052 

33,787 

1.884,769 

124,200 

1  384  447 

275  406 

329,705 

1,337  000 

Brought  from  the  Siegen,  the  Lahn  and 

4,734,600 

730 


THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 


is  the  foundation  of  the  prosperity  of  the  district,  and  it  shows 
the  outline  of  the  ore  deposits  in  Siegerland,  but  in  the  interval 
along  the  Khine  are  blast  furnaces  and  steel  works  and  countless 
works,  both  large  and  small,  some  making  their  own  steel  and 
some  buying  their  raw  material,  but  all  turning  out  some  of  the 
ten  thousand  articles  "of  German  manufacture,"  each  shop  special- 
ized for  something,  for  bolts,  for  scissors,  for  scythes,  or  for  needles, 
and  all  contributing  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Rhine  province. 

The  general  statistical  situation  is  shown  in  Tables  XXIV-A, 
B  and  C. 

TABLE  XXIV-C. 

Estimated  Output  of  Ingots  (including  castings)  in  Germany  for 
Twelve  Months,  1902-03 ;  metric  tons. 


District. 

Acid 
Bessemer. 

Basic 
Bessemer. 

Acid 
Open 
Hearth. 

Basic 
Open 
Hearth, 

Total. 

The  Ruhr  

240000 

2  246,000 

176,000 

1  667000 

4  329  000 

Silesia 

55  000 

242000 

292  000 

589  000 

Lothringen  

953000 

45000 

998  OOQ 

Luxemburg  

408000 

408  000 

The  Saar 

867  000 

10  000 

160  000 

1  037  000 

Saxony  

10800 

40  000 

7200 

85'000 

143  000 

Siegerland  

154,000 

154000 

Aachen  

287000 

46000 

333  000 

Ilsede-Peine  

239000 

239  000 

29,000 

30666 

59  000 

Bavaria  

100000 

30  000 

130  000 

Total  

334  800 

5  382  000 

193  200 

2  509  000 

8  419  000 

i     SEC.  XXIVb. — Lothringen  and  Luxemburg: 

The  province  of  Lothringen  is  the  old  French  Lorraine,  so  famil- 
iar to  every  one  as  a  great  arena  of  war.  Following  its  incorpora- 
tion into  the  Empire  of  Germany  not  only  was  its  name  changed 
so  as  to  be  in  accordance  witfo  the  German  language,  but  almost 
every  town  and  village  received  either  a  new  name  or  a  German 
prefix  or  suffix.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  was  quite  natural,  for  it 
as  quite  impossible  for  the  German  or  the  English  speaking  people 
to  pronounce  correctly  many  of  the  French  names,  and  it  would 
have  been  absurd  to  have  a  German  city  called  by  a  name  that  nine- 


GERMANY.  731 

tenths  of  the  German  inhabitants  could  not  pronounce.  English 
and  Americans  have  committed  worse  sins  without  excuse  in 
changing  the  spelling  of  Napoli  to  Naples,  Venezia  to  Venice,  and 
Wien  to  Vienna.  Moreover,  it  is  urged  by  my  German  friends 
that  the  new  spelling  is  really  the  original,  and  that  the  French 
were  the  real  offenders  in  changing  the  names  during  their  tem- 
porary occupation.  At  present  many  maps  of  Lothringen  contain 
the  odd  names,  and  these  are  used  exclusively  in  France  and  Bel- 
gium for  obvious  reasons,  and  also  very  widely  in  England  and 
America,  while  the  term  Lorraine  is  probably  known  to  a  hundred 
Americans  where  Lothringen  is  known  to  one.  This  change,  nat- 
ural though  it  is,  entails  endless  confusion  upon  the  traveler,  who 
might  be  supposed  to  guess  that  Hayange  means  Hayingen,  and 
Differdange,  Differdingen,  but  can  hardly  be  expected  to  know  that 
Diedenhofen  and  Thionville  are  the  same. 

Lothringen  is  a  fundamental  part  of  the  Empire,  unlike  Luxem- 
burg, which  is  merely  connected  with  it  through  a  tariff  treaty 
(zollvereki').  Both  districts  have  the  same  general  characteristics, 
and  rely  on  the  enormous  bed  of  iron  ore  which  extends  beyond 
their  borders  into  France  and  Belgium,  and  whose  known  contents 
will  supply  enough  iron  for  many  generations.  This  ore  goes  by 
the  term  "Minette,"  a  contemptuous  diminutive  once  given  it  by 
French  workmen ;  this  is  also  the  name  of  one  of  the  French,  prov- 
inces in  whicih  it  occurs.  It  is  an  oolite,  consisting  of  small  grains, 
each  one  of  which  is  made  up  of  concentric  shells  of  silicious  or  cal- 
careous matter,  and  hydrous  ferric  oxide. 

The  beds  throughout  the  greater  part  of  Lothringen  carry  an 
excess  of  lime,  but  near  the  Luxemburg  border  is  a  deposit  running 
high  in  silica  and  carrying  40  per  cent,  of  iron,  so  that  by  proper 
mixing  a  self-fluxing  burden  can  be  obtained. 

Table  XXIV-D  shows  the  composition  of  different  grades  of  ore 
according  to  different  authorities. 

.The  map  of  the  Minette  region  shown  in  Fig.  XXIV-B  was 
originally  made  by  Dr.  Wedding,  but  was  much  extended  and  com- 
pleted by  Kirchhoff.  The  formation  is  made  up  of  many  different 
beds,  and  these  vary  greatly  in  thickness,  the  deposit  in  the  north 
being  180  feet  thick,  while  in  the  south  it  is  only  20  feet ;  but  there 
is  no  regularity  at  intermediate  points,  either  in  thickness  or  in 
tine  arrangement  of  interstratified  rocks,  and  there  is  much  fault- 


732 


THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 


THE  MIJTETTE  DISTRICT 

OF  LOTHRIXGEX, 
LUXEMBURG  AND  ERAOTCE 

/        Nueres  M 

Limits  of  Iron  District 

Dots  indicate  Bloat  Furnaces 

Elanta  S   .  SCALE  OF  MILES  f 

612346678910 


FIG.  XXIV-B. 


GERMANY. 


733 


TABLE  XXIV-D. 

Composition  of  Ores  from  Lothringen  and  Luxemburg  and  Data 
showing  the  Thickness  of  the  Beds,  and  Thickness  of  Inter- 
mingled Strata  of  Earth  and  Limestone,  arranged  from 
Schrodter,  Stahl  und  Eisen,  March  15,  1896.  Also  data  from 
Wedding,  Eisenhiittenkunde,  Zweite,  1897,  p.  59;  Kohlmann, 
Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  XVIII,  p.  593 ;  and  Stahl  und  Eisen, 
Vol.  XX,  p.  1266. 

Note ;  the  boreholes  are  at  different  points  in  the  Aumetz  Arsweiler  district. 


Strata  and  Thickness  in  Feet. 

Fe 

Mn 

P 

SiOa 

CaO 

AlaO, 

Schrodter 
Depth  Thickness    Character 
Borehole   from          of               of 
Surface     Layer         Deposit 
A            0              16       Red  sand  

25.6 

33.3 

9  4 

16             10      Red  sand  

26  6 

31  3 

9  5 

26             41      Lime  &  clav. 

...... 

67               9      Red  Minette 

30  7 

7  5 

21  5 

57 

76               i      Lime  

...... 

77               1       Red  Minette. 

38  5 

9.2 

12  1 

6  9 

78               3      Red  Minette 

32  4 

10  0 

19  8 

5  8 

81               7      Red  ore 

39  4 

7  7 

11  6 

4  9 

88              19       Earth     ...   . 

107              13      Gray  ore 

33  7 

7  6 

20  0 

4  1 

120              16       Earth     .   ... 

39  0 

15  1 

(,-g  o 

4  1 

150                3       Blk    Minette 

21  0 

21  3 

l^5  3 

15  7 

153              12      Black  ore... 

41.1 

10.7 

4.6 

6  0 

165                3       Black  ore... 

33.0 

168               3      Black  ore..  . 

171               2      Black  ore.  .  . 

37.0 

7  0 

B            0             13       S  limestone. 

13                5       R.  sandy  ore 

21.0 

15.0 

18             25      S  limestone. 

43               4      Red  ore  
47              17      S.  limestone. 

24.0 



0.53 



24.0 





64               5      Red  ore  

69                6       S.  limestone. 

27.0 



0.59 



22.5 





75               7       Re  1  ore  
82              18       Marl  

28.0 







20.0 





100              17       Gray  ore.... 
117               3       Earth  

38  0 



0.84 



12.0 

6.0 



120               7       Gray  ore  .  .  . 
127              19       Earth  

35.0 

0.91 



12.9 

6.3 



146               10       Brown  ore  .  . 
156               9       Earth  

89.3 



0.82 

6.3 

7.7 



165                6       Black  « 
170               4       Earth  

36.9 



0.86 



6.8 

6.7 



174                4       Ore  .  .    . 

36  4 

0  57 

6  2 

4  5 

CO               9      Limestone.  .  . 

9                6       R  sandy  ore 

26.9 

20  0 

15              27       L'stone.marl 

42               4       Yellow  ore.. 

21.3 

19.5 

46                8       Blue  marl  .  .  . 

54               2      Gray  ore  

35.0 

12.0 

56               6      Gray  ore  .... 

42.6 

6  5 

62               7      Gray  ore... 

31  4 

15  2 

69                3       Gray  ore  

oo    o 

12.3 

72               2       Gray  ore  .... 
D            0             81      R.sand.marl 

29.8 







11.7 





81             12       Red  lime  ore 

44.5 

11.6 

6  3 

93              14       Poor    M.    & 
marl  

734 


THE  IKON  INDUSTRY. 


Table  XXI V-D— Continued. 


Strata  and  thickness  in  feet. 

Fe 

Mn 

P 

SiO2 

CaO 

A1208 

107             20      Gray  ore  .... 
127              12      Blue  marl  .  .  . 

45.6 





12.5 

4  .5 





"139             16      Brown  ore    . 

39.6 

25.5 

B           0             95      Lime  ores.  .  . 

95             20      Gray  ore  .... 

37  e 

12.3 

18  2 

115             15      Marl  

35  8 

21  1 

6  4 

148             14      Black  ore... 

42.0 

17.0 

3.0 

F           0              8      Red  sand  .  .  . 

CO, 

8             38      Earth  

29.4 

8.3 

30.4 

5.9 

16  0 

49              19       Earth  .... 

68               2      Yellow    .... 

34  7 

8  7 

15  7 

5  g 

IJJ  9 

70              12       Earth  

82               5      Yellow  

28.3 

17.9 

14  4 

8  3 

11  3 

87               6       Earth  

93             13      Gray  

34.1 

10.7 

14.2 

6  6 

106              21       Karth 

127               7       Brown  

38.8 

16.2 

4.7 

7.8 

134               8       Earth  

142               3       Black  

32.7 

21.8 

6.9 

6.1 

Wedding.           Red  Calcareous  

42.9 

tr 

0  54 

9  9 

14  8 

4.7 

H,O 

6  3 

Red  Silicious        .  . 

34  5 

0  7 

0  32 

23  6 

12  0 

5  8 

8  6 

Gray 

38  9 

0  92 

9  5 

1<5  3 

2  3 

17  5 

Brown  
Green  

21.5 
33  4 

"6*4 

0.71 
0  88 

16.5 
24  4 

21.0 
2  7 

6.4 
10  3 

25.1 
15  0 

Stahl  und  Eisen. 
Rumelange  Dudelange.. 
Esch  

33.2 
40.7 
39.5 

0.6 
0.4 
0.4 

0.80 
1.00 
1.00 

6.8 
7.5 
13.4 

16.3 
7.7 
6.4 

5.2 
4.7 
6.1 

Differdange  la  Madelaine 
Kohlmann. 
Black  ;  thickness  18  feet  

27.6 
•39.2 
18.2 

32  to  45 

0.3 
0.4 
0.2 

0.72 
0.81 
0.53 

42.0 
16.1 
8.5 

11  to  22 

4.9 
5.3 
33.3 

2to7 

4.6 
6.4 
2.3 

6 

Brown  ;  6  to  12  feet    .  . 

36  to  45 

5  to  21 

4  to  9 

Gray  calcareous 

32  to  41 

5  to  15 

4  to  14 

4  to  6 

Yellow  calcareous  ;  15  feet  

32  to  36 

7  to  9 

10  to  15 

Red  calcareous  :  6  to  12  feet  

34  to  40 

8  to  9 

9  to  15 

Red  silicious  

36 

26  to  27 

2  to  3 

ing,  in'  some  eases  the  throw  being  200  feet.  It  is  roughly  true, 
however,  that  as  we  go  southwest  in/to  France  the  beds  go  down 
into  the  ground,  get  less  in  thickness  'and  higher  in  silica.  In 
Luxemburg  the  ore  mines  are  owned  partly  by  companies  that 
acquired  ownership  many  years  ago,  partly  by  railroads,  built  in 
order  to  get  subsidies  in  the  shape  of  ore  lands,  partly  by  farmers 
and  private  individuals,  while  part  is  still  controlled  by  the  govern- 
ment. Much  of  the  ore  in  Luxemburg  is  bought  and  sold  in  the 
open  market,  while  in  Lothringen  nearly  all  the  property  is  in  the 
hands  of  iron  producers,  and  the  great  steel  works  in  both  Belgium 
and  Westphalia  have  acquired  title  to  mineral  lands,  some  of  these 
acquisitions  being  quite  recent,  while  some  date  back  many  years. 
The  ore  supply  in  Luxemburg  is  calculated  as  good  for  ajxrat 


GERMANY.  735 

one  hundred  years,  at  the  present  rate  of  consumption,  but  in 
Lothringen  the  beds  are  considered  good  for  eight  hundred  years. 
The  mineral  domain  of  this  latter  province  covers  about  one  hun- 
dred thousand  acres,  half  of  which  is  owned  by  the  local  steel 
companies.  A  good  part  of  the  remainder  is  owned  by  the  com- 
panies operating  steel  works  in  Westphalia.  Kirchhoff  mentions 
the  following  as  having  mines  in  Lothringen  and  works  in  the 
Rhenisih  district : 

Aachener  Hiitten  Act.  Verein,  Gutehofrnungshiitte,  Friederich 
Wilhelmshiitte,  Phoenix,  Union,  Horde,  Hoesch,  Rheinische  and 
Krupp.  In  the  Saar  district  we  have  Gebriider  Stumm,  Rb'chlings, 
Bnrbach  and  Dillengen.  Belgium  is  represented  by  the  Angleur 
Company  and  by  Cockerills.  This  list  of  course  omits  the  local 
steel  companies  of  Lothringen,  all  of  which  have  their  own  prop- 
erties. 

As  above  stated,  there  is  a  very  considerable  quantity  of  ore  sold 
in  the  open  market  in  Luxemburg,  but  very  little  in<  Lothringen, 
so  that  the  selling  price  in  the  former  province  will  be  a  better 
measure  of  the  market.  The  figures  given  by  Dutreux  show  that 
in  the  five  years  from  1895  to  1899  the  average  market  price  varied 
from  49  to  57  cents  per  ton,  with  a  general  average  for  the  whole 
period  of  52  cents.  The  cost  of  the  ore  to  those  wiho  possess  their 
own  mines  must  be  less  than  this,  but  it  is  hardly  likely  that  it  is 
less  than  40  cents,  after  allowing  for  a  sinking  fund. 

The  Tun  of  mine  will  average  about  31  per  cent,  in  iron,  but 
the  ore  carried  to  Westphalia  is  richer  than  the  average.  It  will 
run  about  35  per  cent,  in  iron*  and  costs  about  75  cents  per  ton 
at  the  mines.  The  new  freight  rate  is  $1.40  per  ton,  giving  a 
total  of  $2.15  per  ton  of  ore  delivered  in  Westphalia,  or  6.14  cents 
per  unit. 

If  the  ore  is  smelted  at  the  mine  it  is  necessary  to  carry  nearly 
1J  tons  of  coke  from  the  Ruhr  to  Lothringen,  at  a  cost  of  about 
$1.82  per  ton  of  coke  at  present  rates,  as  the  freight  on  fuel  in 
Germany  is  about  one  cent  per  ton  per  mile,  This,  of  course, 
does  not  include  the  cost  at  the  ovens,  which  is  estimated  by  Kirch- 
hoff  to  be  about  $2.00  for  those  who  have  .their  own  collieries,  so 
that  the  cost  of  fuel  delivered  in  Lothringen  will  be  $3.82  per 
ton  of  coke  or  $4.80  per  ton  of  iron.  The  ore  for  a  ton  of  pig 

*  Jour.  1.  &  S.  /.,  Vol.  II,  1902,  p.  17. 


736  THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 

will  cost  about  $1.30,  so  that  the  total  for  ore  and  fuel  sums  up 
$6.10  in  Lothringen  and  $9.10  in  Westphalia.  I  am  afraid  that 
this  estimate  of  Kirchhoff  on  the  cost  of  coke  assumes  that  a  good 
profit  is  made  on  the  by-products,  but  allows  nothing  for  the  in- 
terest and  depreciation  of  the  plant. 

Against  the  obvious  advantage  of  transporting  1J  tons  of  coke 
instead  of  3  tons  of  ore  is  the  disadvantage  that  Lothringen  is 
not  a  great  market.  To  the  southwest  is  the  frontier  of  France 
and  the  French  steel  works  working  on  the  same  deposit,  while  on 
the  northwest  are  the  cheap  labor  and  fuel  of  Belgium  tapping 
the  orefield  in  Luxemburg.  To  the  south  is  the  mountain  barrier 
of  Switzerland,  to  the  east  the  coal  field  and  iron  works  of  the 
Saar,  and  to  the  north  the  smoking  valleys  of  the  Rhine  and  the 
Ruhr.  All  this  means  that  the  steel  must  be  carried  a  long  dis- 
tance and  past  the  doors  of  active  competitors.  A  great  part  of 
the  output  of  Germany  is  sent  oversea  and  a  large  part  is  consumed 
in  finishing  mills  in  the  northern  districts,  and  inasmuch  as  the 
coal  of  Westphalia  is  right  on  the  road  between  the  mines  and  the 
market,  it  is  evident  that  the  northern  works  are  not  necessarily 
destined  to  succumb  to  the  competition  of  the  Minette  district. 

There  is  a  chance  for  both  ends  working  together,  since  cheap 
transportation  must  include  ore  going  in  one  direction  and  coke  in 
the  other,  and  there  is  also  great  opportunity  for  reductions  in 
charges.  The  German  railroads  are  owned  by  the  government, 
and  they  offer  a  very  good  argument  against  state  control.  Like 
all  German  official  work,  they  are  conducted  with  perfect  honesty, 
but  with  an  immense  amount  of  red  tape.  As  a  consequence  of 
the  honesty  and  of  the  high  freight  rates,  they  pay  a  handsome 
profit,  but  on  account  of  the  red  tape  this  money  goes  into  the 
general  treasury  and  defrays  the  expenses  of  the  military  establish- 
ment instead  of  being  used  to  improve  the  transportation  service. 
A  great  deal  of  money  is  spent  on  immense  stations  for  passenger 
traffic,  but  the  freight  service  is  not  what  it  ought  to  be,  and  the 
transportation  of  ore  from  Lothringen  to  Westphalia  costs  1  cent 
per  ton  per  mile,  while  coke  and  finished  material  are  from  30  to 
50  per  cent.  more.  Private  ownership  of  railroads  in  America  has 
resulted  in  spending  money  for  improvements,  for  larger  cars  and 
heavier  engines,  and  has  cut  down  the  rates  far  below  the  German 


GERMANY.  737 

tariff,  even  though  the  American  roads  traverse  districts  much  more 
sparsely  settled  than  the  western  provinces  of  Germany. 

In  addition  to  the  questions  of  freight  which  have  just  been  dis- 
cussed, we  have  the  very  important  fact  that  Westphalia  pos- 
sesses large  and  old  established  works  surrounded  by  communities 
of  skilled  workmen.  The  task  of  starting  a  steel  works  in  a  part 
of  the  country  where  such  an  industry  has  not  existed  before  is 
hard  enough  in  America,  but  in  any  other  part  of  the  world  it  is 
still  harder,  for  in  our  land  men  are  accustomed  to  move,  and  very 
readily  break  away  from  old  associations.  A  still  more  important 
matter  is  the  absolute  destruction  of  capital  involved  in  a  transfer 
of  the  iron  industry,  for  a  works  in  Westphalia  cannot  be  trans- 
ported bodily  to  Lothringen.  If  the  attempt  were  made  it  is  doubt- 
fud  if  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  money  would  be  utilized,  and  this 
being  so  it  becomes  cheaper  to  destroy  the  old  and  to  build  anew 
rather  than  to  attempt  to  move,  and  it  may  be  shown  by  calculation 
that  the  interest  and  depreciation  on  a  steel  works,  including  the 
blast  furnaces,  is  more  than  the  cost  of  transporting  the  ore  supply 
a  considerable  distance.  In  the  case  of  a  Westphalian  works,  which 
perhaps  is  all  paid  for  and  has  no  outstanding  bonds,  the  depreci- 
ation account  may  be  neglected  and  the  interest  charges  looked 
upon  as  profit,  while  in  a  new  works  in  Lothringen  these  items  be- 
come a  direct  load  upon  the  cost  sheet. 

From  these  considerations  it  ihappens  that  we  find  many  different 
ways  of  working.  The  old  plants  in  the  Ruhr  are  buying  prop- 
erties in  Lothringen  and  are  bringing  ore  to  their  furnaces  and  so 
also  are  the  steel  works  in  the  valley  of  the  Saar.  Other  plants  are 
making  pig-iron  at  the  mines  and  sending  it  to  Westphalia  and  to 
Aachen,  while  still  other  works  are  being  built  at  the  ore  bank,  the 
coke  being  brought  from  the  Ruhr. 

The  production  of  the  whole  Minette  district,  including  Loth- 
ringen, Luxemburg  and  France,  was  less  than  three  million  tons 
in  1872,  but  in  1895  it  had  risen  to  eleven  million  tons.  In  1898 
it  was  fifteen  million  and  in  1899  about  seventeen  million,  of  which 
France  contributed  four  millions,  Luxemburg  six  millions  and 
Lotlhringen  seven  millions.  Of  the  thirteen  million  tons  mined  in 
Lothringen  and  Luxemburg  about  one-fourth  was  shipped  to  Bel- 
gium and  France,  leaving  about  ten  million  to  be  used  in  the  Em- 
pire. About  one-eighth  of  this  latter  was  sent  to  the  Saar  and  the 


738  THE    IKON    INDUSTRY. 

Kuhr,  while  the  remainder,  between  eight  and  nine  million  tons, 
was  smelted  at  the  mines,  Lothringen  in  1899  producing  1,290,264 
tons  of  pig-iron  and  Luxemburg  982,930  tons,  all  this  iron  being 
made  from  local  ores. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  by  Kirchhoff  that  the  importance  of  the 
Minette  district  is  concealed  by  the  accident  of  its  situation.  The 
total  output  of  ore  from  the  whole  deposit  in  1899  was  about  seven- 
teen million  tons,  which  would  make  about  six  million  tons  of 
pig-iron,  but  this  is  divided  between  three  different  nations  and 
between  different  provinces,  and  even  the  portion  which  we  have 
considered  as  German  can  hardly  be  called  so  rightly,  since  Lux- 
emburg is  not  an  integral  part  of  the  Empire.  The  two  provinces 
together  raised  very  nearly  three-quarters  of  all  the  ore  mined  in 
Germany,  Siegerland  standing  next  with  12  per  cent,  of  the  total, 
but  the  combined  production  of  pig-iron-  in  the  Minette  field  was 
only  two-thirds  as  much  as  in  the  Ruhr. 

In  1899  there  were  seventeen  active  blast  furnaces  in  Lothringen 
and  twenty  in  Luxemburg,  which  were  not  connected  with  steel 
works  in  those  provinces,  but  which  sold  their  iron  in  the  open 
market  or  shipped  it  to  the  Saar  or  the  Euhr,  many  of  these  fur- 
naces being  owned  and  operated  by  steel  works  in  these  two  dis- 
tricts. The  Minette  ores  give  a  pig-iron  running  quite  regularly 
about  2.00  per  cent,  in  phosphorus,  and  very  considerable  quanti- 
ties are  sold  for  foundry  work  and  for  puddling.  There  were 
twenty-two  furnaces  in  Lothringen  and  nine  in  Luxemburg  con- 
nected with  adjacent  steel  works,  so  that  less  than  half  the  fur- 
naces in  the  district  were  owned  by  local  steel  plants. 

The  total  number  of  active  furnaces  as  above  given'  was  sixty- 
eight,  and  the  production  of  pig-iron  was  2,273,194  tons  for  the 
two  divisions,  representing  an  average  of  a  little  over  90  tons  per 
day  for  each  furnace.  Such  a  calculation  of  average  capacity  is 
not  usually  of  much  value,  as  an  old  district  is  very  likely  to  have 
a  number  of  small  and  antiquated  plants,  but  in  the  official  list 
published  by  the  Verein  Deutscher  Eisenhiittenleute,  from  which 
most  of  these  data  are  taken,  there  are  no  very  small  furnaces  men- 
tioned in  these  two  provinces.  The  capacity  as  published  in  the 
above  mentioned  list  is  considerably  in  excess  of  the  results  above 
calculated,  but  it  would  seem  as  if  the  statistics  would  be  more 
accurate  than  estimates,  and  we  may  say  therefore  that  the  average 


GERMANY. 


739 


furnace  in  the  Minctte  district,  most  of  the  plants  being  of  rather 
modern  construction,  turns  out  between  ninety  and  one  hundred 
tons  per  day,  some  of  them  of  course  exceeding  this  considerably. 
It  is  necessary  for  American  metallurgists  to  consider  that  this  is 


done  on  an  ore  running  only  31  per  cent,  in  iron,  but  on  the  other 
hand  the  mixture  is  usually  self -fluxing,  so  that  for  a  comparison 
we  must  take  the  ore  and  limestone  together  in  non-calcareous  ores, 
and  figuring  in  this  way  we  will  find  that  Lake  Superior  ores  when 


740  THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 

mixed  with  the  usual  amount  of  stone  give  about  45  per  cent,  of 
iron,  so  that  the  furnaces  working  on  Minette  ores  smelt  about 
50  per  cent,  more  material  than  American  plants,  without  taking 
into  account  the  ash  in  the  fuel.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  mixture 
is  not  always  self-fluxing,  for  near  the  Moselle  River  the  calcareous 
beds  are  scarce  and  it  is  necessary  to  use  limestone  as  a  flux. 

Most  of  the  blast  furnaces  in  this  district  use  Westphalian  coke, 
the  shipments  in  1899  from  the  Ruhr  ovens  amounting  to  nearly 
three  million  tons,  which  was  nearly  40  per  cent,  of  the  total  coke 
output  of  the  northern  coal  field.  Some  coke  is  imported  from 
Belgium  by  plants  in  Luxemburg,  but  the  German  article  is  far 
superior  in  quality.  There  are  three  steel  works  (in  Lothringen 
and  two  in  Luxemburg  having  between  them  twenty-six  converters, 
ranging  from  ten  to  twenty  tons  capacity,  and  averaging  about 
fifteen  tons.  There  were  only  two  open-hearth  furnaces,  one  acid 
and  one  basic.  All  the  converters  are  basic. 

Three  new  plants  were  started  in  the  year  1900,  at  Rombach, 
Kneuttingen  and  Differdingen.  In  Fig.  XXIV-C  will  be  found  a 
drawiing  of  the  first  of  these.  It  is  representative  of  the  best  Ger- 
man engineering  practice  and  is  entirely  new,  having  been  started 
in  1900.  The  engineer  is  Bergassessor  Oswald,  of  Coblenz,  to 
whose  courtesy  I  am  indebted  for  the  drawings.  There  are  seven 
blast  furnaces  in  the  Rombach  plant,  three  of  them  new,  the  latter 
being  90  feet  by  23  feet  with  a  13-foot  hearth.  The  blowing  en- 
gines are  ample,  but  it  is  intended  to  eventually  use  gas  engines 
for  this  purpose  and  thus  save  the  steam  for  driving  the  reversing 
rolling  mills.  To  this  end  the  boiler  capacity  was  made  very  large, 
the  steam  pressure  being  140  pounds  and  economizers  and  super- 
heaters installed,  it  being  hoped  that  by  this  means  the  rolling 
mills  can  be  driven  by  the  blast  furnace  gases.  There  are  two 
mixers  for  the  iron,  each  of  200  tons,  feeding  4  basic  17-ton  con- 
verters. The  pig-iron  runs  from  1.5  to  2.0  per  cent,  phosphorus 
and  0.5  per  cent,  manganese,  this  latter  element  being  obtained 
from  ores  from  Spain,  the  Caucasus  and  from  the  Lahn  district. 
The  miixture  is  self-fluxing  and  runs  about  31  per  cent,  in  iron. 

The  blooming  mill  is  a  48-inc'h  reversing,  9  feet  6  inches  be- 
tween housings,  and  this  feeds  two  large  mills  without  the  blooms 
being  reheated.  The  larger  finishing  mill  is  36-inch  with  four 
stands,  and  rolls  large  beams,  while  the  smaller  is  30-inch  for 


GERMANY. 


741 


billets,  and  will  finish  a  bar  400  feet  long,  this  not  being  an  ex- 
traordinary length  in  Germany.  There  are  three  other  smaller 
mills,  26-inch,  22-inch  and  14-inch,  for  rails  and  miscellaneous 
structural  work,  and  these  are  to  be  driven  by  shunt  motors,  a  very 
large  power  plant  being  provided  which  eventually  is  to  be  run 
by  gas  engines.  All  the  machinery  is  of  massive  type  and  the 
labor  saving  and  mechanical  handling  devices  are  worked  out 
with  thoroughness.  The  capacity  is  now  35,000  tons  per  month, 
but  this  is  soon  to  be  much  increased. 

The  Difterdingen  plant  was  also  constructed  with  lavish  expendi- 
ture and  a  very  extensive  outfit  of  blowing  engines  driven,  by  blast 
furnace  gas  was  installed.  Much  trouble  was  experienced  through 
•dust,  although  these  difficulties  have  since  then  been  in  great  meas- 
ure overcome. 

The  plant  operated  by  De  Wendel  at  Hayingen  is  an  extreme 
example  of  the  system  of  spare  mills,  as  four  complete  mills,  each 
with  its  modern  German  multiple  cylinder  engine,  stand  waiting 
their  turn  to  run,  for  there  are  only  men  enough  to  run  at  most 
two  mills  and  only  steel  enough  for  that  number  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  they  are  operated  in  a  very  slow  manner.  The  building 
covering  these  mills  includes  all  the  hot  beds,  finishing  machines, 
storage  and  loading  yards,  and  as  a  rough  guess  I  should  say  it  is 
700  feet  by  1000  feet,  not  including  the  converting  department. 
The  output  is  about  400  tons  per  day. 

Table  XXIV-E  gives  a  list  of  the  steel  works  and  blast  furnaces 
in  the  district. 

TABLE  XXIV-E. 

List  of  Steel  Works  with  Blast  Furnaces  in  Lothringen  and  Lux- 
emburg. 


District 
and  Works. 

Location. 

No.  of 
Blast 
Furnaces 
and  Daily 
Capacity 
in  Tons. 

Bessemer 
Converters,  Number 
and  Capacity 
in  Tons 

Open-  Hearth 
Furnaces  Number 
and  Capacity 
in  Tons. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Lothringen  — 
Aumetz  Friede.. 
Rombacher,  etc.  . 

DeWendei  &  Co.  . 
Luxemberg— 
Diidelingen.  etc.. 
Differdingen  

Kneuttingen  .... 
Rombach  
1  Hayingen  

3-130 
7-140 
7—110 
6-110 

6-110 
4—120 



4—20 
4—18 
6—12 
3—12 

6—  10 
3-20 

1-15 

1—15 

1  Gross-Moyeuvre  . 

Diidelingen  
Differdingen  — 







742  THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 

• 

List  of  Blast  Furnaces  without  Steel  Works. 


Location. 

Owner. 

District. 

Blast  Furnaces. 

Owned  by  Steel 

Feutsch    

Aumetz  Friede 

Lessee   .  . 

3_  120 

Redingen  . 

Dillengen  

Saar..       .   . 

2      90 

Diedenhofen 

Rochling  

Saar 

2    150 

Ueckingen  

Gebruder  Stumn 

Saar  

4    120 

Deutsch  Oth.... 

j  Esch 

Acieries  Angleur 
Rothe  Erde 

Belgium  
Aachen 

2—  90 
5    190 

Luxemburg.  .  .  . 

\  Esch  

Burbach  

Saar  

2  120 

Unattached— 

7    120 

13  120 

SEC.  XXIVc.— The  Ruhr: 

The  Ruhr  district  embraces  most  of  the  province  of  Westphalia 
and  includes  a  little  of  the  western  shore  of  the  Rhine.  It  is  here 
that  we  find  the  coal  that  gives  the  best  coke  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  though  it  is  far  from  being  equal  to  the  coke  of  Durham 
or  of  Connellsville.  The  Rulhr  coal  district  proper  is  included  in 
an  irregular  space  measuring  about  fifty  miles  east  and  west  and 
a  little  less  north  and  south,  this  field  being  shown  on  the  map  in 
black  witih)  Ruhrort  on  the  western  end  and  Horde  on  the  east,  but 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  coal  is  found  east  of  Horde  as  far  as  Hamm 
and  also  extends  westward  across  the  Rhine,  several  new  mines 
having  recently  been  opened  on  the  western  bank.  The  great 
works  of  Krupp  at  Essen  are  almost  in  the  center.  The  deposit 
covers  an  area  about  equal  to  the  county  of  Westmoreland  in 
Pennsylvania  or  the  Dunham  coal  field  in  Northeast  England,  but 
Westmoreland  raises  only  about  ten  million  tons  of  coal  per  year, 
Durham  about  forty-six  million-  and  Westphalia  over  fifty  million. 

The  production  of  coke  in  the  Ruhr  is  about  the  same  as  in 
Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  which  includes  flhe  Connellsville 
beds.  The  output  of  Durham  is  not  known  accurately,  as  no  sta- 
tistics are  kept  in  England  of  this  material. 

The  Ruhr  raises  one-half  of  all  the  bituminous  coal  raised  in 
Germany,  and  makes  two-thirds  of  the  coke,  and,  in  addition  to 
supplying  the  wants  of  Western  Germany,  sends  some  coke  to  other 
countries.  In  1899  Germany  exported  750,000  tons  of  coke  to 
France  and  135,000  tons  to  Belgium,  almost  all  of  this  coming 
from  Westphalia,  Austria  received  600,000  tons,  but  part  of  this 


GERMANY. 


743 


was  sent  from  Silesia.  The  product  of  the  Westphalian  ovens, 
'(however,  is  so  much  better  than  the  eastern  supply  that  it  is  carried 
in  large  quantities  as  far  as  Styria  in  Southern  Austria.  In  1892 
tfhe  Ruihr  district  made  66  per  cent,  of  all  the  coke  made  in  Ger- 
many, but  in'  1900  its  share  had  risen  to  75  per  cent.  This  increase 
in  relative  rank  as  a  coke  producer  has  gone  on  with  remarkable 
regularity,  as  will  be  shown  in  Table  XXIV-F. 

TABLE  XXIY-F. 
Production  of  Coke  in  Germany,  by  Districts. 

Data  from  Schrodter ;  private  communication.      One  unit=1000  metric  tons. 


District 

1892 

1893 

1894 

1895 

1896 

1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

Ruhr  

4560 

4780 

5  398 

5562 

6266 

6  872 

7,374 

8202 

9  644 

1  060 

1  060 

1  122 

1  190 

1  269 

1  399 

1  455 

1516 

1  411 

Lower  Silesia  

325 

366 

416 

431 

*443 

424 

430 

460 

536 

Saar           

587 

574 

695 

713 

744 

821 

887 

876 

894 

259 

219 

207 

212 

310 

251 

259 

269 

267 

Oberkirchen  

26 

27 

24 

27 

27 

31 

30 

33 

33 

82 

73 

79 

70 

77 

78 

72 

74 

74 

Total  

6  899 

7  099 

7  941 

8  205 

9  136 

9  876 

10507 

11  430 

12  859 

Per  cent,  made  in  the  Ruhr. 

66 

67 

68 

68 

69 

70 

70 

72 

75 

The  exports  of  coke  to  Belgium  are  counterbalanced  by  coke 
brought  into  Luxemburg  from  that  country,  the  amount  so  im- 
ported being  greater  than  the  amount  going  from  Westphalia  to 
Liege.  It  is  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  furnaces  in  Luxemburg 
that  tihius  import  coke,  and  the  amount  sent  from  the  Ruhr  to 
Lothringen  and  Luxemburg  in  1899  amounted  to  2,783,000  tons, 
or  nearly  40  per  cent,  of  the  total  coke  production  of  Westphalia, 

The  coal  occurs  in  a  great  number  of  beds,  of  varying  thickness, 
the  number  of  workable  seams  being  over  two  hundred,  but  none 
of  them  is  over  six  feet  thick  and  the  average  only  about  half  that. 
The  total  thickness  of  the  coal  measures  is  between  seven  and  eight 
thousand  feet  and  they  are  much,  folded  and  faulted.  In  the  south- 
ern portion  of  the  field  the  outcropping  beds  have  been  nearly 
worked  out,  and  as  mines  have  been  opened  more  and  more  to  the 
north  it  has  been  necessary  to  sink  deeper  to  reach  the  coal,  one 
shaft  going  down  2500  feet,  and  all  through  strata  heavily  charged 
with  water.  When  it  is  considered  that  there  is  more  trouble 
from  gas  in  the  deeper  mines  it  will  be  evident  that  conditions  do 


744  THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 

not  indicate  any  future  decrease  in  the  price  of  coal  or  any  likeli- 
hood of  any  extraordinary  development  in  capacity.  The  upper 
beds  give  a  coal  containing  from  35  to  45  per  cent,  of  volatile 
matter,  the  middle  region  from  15  to  35  per  cent,  and  the  lowest 
seams  not  over  15  per  cent.  It  is  from  the  so-called  "fat"  coals  of 
the  middle  region  that  most  of  the  coke  is  made,  the  ash  in  the 
product  running  about  10  per  cent.  The  sale  of  coal  and  coke  is 
controlled  by  a  syndicate  wihich  embraces  90  per  cent,  of  the  coal 
output,  and  the  price  of  fat  coal  has  risen  during  the  last  few 
years  from  $2.00  in  1895  to  $2.44  in  1900,  these  figures  being  at 
the  mine. 

Kirohhoff  gives  quotations  from  the  annual  reports  of  many 
collieries,  and  I  find  from  these  figures  that  the  larger  collieries, 
producing  between  them  one-third  of  all  the  coal  and  coke  of  the 
district,  show  a  cost  ranging  from  $1.31  to  $1.69  per  ton  of  coal, 
with  an  average  of  about  $1.55,  some  of  the  smaller  collieries  run- 
ning up  to  $2.00  and  even  to  $2.50. 

The  wages  of  miners  have  advanced  very  much  in  recent  years. 
In  1878  day  laborers  received  only  56  cents  and  the  miners  67 
cents,  but  there  was  then  an  advance  through  many  years  so  that 
in  1891  the  wages  were  71  cents  for  common  labor.  A  reaction 
followed  and  then  another  rise,  and  in  1898  common)  labor  com- 
manded 76  cents  per  day  and  the  miners  earned  $1.14.  The  min- 
ing situation  in  Westphalia  is  much  as  it  is  in  the  United  States, 
for  the  rapid  development  of  industry  has  gone  ahead  of  the  nat- 
ural increase  in  population  and  nearly  one-third  of  the  working 
force  in  the  mines  come  from  Poland,  Eastern  Prussia  and  Italy. 
These  alien  communities  are  less  common  in  Europe  than  in  our 
own  land. 

The  average  selling  price  at  the  oven  of  blast  furnace  coke  in  the 
Ruhr  basin  varied  from  $1.96  per  ton  in  1887  to  $4.95  in  1890.  It 
dropped  to  $2.75  in  1893,  1894  and  1895  and  then  rose  to  $3.50  in 
1900  and  $4.25  in  1901.  A  great  part  of  this  coke  is  made  in 
by-product  ovens,  and  it  is  well  known  that  responsible  coke  oven 
builders  will  agree  to  build  ovens  and  operate  them  free  of  cost 
for  a  term  of  years,  taking  their  pay  in  the  by-products,  and  turn 
over  the  plant  at  the  end  of  the  period  to  the  party  of  the  second 
part.  This  being  so,  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  price  of  coke 
in  Westplhalia  includes  a  very  good  profit,  and  the  figure  given1 


GERMANY.  745 

is  no  measure  of  the  cost  of  fuel  to  those  steel  works  tifoat  own 
their  own  mines  and  ovens,  among  which  are  the  following: 

Hoerde,   Union,   Hoesch,    Schalke,   Bochumer   Verein*,    Krupp, 
Gutehoffnungshutte,  Phoenix,  Rheinische,  and  Deutsche  Kaiser. 

In  the  matter  of  iron  ore,  Westphalia  occupies  a  very  subordinate 
position.  A  small  amount  of  blackband  is  raised,  containing  about 
35  per  cent,  of  carbon  iand  about  28  per  cent,  of  ironi,  mainly  in  the 
form  of  carbonate,  but  the  quantity  is  inconsiderable  compared 
with  the  output  of  pig-iron  and  steel.  Sixty  per  cent,  of  the  ore 
supply  comes  from  the  Siegen,  the  Lahn  and  Lothringen,  and  the 
remainder  from  over  sea.  Spain  contributes  over  20  per  cent,  of 
the  total  ore  smelted  in  the  district,  and  Sweden  about  15  per  cent. 
The  supply  brought  from  the  Siegen  is  spathic  ore,  which  is  roasted 
before  using;  it  contains  about  35  per  cent,  of  iron  -and  is  more 
fully  described  in  the  account  of  that  district.  Tihe  ores  from  the 
Lahn  and  from  Lothringen  are  also  described  in  the  proper  place, 
but  it  has  already  been  stated  that  the  Minette  ore  brought  to  the 
Ruhr  is  richer  than  the  average.  The  composition  runs  about  as 
follows:  Fe,  32  to  38  per  cent. ;  Si02,  6  to  8  per  cent. ;  CaO,  10  to 
18  per  cent.  The  usual  blast  furnace  burden  in  Westphalia  carries 
from  35  to  40  per  cent,  of  this  ore,  about  35  to  40  per  cent,  of 
Swedish  (Grangesberg  or  Gellivare)  and  about  10  per  cent,  of 
spathic  ore  from  Siegerland  or  brown  ore  from  Nassau,  the  re- 
mainder being  cinder,  pyrites  residue,  etc. 

Many  of  the  well  known  steel  works  of  this  part  of  the  country 
are  not  of  the  type  familiar  to  American  metallurgists.  They  are 
produced  by  slow  accretions  rather  than  by  one  comprehensive 
plan,  and  it  is  seldom  that  any  contemplated  improvement  involves 
the  destruction  of  any  part  of  the  existing  plant.  Oftentimes  there 
is  complete  discordance  between  the  equipment  or  the  management 
of  separate  departments  of  the  same  plant,  and  a  new  and  up-to- 
date  blast  furnace  will  be  running  alongside  a  legacy  of  1840.  A 
massive  new  blooming  mill  will  be  found  supplying  small  finishing 
mills  that  hold  together  only  by  the  force  of  habit,  while  the  most 
carefully  built  and  most  economical  steam  engine,  equipped  with 
every  possible  fuel  saving  device,  will  be  operated  in  conjunction 
with  one  abandoned  by  James  Watts.  These  conditions  obtain 
sometimes  in  America,  but  they  are  merely  incidental  and  tem- 
porary, existing  only  during  a  period  of  reconstruction,  while  on 


746  THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 

the  Continent  they  are  typical  and  are  almost  universal  in  the 
old  plants  of  Westphalia.  The  contrast  between  the  new  and  the 
old  is  oftentimes  a  journey  from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous,  and 
in  a  steel  works  on  the  Ruhr  there  is  not  the  excuse  for  such  con- 
ditions that  exist  in  some  other  sections.  In  the  newer  plants  of 
Lothringen  it  is  openly  stated  that  complicated  methods  of  work 
and  new  machinery  cannot  be  introduced  owing  to  the  stupidity  of 
the  local  laborer,  but  in  Westphalia  generations  of  steel  making 
have  bred  a  class  of  workmen  quite  superior  to  those  of  the  country 
districts,  and  it  is  probable  that  they  would  handle  new  machinery 
in  a  short  time.  The  work  turned  out  of  the  machine  shops  at 
Essen  show  that  the  workmen  and  -the  foremen  could  use  better 
apparatus  than  they  have,  and  that  possibly  a  little  less  patting  on 
the  back  and  a  little  more  shaking  up  would  be  a  good  thing,  and 
the  engineering  skill  and  thoroughness  evinced  in  the  new  armor 
department  render  it  difficult  to  understand  how  the  same  minds 
can  patiently  contemplate  from  day  to  day  the  heirlooms  of  Tubal 
Cain  that  are  on  every  side.  It  should  be  stated,  however,  that  a 
revolution  is  in  progress,  for  it  is  recognized  that  the  Essen  works 
are  a  back  number.  There  are  no  blast  furnaces  there  and  we 
have  the  singular  phenomenon  of  the  largest  works  in  the  country 
with  ancient  blast  furnaces  scattered  all  over  the  region  and  bring- 
ing iron  together  from  all  directions  to  be  converted  into  steel. 
This  is  all  to  be  changed,  however,  for  a  new  works  is  now  con- 
structing on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  where  -water  transportation 
will  cheapen  the  costs  of  both  incoming  and  outgoing  material,  and 
where  new  methods  and  mills  will  be  up-to-date  and  in  accord  with 
modern  German  engineering.  This  new  plant  is  at  Rheinhausen 
near  Ruhrort,  and  ocean  going  vessels  of  2000  tons  burden  now 
come  up  the  river  to  this  latter  port,  and  the  advantages  of  what 
is  practically  an  inland  tidewater  situation  will  be  manifest  when 
we  consider  the  large  quantities  of  Spanish  and  Swedish  ores  used 
and  the  amount  of  steel  exported. 

The  cost  of  pig-iron  made  from  Spanish  ores  is  given  hy  Kirch- 
hoff  at  $13.75  per  ton.  The  large  quantity  of  ore  imported  of  this 
kind  would  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  cost  of  basic  pig-iron  is 
nearly  as  higih,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  this  ore  is  used  almost  en- 
tirely by  two  works,  Krupp's  and  Bochum,  these  being  the  only 


GERMANY.  747 

large  producers  of  acid  Bessemer  steel  in  Germany.  The  product 
is  used  for  special  steels,  the  acid  metal  being  considered  preferable. 
Kirchhoff  gives  the  detailed  figures  obtained  from  the  annual 
reports  of  several  companies  to  show  the  profits  of  the  industry, 
It  is  of  course  impossible  to  make  any  clear  statement  of  profits 
and  losses  for  these  old  plants,  which  have  their  own  sources  of 
raw  material  and  sell  everything  from  coal  to  machinery,  but  I 
have  made  a  rough  calculation  that  in  the  year  1898-99  the  profits 
of  Gutehoifnungshiitte  represented  $6.00  per  ton  on  a  production 
of  300,000  tons  of  steel.  At  Phoenix  with  an  output  of  330,000 
tons,  and  at  Bochum  with  227,000  tons,  the  profit  was  $4.00  per 
ton. 

The  taxes  at  Gutehoffnungshutte  amounted  to  44  cents  per  ton, 
and  the  funds  put  aside  for  workmen's  pensions,  etc.,  footed  up  48 
cents, per  ton,  while  at  Phoenix  the  taxes  were  53  cents  and  the 
pensions  30  cents.  It  must  again  be  remarked  that  these  taxes 
and  pensions  include  the  mines,  coke  ovens,  etc.,  and  that  the 
profits  include  all  the  subsidiary  branches  of  the  plant,  but  I  have 
calculated  the  results  on  the  output  of  steel,  as  these  plants  are 
miscellaneous  steel  producers  and  may  rightly  be  compared  with 
many  works  in  America  and  other  countries. 

In  Krupp's  works  there  are  fifteen  acid-lined  Bessemer  convert- 
ers, each  of  5  tons  capacity,  and  at  Bochum  there  are  3  of  8  tons, 
a  total  of  18  acid  vessels  with  an  average  of  5J  tons  capacity.  The 
output  of  acid  Bessemer  steel  in  1899,  in  the  Ruhr  district,  was 
118,000  tons.  It  is  quite  certain  that  all  these  converters  were  not 
worked  to  their  full  capacity  and  this  is  particularly  true  of  those 
in  works  outside  of  Essen,  but  if  we  assume  that  all  the  acid 
Bessemer  steel  was  made  at  Krupp's  the  production  will  be  only 
660  tons  per  converter  per  month.  In  America  we  do  not  have 
many  converters  of  this  size,  as  they  have  been  relegated  to  the 
scrap  heap,  but  twenty  years  ago,  when  the  steel  industry  was  in 
its  infancy  and  when  the  old  methods  of  hydraulic  cranes  and  pit 
casting  were  in  vogue,  it  was  considered  that  120.000  tons  per 
year  was  just  about  the  proper  output  for  two  converters  of  this 
size,  supplied  with  one  ladle  crane  and  pit.  In  other  words,  the 
product  for  each  acid  converter  in  Westphalia  to-day  is  just  one- 
tenth  what  it  was  in  America  twenty  years  ago.  The  reasons  for 


7-18  THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

this  condition  may  be  sufficient  or  may  not  be,  but  the  facts  are  of 
record. 

The  works  of  Krupp  are  not  the  only  ones  by  any  means  that 
are  branching  out  in  improvements,  for  the  Rheinische  has  built 
what  is  practically  a  new  works,  and  the  Deutscher  Kaiser  is  a 
completely  new  establishment.  No  attempt  has  been  made,  how- 
ever, either  in  Westphalia  or  in  Lothringen  to  change  the  general 
system  of  operation,,  there  being  little  tendency  to  specialization 
and  little  thought  of  steady  operation  for  large  production,  the 
controlling  idea  being  that  it  is  impossible  to  change  rolls  quickly, 
and  that  it  is  necessary  to  have  spare  mills  lying  idle,  ready  to  start 
on  a  different  section.  The  weak  point  of  this  plan  is  that  it  is 
almost  out  of  the  question  to  have  the  same  heating  furnaces  sup- 
ply two  or  three  different  mills  and  handle  the  stuff  economically, 
and  quite  difficult  to  arrange  the  hot  bed  and  finishing  part  of  the 
mills  so  as  to  serve  two  different  trains  of  rolls.  In  one  of  the  new 
plants  working  on  different  structural  shapes,  at  the  time  of  my  visit 
in  1899,  the  chaotic  condition  of  the  hot  bed  and  cold  bed  and  load- 
ing department  was  something  which  cannot  be  described.  This 
branch  of  rolling  mill  work  is  the  weakest  feature  of  German  prac- 
tice, while  the  operation  of  heavy  blooming  and  reversing  mills  is 
the  strongest. 

There  are  a  large  number  of  steel  works  not  possessing  blast  fur- 
naces at  all  and  one  of  these  at  least  operates  Bessemer  converters, 
but  the  greater  part  of  the  steel,  as  might  naturally  be  expected,  is 
made  by  the  steel  works  having  blast  furnaces  either  near  the  steel 
works  or  elsewhere,  this  being  true  of  both  Bessemer  'and  open- 
hearth  product.  All  the  basic  Bessemer  plants  use  "direct  metal." 

The  output  of  acid  Bessemer  steel  is  small  as  explained  above, 
being  only  one-tenth  part  of  the  basic  tonnage  and  the  acid  open 
hearth  also  contributes  only  one-tenth  part  as  much  as  the  basic 
furnaces.  About  half  the  steel  is  made  in  what  we  may  call  the 
large  steel  plants,  meaning  by  this  that  they  operate  both  blast 
furnaces  and  a  Bessemer  plant,  while  the  rest  was  made  in  small 
plants  and  in  steel  casting  works,  the  latter  having  21  furnaces 
averaging  9  tons  each. 

I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Schrodter  that  "there  are  several  works 
which  turn  out  32,000  to  35,000  tons  in  a  month,  from  eitiher  two 


GERMANY.  749 

or  three  basic  converters  of  18  to  20  tons  capacity,  using  one  vessel 
at  a  time."  I  have  received  personal  communications  from  four 
German  works  giving  me  the  actual  output  of  their  converters  and 
the  data  are  given  herewith.  The  first  four  plants  in  the  list  are 
in  the  Euhr  district,  while  Rothe  Erde  is  at  Aachen. 

Size  of  Tons  per  month 

Works.  converter.  per  converter. 

Phosnix 12^  tons  7,000 

Hoesch 11  tons  8.000 

Horde 18  tons  8,000 

Rheinische 15  tons  6,500 

Rothe  Erde 15  tons  7,500 

A  basic  lining  in  a  converter  is  considered  to  do  well  if  it  lasts 
220  heats,  while  the  bottoms  average  from  45  to  50  heats.  It  is 
the  practice  to  run  one  vessel  at  a  time,  and  this  one  vessel  will 
make  three  heats  per  hour,  since  the  actual  time  of  blowing  is 
about  .twelve  minutes.  Every  sixteen  hours  the  bottom  must  be 
changed,  while  delays  occur  occasionally  from  repairs  to  tuyeres. 
When  such  a  delay  does  occur,  another  vessel  is  immediately 
brought  into  use  until  the  repairs  are  completed.  Sometimes  the 
vessels  are  used  alternately  when  tihe  iron  is  blowing  very  hot,  and 
sometimes  heats  are  made  out  of  turn  to  keep  the  lining  hot  on 
an  idle  vessel,  as  a  basic  lining  suffers  from  becoming  too  cold. 

At  the  end  of  three  days  the  first  vessel  will  be  worn  out  and 
the  relining  takes  fifteen  hours  and  the  firing  about  six  hours  more. 
While  this  is  going  on  the  second  and  third  vessels  must  be  work- 
ing and  of  course  there  are  many  times  when  a  fourth  unit  is 
needed,  the  best  and  newest  plants  being  designed  on  tlhis  basis. 
Under  this  system  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  output  will  not  increase 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  converters,  but  each  unit  ren- 
ders possible  a  more  uniform  output  per  hour,  which  tends  to 
economies  in  the  rolling  mills. 

This  regularity  is  of  more  importance  in  Germany  than  in 
America  on  account  of  the  use  of  unfired  soaking  pits,  the  use  of 
coal  for  heating  being  almost  unknown.  In  some  works  the  Sunday 
iron  is  melted  in  the  blast  furnaces  during  the  week,  no  cupolas 
being  provided.  The  first  round  of  ingots  on  Monday  morning  is 
kept  in  the  pits  only  twenty  minutes,  and  then  rolled  into  blooms, 
as  it  is  not  hot  enough  to  finish  into  rails  or  billets.  The  next 
round  stays  forty  minutes,  and  the  next  sixty  minutes,  after  which 


750 


THE  IKON  INDUSTRY. 


the  mill  goes  on  throughout  the  week  finishing  billets,  rails,  beams, 
or  other  shapes  at  one  operation. 

During  a  roll  change  in  the  -finishing  mill,  the  blooming  mill 
may  make  blooms  or  large  billets.  Moreover  it  is  the  general 
practice  to  have  at  least  two  finishing  mills  supplied  from  the 
same  blooming  mill,  and  these  run  alternately  so  that  one  is* 
always  ready.  One  of  these  is  generally  equipped  to  roll  small 
billets.  In  this  way  the  converting  department  and  the  soaking 
pits  are  kept  running  steadily  and  the  loss  from  oxidation  in  the 
heating  furnaces,  wlhich  is  so  costly  a  thing  in  America,  is  un- 
known. To  iihe  average  observer  a  German  plant,  turning  out  from 
1000  to  1500  tons  per  day,  seems  to  be  operating  at  a  very  low 

TABLE  XXIV-G. 

List  of  Westphalian  Steel  Plants  and  Blast  Furnaces,  Giving  the 
Number  of  Furnaces  and  Converters  and  Their  Eated  Capacity. 

Note :— Figures  on  blast  furnaces  are  estimated  daily  capacity;  all  the  steel  plants 
having  blast  furnaces  at  the  steel  works,  use  direct  metal. 


Name  of  works. 

Location. 

Blast 
Fur- 
naces. 

Bessemer 
Converters. 

Open  Hearth 
Furnaces. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Bessemer  steel  works  with  fur- 
naces at  works— 

Horde  Bergw  

Horde  
Dortmund  

7—160 

9-160 

3-200 
4—140 

8—140 

3—100) 
3—  150  f 
3—270 
4-300 



4—18 

4—18 
3—  It 
3-5% 
4    12 

1—18 

j  7—18 
)2-7 
J4—  25 
11-8 
4—18 
7^25 
j  6—15 
11-4 
14—  20 
1  1—12 
4—10 
7    15 

Union  

Hoesch  

Dortmund  

Bochum 

3-8 



Gutehoffnungshiitte  

Oberhausen  

Phoenix  



3-12 

4—15 
4-18 

1—12 

"i—  is' 

9-10 

Rheinische  

Ruhrort"  

Deutcher  Kaiser  . 

Bruckhausen.... 

Bessemer  steel  works  with  blast 
furnaces  elsewhere  — 
Krupp  

15—6 

18-21 

Furnaces  at  - 

Duisburg  

Hochf  eld  

3—100 
3—200 
2—80 
4    75 

Rheinhausen  
Neuwied  
Miiihofen 

Furnaces  at  

Eschweiler  

4—14 

Berge  Borbeck  .  . 
Kupferdreh  

2—150 
1     125 

Bessemer  Plants  without  blast 
furnaces— 
Haspe  

3—6 

Stahl  Industrie  

Bochum    ..... 

2—8 

2—12 
64—15 

Steel  works  without  blast  fur- 
naces   

6—12 

Blast    furnaces    without    steel 
works  

20—110 

GERMANY.  751 

cost,  in  spite  of  there  being  a  few  more  men  than  would  be  found 
in  America. 

There  were  147  basic  open-hearth  furnaces  in  the  Ruhr  district 
in  1899  with  an  average  rating  of  about  17  tons.  Three-fifths  of 
the  estimated  capacity  was  in  the  plants  operating  Bessemer  con- 
verters, the  remainder  being  scattered  in  many  different  establish- 
ments, six  furnaces  being  used  for  steel  castings.  The  district  is 
also  the  great  producer  of  wrought-iron,  there  being  nearly  500 
puddle  furnaces  at  work,  or  nearly  half  the  total  number  in  the 
empire.  Table  XXIV-G  gives  a  list  of  the  principal  producers  of 
steel  and  iron,  but  it  will  be  understood  that  the  estimated  capacity 
of  blast  furnaces  represents  a  maximum  hoped  for,  rather  than  a 
regular  production.  Thus  the  seven  furnaces  at  Horde  are  rated 
at  160  tons  when  the  figures  for  1898  show  an  average  product  of 
90  tons,  and  the  same  reports  give  90  tons  for  the  furnaces  be- 
longing to  the  Union  Works,  130  tons  for  the  Hoesch,  and  110' 
tons  for  Gutehoffnungshiitte.  The  data  for  both  bl'ast  furnaces 
and  steel  producers  are  taken  from  official  sources. 

SEC.  XXI Yd. — Oberschlesien,  Upper  Silesia: 

In  the  extreme  southeastern  end  of  Germany,  surrounded  on  the 
north,  east  and  south  by  Russia  and  Austria,  lies  a  little  district 
about  fifty  miles  square,  which  produces  half  as  much  coal  as  the 
Ruhr  Valley,  one-fourtfh  as  much  coke,  and  which  stands  second 
among  German  districts  in  the  production  of  steel.  Isolated  by 
the  political  frontier  lines  and  by  the  mountainous  character  of 
the  country,  it  forms  a  factor  not  only  in  the  industrial  world,  but 
in  the  general  political  situation,  for  tariff  measures  and  expendi- 
tures for  internal  improvements  by  railway  or  canal  must  be  ar- 
ranged to  give  this  district  its  share  in  the  benefits,  in  order  that 
it  may  not  pay  taxes  to  assist  a  competitor. 

Coal  is  found  in  both  Upper  -and  Lower  Silesia,  by  which  is 
meant  both  eastern  and  western,  but  the  iron  industry  exists  only 
in  the  east.  The  character  of  the  population  is  quite  different 
from  that  of  Western  Germany,  for  Eastern  Silesia  formed  part  of 
the  old  dismembered  province  of  Poland,  as  might  be  inferred 
from  the  names  of  the  towns.  It  is  more  provincial;  wages  are 
lower;  the  standard  of  living  is  not  as  high,  and  the  proximity  of 
Russian  Poland,  Austria  and  Hungary  gives  rise  to  a  great  deal  of 
floating  foreign  labor.  The  primitive  character  of  the  population 


752  THE  IKON  INDUSTRY. 

is  indicated  by  the  traveling  bazaars,  temporarily  established  in  the 
market  places  of  the  towns.  The  wares  are  the  crudest  hand- 
made articles,  ranging  from  shoes  to  augers,  and  could  not  be  sold 
in  an  up-to-date  community  except  to  a  museum.  Gangs  of  Rus- 
sian women  travel  around  in  search  of  work  exactly  a,s  Croatian  or 
Austrian  workmen  go  from  one  place  to  another  in  America,  and 
these  women  as  well  as  others  from  Austria  and  from  the  home 
villages,  work  in  the  steel  works,  on  the  railroads,  or  any  place 
where  there  is  work  to  be  done,  beginning  this  drudgery  at  the  age 
of  sixteen.  Their  wages  are  about  25  cents  per  day,  while  men 
earn  from  50  to  62  cents. 

The  principal  advantage  possessed  by  Silesia  is  its  coal  supply. 
In  1899  it  raised  nearly  28,000,000  tons  of  coal,  which  was  over 
half  as  much  as  Westphalia  produced,  and  it  made  1,777,000  tons 
of  coke,  nearly  one-quarter  of  the  amount  turned  out  in  the  Eu'hr. 
The  coal  is  very  rich  in  volatile  matter,  running  from  30  to  35  per 
cent.,  but  it  gives  a  very  poor  coke.  The  quality  has  been  much  im- 
proved in  some  places  by  stamping  the  coal,  this  being  done  both 
wet  and  dry  at  different  works,  but  it  is  even  questioned  by  some 
whether  any  good  is  done  by  this  compression,  the  burden  of  evi- 
dence, however,  seeming  to  be  in  its  favor.  The  Silesian  coal  field 
reaches  over  the  boundary  into  Moravia  and  Poland  and  will  be 
further  referred  to  in  the  discussion  of  Austria  and  Russia.  For- 
merly considerable  ore  was  mined  in  Silesia,  but  the  supply  is  de- 
creasing, for  in  1894  there  were  600,000  tons  raised,  while  in  1899 
there  were  only  477,000  tons.  This  ore  is  very  poor  stuff  of  the 
following  composition : 

Per  cent. 

Iron 25 

Manganese 2  to  3 

Silica 30  to  40 

Zinc 0.8 

Water 30 

In  the  dry  state  this  would  figure  out  Fe,  36  per  cent. ;  Silica,  43 
to  57  per  cent. ;  Zn,  1.1  per  cent. 

The  foregoing  data  were  given  me  on,  the  spot  by  the  manager 
of  one  of  the  blast  furnace  plants,  and  they  agree  with  results 
recorded  by  Bremme,  Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  XVI,  p.  755.  The 
figures  given  by  Wedding  are  as  shown  in  Table  XXIV-H. 


GERMANY. 


753 


TABLE  XXIV-H. 
Composition  of  Ores  from  Upper  Silesia. 

Wedding :      Ausfuhrliches    Handbuch    der    Eisenhiitten    Kunde,    1897 ;    Zweite 
Auflage;  Braunschweig,  Fr.  Vieweg  &  Sohn,  p.  59. 


Tarnowitz. 

Tarnowitz 
(very  rich.) 

Trockenberg 

FewO, 

47.05 

50.43 

49.06 

H.O 

12.00 

8.11 

13.01 

MnO  

4.30 

4.52 

7.23 

giO,     

24.89 

25.47 

21.29 

AlnO 

8  88 

7.80 

5.99 

cab.:::::::::::: 

0  96 

1.02 

1.18 

MeO         .... 

0.04 

0.50 

0.36 

P  O 

0  49 

0  76 

0  63 

zno    :::."::. 

2.20 

2.21 

1.50 

Total  

100.81 

100.82 

100.25 

Metallic  iron  wet 
Metallic  iron  dry 

32.9 
37.4 

35.3 

38.4 

34.3 
39.4 

The  ore  is  very  fine  and  there  is  an  immense  amount  of  flue  dust 
mixed  with  much  troublesome  sublimate  containing  the  zinc. 
About  35  per  cent,  of  lime  is  needed  as  a  flux.  The  local  furnaces 
are  gradually  ceasing  to  use  this  ore,  but  I  found  the  works  at 
Donnersmarckhiitte  carrying  it  to  the  extent  of  50  per  cent,  of  the 
burden.  Foreign  ore  is  now  used  in  the  blast  furnaces,  the  amount 
brought  to  the  district  in  1899  being  330,000  tons  from  Hungary 
and  275,000  tons  from  Sweden,  the  amount  of  foreign  ore  smelted 
being  40  per  cent,  greater  than  the  domestic  product.  The  Hun- 
garian ore  is  a  carbonate  and  is  roasted  before  using.  It  comes 
from  Kotterbach,  south  of  the  Tatra  Mountains,  some  of  the  mines 
there  being  owned  by  the  works  at  Friedenshutte.  A  small  amount 
of  ore  is  sent  across  the  border  into  Austria,  but  this  is  a  mere 
local  condition.  It  is  rather  singular  that  Friedenshiitte  should 
ihave  been  one  of  the  first  works  to  install  gas  engines  driven  by 
furnace  gas,  when  the  local  conditions  of  dust  would  make  the 
trial  almost  a  crucial  test,  and  when  coal  for  firing  boilers  can  be 
had  for  $1.00  per  ton. 

The  steel  works  of  this  district  are  of  the  usual  German  type. 
They  are  troubled  like  a  large  proportion  of  Continental  and  Eng- 
lish plants  for  lack  of  water.  In  America  most  works  'have  been 
placed  in  some  advantageous  position,  but  in  Europe  they  "just 
grew,"  and  they  seldom  are  near  a  sufficient  water  supply,  as  a  good 


754 


THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 


sized  river,  according  to  foreign  standards,  carries  just  about 
enough  water  to  cool  two  or  three  blast  furnaces,  and  condensers 
are  a  luxury.  This  disadvantage  is  overcome  partly  by  the  use  of 
central  condensing  plants,  which  are  much  more  common  than  with 
us,  and  by  cooling  towers,  where  the  water  is  pumped  up  about 
fifty  feet  and  allowed  to  trickle  down  over  brush  or  similar  devices. 
The  cooling  is  not  enough  to  give  a  good  vacuum,  and  the  clouds 
of  water  vapor  are  a  nuisance  in  summer  and  winter,  but  it  is  the 
best  that  can  be  done.  Many  plants  use  the  condensed  water  to 
return  to  the  boilers  and  elaborate  settling  and  skimming  tanks 
are  installed  to  separate  the  oil,  but  much  remains  to  be  done  to 
give  clean  water. 

The  statistics  for  1899  show  that  there  were  33  blast  furnaces  in 
operation,  making  745,000  tons  of  iron,  which  is  an  average  of 
22,600  tons  per  furnace,  or  62  tons  per  day.  There  were  two  acid 
Bessemer  converters  of  8  tons  capacity,  and  7  basic  vessels  of  10 
tons  capacity.  There  were  30  basic  open-hearth  furnaces,  averag- 
ing 16  tons  capacity,  in  the  larger  steel  works,  and  a  few  others  in 
steel  casting  plants.  There  are  no  acid  open-hearth  furnaces  in 
the  district.  Silesia  is  a  large  producer  of  wrougiht-iron,  there 

TABLE  XXIV-I. 
List  of  Steel  Works  and  Blast  Furnaces  in  Upper  Silesia. 


Location. 

Blast 
Fur- 
naces. 

Bessemer 
Converters. 

Open  Hearth 
Furnaces. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Steel  works  with  blast  furnaces— 
Friedenshutte  

Friedenshutte. 
Konigshiitte.  .  . 

f  Schwientoch- 
(    lowitz 

4-110 
7—80 

3-75 

4—12 
2-8 

2—17 
/4—  12 
tl—  10 

2-15 
j  4—15 
M—  20 
2—20 

I  2—15 
1  1—20 
J3-15. 
11—20- 
(1-20 
(3—15 

Konigshiitte  

1-8 

Bethlen  Falva  

Borsigwerk  

Borsigwerk.... 
Oberlagiewnik. 

Gleiwitz  

3—75 
3—70 

Hubertushiitte  

Steel  works  without  blast  fur- 
naces— 
Huldschinsky'che  

1—8 

1—8 

Baildonhiitte  

Kattowitz 

Bismarckhutte.  

j  Schwientoch- 
1     lowitz 

Blast    furnaces    without    steel 
works— 
Julienhutte.  

Bobreck  

7-60 
3—75 

Three  others,  one  each 

Zabrze  

GERMANY. 


755 


being  287  puddle  furnaces  in  operation,  or  30  per  cent,  of  the  total 
for  Germany. 

In  Table  XXIV-I  is  a  list  of  the  steel  works  and  blast  furnaces. 

SEC.  XXI Ve.— The  Saar: 

The  Saar  district  is  about  40  miles  square,  with  an  underlying 
bed  of  coal.  It  includes  the  neighborhood  of  Saarbrucken  and  the 
western  extremity  of  Bavaria,  The  coal  is  not  of  the  best  quality 
and  gives  a  poor  coke,  which  would  hardly  be  used  in  America, 
but  that  it  can  be  used  is  proven  by  the  steel  works  at  Volklingen. 
and  Burbach.  There  are  four  plants  in  the  valley,  and  three  of 
them  make  most  of  their  pig-iron  at  the  steel  works,  but  these 
three,  and  the  fourth  also,  operate  furnaces  in  Lothringen  or  Lux- 
emburg and  bring  the  pig  to  the  Saar. 

The  coal  varies  considerably,  and  Wedding  states  that  it  con- 
tains about  7.7  per  cent,  of  ash,  but  at  one  works  which  I  visited  it 
ran  from  22  to  30  per  cent,  of  ash,  and  in  another  from  18  to  20 
per  cent.  In  both  places  it  was  crushed  and  washed  and  the  ash 


TABLE  XXIV-J. 

List  of  Steel  Works  and  Blast  Furnaces  in  the-  Saar  District,  with 
the  Number  of  Furnaces  and  Eated  Capacity. 


Location. 

Blast 
Fur- 
naces. 

Bessemer 
Converters. 

Open  Hearth 
Furnaces. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Steel  works  with  blast  furnaces  — 
Burbach  

Burbach  

5—130 
2  -120 

4—11 

8—15 

also  at  Esch  Luxemburg1 

RochLng'sche  
also  at  Didenhofen  Lothrin- 

Volklingen  

5—120 

2—180 
6-  CO 

4      30 



4-15 

Gebruder  Stumm    

Neunkirchen.-. 



4—12 

1—12 

also  at  Ueckmgen  Lothrin- 

:  Steel  works  with  furnaces  else- 
where — 

Dillingen  .          

Dillingen  .  .  . 

3—15 

1-15 

j  1—30 
1  2—25 

3-15 
3-15 

Furnaces  at  Redingen  Loth- 

2      60 

Steel  works  without  furnaces- 
Weber        .     

Hostenbach   . 

St   Ingbert 

3-12 

Blast  furnaces  without    steel 
works— 
Halbergehutte  

4—30 

756  THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 

reduced  to  about  10  per  cent.,  giving  a  coke  with  12  to  14  per  cent. 
The  coal  is  charged  into  the  coke  ovens  in  a  saturated  state  holding 
about  11  per  cent,  of  water,  and  is  rammed  with  an  electric  ram- 
mer before  charging,  this  preliminary  ramming  compressing  the 
mass  so  that  the  coke  is  much  more  dense  and  the  amount  used 
for  smelting  is  decreased  10  per  cent.  By-product  ovens  are  used 
and  the  yield  of  coke  is  about  70  per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  dry 
coal.  Scarcely  any  of  this  coke  is  carried  outside  the  valley  of  the 
Saar,  but  the  local  blast  furnaces  use  it  exclusively. 

The  ore  is  all  brought  from  the  Minette  district,  and  the  mixture 
is  self -fluxing,  containing  about  31  per  cent,  of  iron,  and  the  pig 
carries  about  2  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  the  practice  being  the 
same  as  in  Lothringen,  save  that  the  coke  is  inferior  to  the  West- 
phalian  fuel  used  in  the  latter  place.  There  are  20  blast  furnaces 
in  the  Saar,  and  in  1899  they  smelted  nearly  600,000  tons  of  pig- 
iron,  or  30,000  tons  eacih,  being  a  little  over  80  tons  per  day, 
reckoning  them  as  all  in  operation.  There  were  no  acid  converters 
and  only  three  acid  open-hearth  furnaces,  two  of  these  being  used 
for  steel  castings.  There  were  four  basic  Bessemer  works  with  18 
converters  of  an  average  capacity  of  13  tons,  and  16  basic  open- 
hearth  furnaces  of  an  average  capacity  of  16  tons.  Three  of  these 
basic  furnaces  were  in  steel  casting  plants. 

Table  XXIY-J  gives  a  list  of  the  steel  works  and  blast  furnaces. 
SEC.  XXIVf.— Aachen  (Aix  la  Chapelle)  : 
The  immediate  neighborhood  of  Aachen  possesses  a  bituminous 
coal  field  which  in  1899  raised  1,764,000  tons  of  coal.  Some  of 
this  gives  a  fair  coke  and  the  output  of  the  ovens  in  the  above 
year  was  337,000  tons.  There  is  also  a  deposit  of  lignite  from 
which  nearly  4,000,000  tons  were  mined.  The  output  of  this  kind 
of  coal  is  rapidly  increasing  for  use  in  making  steam  and  similar 
purposes,  a  large  proportion  of  the  total  being  made  into  briquettes. 
The  ore  production  is  very  small,  being  only  16,580  tons  in  1899. 
There  are  some  scattered  blast  furnaces  which  made  153,000  tons 
of  iron  during  the  year.  The  district  is  important  a.s  a  steel 
maker  on  account  of  the  works  at  Rothe  Erde,  on  the  outskirts  of 
Aachen,  This  plant  makes  no  pig-iron  at  its  works,  but  operates 
five  furnaces  at  Esch  in  Luxemburg,  all  the  pig-iron  going  to 
Rothe  Erde  for  remelting.  There  are  three  basic  converters  of 
15  tons  each,  which  made  287,000  tons  in  the  year  1902,  or  8000 


GERMANY. 


757 


tons  per  month  for  each  vessel.  There  are  also  three  open-hearth 
furnaces  of  25  tons  capacity. 

The  Rothe  Erde  works  are  very  progressive  and  have  a  very 
extensive  system  of  cranes,  commanding  their  storage  and  ship- 
ping yards,  quite  unusual  in  foreign  works  and  not  at  all  common 
in  American  plants.  A  conspicuous  feature  is  a  very  high,  crane 
covering  traveling  cranes  of  ordinary  height  and  span  and  transfer- 
ring material  or  the  smaller  and  lower  cranes  themselves. 

SEC.  XXIVg. — Ilsede  and  Peine: 

In  the  southeast  corner  of  the  province  of  Hannover,  between  the 
towns  of  Hannover  and  Brunswick,  is  a  deposit  of  brown  iron  ore 
which  is  mined  by  open  cut,  the  bed  varying  from  6  to  41  feet 
in  thickness.  The  composition  of  this  ore  is  given  in  Table 
XXIV-K,  the  material  called  "washed  ore"  being  obtained  by 
washing  the  clay  from  the  fine  ore  produced  in  mining,  thus  obtain- 
ing clean  grains  of  ore. 

The  ore  is  used  raw  and  is  self-fluxing,  giving  a  pig-iron  con- 
taining about  3  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  which  is  the  best  for  basic 
Bessemer  practice  of  any  iron  made  in  Germany.  It  is  smelted  at 
Ilsede  in  three  blast  furnaces  of  200  tons  each,  and  the  fuel  ratio 
is  about  1  to  1.  The  records  of  manufacture  for  223,000  tons 
of  pig  show  that  2.925  tons  of  ore  were  used  per  ton  of  pig-iron, 
while  the  coke  was  1.008  tons.  The  coke  is  brought  from  the  Ruhr, 
a  distance  of  over  150  miles,  with  a  freight  rate  of  $1.58  per  ton, 
but  it  has  been  estimated  by  Sdhrodter  that  the  cost  of  pig-iron 

TABLE  XXIV-K. 
Composition  of  Ilsede  Ores. 

(Wedding:  Eisenhiitten  Kuude ;  1897,  Zweite ;  p.  33.) 


Aluminous. 

Calcareous. 

Washed  Ore. 

Phosphoric. 

Fe,O,.. 

58.26 

44.16 

62  73 

16.41 

MnO           

7.31 

4-72 

6.26 

1.00 

SiO 

10  70 

3  90 

4  87 

3  00 

A1.O«  

4.76 

1.00 

1  02 

1.16 

Cat)    

5  09 

21.61 

8.90 

31.50 

MgO 

0  44 

0  91 

P  O6  

2  46 

2  16 

4.08 

25  96 

H,O-J-COo 

10.98 

22  46 

13  14 

19.97 

Total            .  . 

100  00 

iOO  00 

100  00 

•t  00.00 

Metallic  Iron  wet. 

40.8 

30  9 

31.3 

11.5 

758  THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 

was  only  about  $6.75  per  ton,  in  an  era  of  low  prices  a  few  years 
ago.  In  1899,  owing  to  high  cost  of  fuel  and  supplies,  the  pig- 
iron  cost  $9.10  and  in  1900  it  was  $10.10.  A  local  supply  of  lignite 
helps  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door. 

In  1902  the  output  of  ingots  was  239,000  tons,  about  20,000 
tons  per  month.  The  pig-iron  is  converted  into  steel  at  Peine,  only 
.about  three  miles  away,  where  there  are  four  basic  converters  of 
15  tons  capacity. 

SEC.  XXIVh. — Kingdom  of  Saxony: 

The  Kingdom  of  Saxony,  which  must  not  be  confounded  with 
tihe  province  of  the  same  name,  is  on  the  border  of  Austria,  touch- 
ing Silesia  on  the  east,  while  Bavaria  lies  on  the  west.  Leipzig 
is  in  the  extreme  northwest  and  Dresden,  the  capital,  is  in  the 
center.  It  contains  a  very  good  supply  of  fuel,  and  in  1899  raised 
4,500,000  tons  of  bituminous  coal  and  1,300,000  tons  of  lignite. 
Some  of  this  coal  will  make  coke,  and  72,000  tons  were  so  used 
in  the  year  mentioned.  There  are  some  deposits  of  ore,  but  the 
amount  raised  is  unimportant.  No  pig-iron  is  smelted,  but  pig- 
iron  is  brought  in  from  outside  and  the  district  around  Chemnitz 
shows  quite  a  development  of  the  steel  industry.  A  very  small 
amount  of  puddled  iron-  is  also  made  in  the  Kingdom. 

There  are  four  steel  works  altogether.  One  of  them  has  two 
acid  converters  of  six  tons  capacity,  which  in  1902  made  11,000 
tons  of  steel,  and  another  works  has  three  basic  converters  of  15 
tons,  which  made  40,000  tons. 

There  is  one  acid  open-hearth  furnace  of  eight  tons  and  eleven 
basic  furnaces  of  thirteen  tons.  There  are  also  some  small  steel 
casting  plants. 

SEC.  XXIVL— The  Siegen: 

Siegerland  includes  the  southern  portion  of  Westpihalia  and  the 
eastern  arm  of  the  Rhine  province.  It  has  no  coal  within  its  bor- 
ders, but  raises  a  large  amount  of  ore,  most  of  this  latter  being  a 
carbonate  occurring  in  mammoth  fissure  veins,  the  limits  of  which 
are  unknown,  but  which  are  certainly  of  great  extent. 

The  ore  is  mined  by  shafts  averaging  about  700  feet  in  depth, 
and  is  roasted  before  smelting,  the  loss  in  weight  being  about  30 
per  cent.  About  two-thirds  of  the  output  is  smelted  in  the  district. 
the  rest  going  to  the  furnaces  in  the  Ruhr  or  along  the  Lower 


GERMANY.  759 

Rhine.  In  1899  there  were  2,120,000  tons  of  ore  raised,  which 
was  about  one-eighth,  of  the  total  for  Germany. 

The  composition  of  the  ore  as  given  by  Wedding  indicates  about 
38  per  cent,  of  iron  and  7.5  per  cent,  of  manganese  in  the  raw 
ore,  but  this  is  richer  than  the  average.  The  calcined  ore  accord- 
ing to  Brugmann*  runs  from  47  to  48  per  cent,  in  iron,  8  to  10 
per  cent,  in  manganese  and  9  to  12  per  cent,  in  residue.  Tihe 
distance  to  the  Ruhr  is  about  90  miles  and  the  freight  70  cents  per 
ton.  The  cost  delivered  is  about  $4.40,  the  low  phosphorus  and 
high  manganese  making  the  ore  desirable. 

There  are  32  blast  furnaces  in  the  district,  four  of  them  being 
operated  by  steel  works.  These  four  have  a  daily  capacity  ranging 
from  70  to  110  tons,  but  the  others  are  much  smaller,  the  average 
rated  capacity  being  only  60  tons.  The  total  pig-iron  production 
in  1899  was  only  657,000  tons,  which  is  only  about  30  tons  per 
day  for  each  furnace,  but  it  should  be  said  that  many  of  the  old 
furnaces  are  making  spiegeleisen,  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
output  running  20  per  cent,  in  manganese.  Much  pig  is  used  for 
puddling,  there  being  over  one  hundred  furnaces  in  the  district, 
or  10  per  cent,  of  the  total  for  Germany. 

There  are  four  steel  works  in  the  district,  concerning  one  of 
which  the  German  records  give  no  information  beyond  a  question 
mark.  The  other  three  make  only  basic  open4iearth  steel,  having 
12  furnaces  of  an  average  capacity  of  13  tons.  The  output  of  steel 
in  1902  was  154,000  tons. 

SEC.  XXI  Vj.— Osnabruck: 

The  district  of  Osnabruck  lies  at  the  junction  of  Western  Hann- 
over and  Northern  Westphalia;  being  only  50  miles  in  a  straight 
line  from  the  Ruhr  it  might  be  included  in  that  district,  but  it 
possesses  its  own  coal  and  ore  beds  and  thus  stands  partly  by 
itself.  In  1899  it  raised  550,000  tons  of  bituminous  coal  and 
128,000  tons  of  ore. 

The  ore  comes  from  the  Hiiggel  and  though  low  in  phosphorus 
is  very  friable.  Wedding  states  that  it  carries  from  37  to  47  per 
cent,  of  iron.,  but  Brugmann  gives  its  content  as  from  15  to  25 
per  cent.,  with  much  moisture. 

The  iron  industry  is  centered  in  the  Georgs-Marien-Bergwerks, 
at  Osnabruck.  There  are  four  blast  furnaces,  and  in  1899  the 

'Journal  I.  <&  S.  /.,  Vol.  II,  1903. 


760  THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 

production  of  pig-iron  for  the  district  was  115,000  tons,  which 
would  give  about  SO  tons  per  day  for  each.  There  are  two  acid 
converters  of  seven  tons,  and  three  basic  open-hearth  furnaces  of 
twenty  tons  each. 

SEC.  XXI Vk.— Bavaria: 

The  iron  and  steel  industry  of  Bavaria  consists  mainly  of  the 
Eisen.  Ges.  Maximilianshutte,  at  Rosenberg  in  Oberpfalz.  It  has 
two  blast  furnaces,  three  basic  converters  of  five  tons  capacity  and 
two  basic  open-hearth  furnaces  of  fifteen  tons.  A  small  amount 
of  wrought-iron  is  also  credited  to  this  province.  The  quantities  of 
coal  and  ore  raised  and  the  amount  of  finished  material  made  are 
unimportant. 

SEC.  XXI VI.— The  Lahn: 

The  district  known  as  the  Lahn  begins  at  Coblenz  and  stretches 
northeastwardly  through  Hessen  Nassau,  south  of  the  Westerwold 
range.  It  has  no  good  coal,  but  a  small  deposit  of  lignite,  and 
produces  a  little  foundry  pig-iron,  wrought-iron  and  steel  from 
local  ores  and  Westphalian  coke.  It  is  known,  however,  for  its 
deposits  of  red  and  brown  hematites,  large  quantities  being  sent  to 
Westphalia.  In  1899  the  Lahn  raised  over  750,000  tons  of  ore, 
this  being  about  one-third  what  was  mined  in  the  Siegen. 

The  average  commercial  run  of  red  hematite  is  about  50  per 
cent,  in  iron.  Tihe  ore  is  carried  130  miles  to  Westphalia,  with  a 
freight  rate  of  97  cents;. the  delivered  price  is  $3.80  or  about  7.6 
cents  per  unit.  This  neighborhood  also  supplies  ore,  carrying  22 
to  38  per  cent,  of  iron,  7  to  8  per  cent,  of  manganese,  and  18  to 
25  per  cent,  of  residues.  This  is  laid  down  in  Westphalia  for 
$3.50  per  ton. 

SEC.  XXI Ym. — Pommerania: 

This  district  is  mentioned  on  account  of  the  new  tidewater  plant 
of  three  blast  furnaces  of  the  Eisenwerk  Kraft,  near  Stettin  on 
the  Baltic  Sea,  which  is  built  to  smelt  imported  ore.  Coal  is 
brought  from  England  and  coked  in  by-product  ovens,  the  ammonia 
forming  a  source  of  revenue.  The  iron  is  all  for  foundry  use  and 
by  its  situation  this  plant  has  easy  access  to  Berlin,  this  city  being 
one  of  the  greatest  markets  in  the  world  for  such  iron  on  account 
of  the  immense  business  done  in  miscellaneous  castings. 

SEC.  XXI Vn.— Other  Districts: 

In  the  table  herewith,  showing  the  output  of  fuel  and  iron> 


GERMANY.  761 

figures  are  given  for  Central  Germany,  indicating  the  large 
amounts  of  lignite  raised  in  Merseburg  and  Magdeburg  in  Saxony, 
and  in  Frankfurt  in  Brandenburg,  but  these  mines  have  little 
bearing  on  the  iron  industry.  The  lignite  of  this  region  is  not  as 
good  as  that  mined  in  the  Rhenish  district,  for  it  contains  a  very 
large  amount  of  water,  the  vaporization  of  which  absorbs  such  a 
large  amount  of  heat  that  the  calorific  value  per  ton  is  greatly  re- 
duced. Ordinary  lump  bituminous  coal  will  drain  after  being 
soaked  so  that  it  will  carry  only  two  or  three  per  cent,  of  moisture, 
but  this  lignite  can  and  does  carry  over  one-half  of  its  total  weight 
ini  water,  and  yet  feel  reasonably  dry  to  the  hand.  A  carload  may 
contain  four  tons  of  fuel  and  six  tons  of  water,  and  this  fact  ren- 
ders it  far  from  economical  to  transport  it  any  distance. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

FRANCE. 

I  am  Indebted  to  my  friend,  Mr.  August  Dutreux,  of  the  Tie.  des  Forges  ds 
Chatillon,  Commentry  et  Neuves-Maisons,  for  a  careful  reading  of  the  manuscript 
of  this  article. 

SECTION  XXVa. — General  View: 

The  iron  industry  in  France  is  spread  over  the  whole  country,  as 
will  be  seen  in  the  map  in  Fig.  XXV-A ;  many  of  the  seats  of  in- 
dustry date  back  a  great  many  years,  but  viewed  from  the  stand- 
point of  to-day  the  control  of  the  situation  rests  in  the  ore  beds  of 
the  Minette  district  on  the  borders  of  Luxemburg  and  Lothringen. 
This  deposit  has  been  fully  described  on  another  page  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  latter  province  in  the  article  on  Germany,  and  it 
was  there  stated  that  the  ore  extended  into  French  territory  and 
is  found  in  the  province  of  Meurthe  et  Moselle,  but  other  parts  of 
the  country  must  be  considered  either  as  furnishing  the  fuel,  or  as 
being  the  seats  of  old  established  industries.  The  position  of  the 
iron  business  was  discussed  in  Journal  I.  &  S.  I.,  Vol.  II,  by  H. 
Pinget,  secretary  of  the  Comite  des  Forges  de  France.  This 
article  is  principally  a  condensation  of  his  work,  with  such  addi- 
tions as  have  been  suggested  by  subsidiary  information;  but 
through  the  courtesy  of  M.  Pinget  I  am  in  possession  of  the  sta- 
tistics for  1900,  and  he  has  also  given  me  in  detail  the  number  of 
converters  and  open-hearth  furnaces  in  each  province  and  their 
output.  I  have  grouped  these  provinces  in  the  way  usually  fol- 
lowed by  French  writers,  the  results  being  shown  in  Table  XXV-A. 
The  map  in  Fig.  XXV-A  gives  the  output  for  1899,  as  the  later 
data  were  not  available  when  it  was  made. 

Early  in  1900  I  was  able,  through  the  intercession  of  Hon.  M. 
E.  Olmsted  with  the  State  Department,  to  enlist  the  services  of  the 
American  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Paris  in  the  collection  of  very 
full  statistics  concerning  the  production  and  consumption  of  fuel 
and  iron  in  the  different  provinces  of  France.  The  information 
so  collected  was  deemed  of  great  value  by  the  Department,  and 

762 


FRANCE. 


763 


I  very  gladly  agreed  that  the  report  should  appear  as  a  government 
publication,  which  may  be  consulted  by  those  desiring  fuller  in- 
formation on  many  points.  I  sent  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 


a  large  map  of  France  and  requested  that  the  coal  and  ore  fields 
be  marked  upon  it.  The  results  are  shown  in  Fig.  XXV-B,  while 
the  following  pages  embody  many  facts  obtained  through  the  same 


source. 


764 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


TABLE  XXV-A. 
Production  of  Fuel,  Ore,  Iron  and  Steel  in  France;  metric  tons. 

Data  on  fuel,  ore  and  pig-iron,  private  communication,  Struthers,  Eng.  and 
Mining  Jour. 

Data  on  steel  and  rails  from  Pinget.     Comite  des  Forges. 

Data  marked  thus*  are  for  1898.  Totals  disregard  data  for  1898  and  are 
official. 


Production 
in  1899. 

Coal 

Coke. 

Ore. 

No.  of 
Blast 
Furnaces 
in 
Operation. 

Pig 
Iron. 

Wrought 
Iron. 

4  224,000 

61* 

1  576  000 

213  ooo 

Nnrth 

19  861  000 

1  357  000* 

12* 

297  000 

350  000 

Centre  

6,516,000 

'362,000* 

148,000 

16* 

247,000* 

80,000* 

&5outh         

3.066,000 

233,000 

204,000 

11* 

136,000* 

12,000 

24,000* 

8* 

106,000* 

9,000 

2* 

75000* 

Others  

3,421,000 



377,000 

1* 

61,000 

Total  

32863,000 

1,952,000 

4,986,000 

111* 

2,578,000 

834000 

13  370  000 

1,951,000 

Exports          

1,026,000 

Production, 
in  1900 

No.  of  Steel 
Works. 

Bessemer. 

Open  Hearth. 

Total 

Steel. 

Rails 
in  1901. 

Total. 

With 
Bessemer 
Con- 
verters. 

No.  of 
Con- 

Iverters. 

Product. 

No.  of 
Fur- 
naces. 

Product. 

East 

9 
4 
10 
3 
1 
2 
5 

34 

6 
3 
1 
1 
1 
1 

19 
9 
2 
2 
2 
3 

554.890 
232.329 
52.128 
33,326 
45,579 
32,909 

8 
13 
43 
10 
2 
5 
10 

71,104 
138,548 
261,788 
59,769 
15,4S4 
54.602 
68,542 

625,994 
370,877 
313,916 
93,095 
61,013 
87,511 
68,542 

119.873 
72,289 

North    

Centre  

South  
Southwest  
Northwest  
Others  

48793 
33,<00 
17.859 

Total  

13 

37 

951,161 

91 

669,787 

1,620,948 

291,814 

'SEC.  XXVb.— The  East: 

Much  of  the  information  regarding  this  district  is  appropriated  from  Kirch- 
hoff's  letters,  before  referred  to  in  the  discussion  of  Lothringen. 

The  eastern  division  embraces  the  great  ore  deposit  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Meurthe  et  Moselle  and  the  neighboring  districts  of  Haute 
Marne,  Ardenne  and  Meuse.  The  map  of  the  Minette  district, 
given  in  connection  with  Lothringen,  will  indicate  the  position  of 
both  mines  and  steel  works.  All  of  the  basic  Bessemer  plants  in 
the  Minette  district  are  in  the  province  of  Meurthe  et  Moselle,  but 
the  other  three  make  the  greater  part  of  the  open-hearth  product, 
and  their  output  is  constantly  increasing.  The  fuel  must  be 


FRANCE. 


765 


brought  quite  a  distance  and  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that 
the  Belgian  coal  fields  are  as  near  as  those  of  Northern  France, 
and  since  the  coke  made  from  the  French  deposit  is  not  of  the  best, 
and  since  it  has  been  impossible  during  recent  years  to  get  a  suffi- 
cient supply,  there  is  a  large  amount  of  coke  brought  from  Ger- 
many and  Belgium  in  spite  of  the  tariff.  The  Pompey  Company 


TT 

3 


- 


9 
C 
H 


has  coke  ovens  at  Seraing,  Belgium,  but  as  a  rule  the  companies 
do  not  control  their  fuel  supply,  although  very  lately  the  furnaces 
r. round  Lorigwy  have  united  to  form  a  coke  company,  a  plant  of 
r>00  ovens  being  projected. 


766  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

In  1898  this  district  produced  60  per  cent,  of  all  the  basic  Bes- 
semer steel  made  in  France,  and  at  that  time  there  were  only  four 
works  in  operation,  the  Longwy,  Micheville,  Joeuf  and  Pompey. 
Other  works  are  building  or  have  already  started  which  will  over- 
shadow these  completely,  from  which  some  idea  may  be  formed 
of  the  complete  supremacy  of  this  district  as  the  great  producing 
center.  It  is  customary  to  consider  Meurthe  et  Moselle  as  made 
up  of  three  districts,  Longwy,  Joeuf  and  Nancy ;  but  in  reality  they 
are  exactly  alike  in  metallurgical  conditions. 

In  the  Longwy  division  there  are  three  steel  plants  of  moderate 
capacity  as  follows : 

(1)  The  Longwy  Company,  which  in  1899  produced  186,463 
tons  of  pig-iron  and  158,910  tons  of  ingots. 

(2)  The  Micheville  Company,  which  in  1899  made  172,138  tons 
of  pig-iron  and  156,989  tons  of  ingots. 

(3)  The  Societe  des  Forges  de  Montataire,  with  a  new  works  at 
Frouard,  with  three  eight-ton  converters. 

In  the  Joeuf  district  are  two  steel  works : 

(1)  The  Soc.  An.  de  Vezin-Aulnoye  has  a  new  plant  at  Home- 
court,  near  Joeuf,  with  six  blast  furnaces  and  four  eighteen-ton 
converters,  with  an  estimated  capacity  of  1200  tons  per  day. 

(2)  The  old  plant  of  Do  Wendel,  in  which  Schneider  &  Co.,  of 
Creusot,  are  interested,  has  a  rated  capacity  of  500  tons  per  day, 
but  is  of  an  antiquated  type.     Owing  to  the  relations  existing  be- 
tween France  and  Germany  no  railroad  connection  is  allowed  with 
the  works,  since  it  brings  its  ore  by  rail- from  German  territory, 
and  all  its  products  are  hauled  by  cart  to  the  existing  French  rail- 
road. 

The  third  district  of  Nancy  has  two  steel  plants : 

(1)  The  Pompey  Company  at  Pompey. 

(2)  A  new  works  being  built  at  Neuves-Maisons  by  the  Com- 
pagnie  des  Forges  de   Chatillon,   Commentry  et  Neuves-Maison. 
This  company  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  largest  in  France  and  has 
operated  works  for  many  years  in  the  central  district  at  Monti  u- 
Qon,  Commentry  and  elsewhere,  and  it  is  very  significant  when  such 
a  new  departure  is  taken  and  a  very  large  works  projected  in  a 
district  so  entirely  disconnected  with  all  preceding  operations.   The 
new  plant  is  intended  to  include  five  blast  furnaces  and  four  18- 
ton  converters. 

In  addition  to  the  blast  furnaces  connected  with  steel  works 


FRANCE.  767 

above  mentioned,  there  are  many  others  making  iron  for  the  gen- 
eral market  and  on  January  1,  1900,  there  were  65  furnaces  com- 
pleted, with  54  in  blast,  the  total  capacity  of  all  being  estimated 
at  5000  tons  per  day.  It  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  the  metallurgical 
situation  in  this  locality  as  it  has  been  covered  by  the  description 
of  Lothringen.  Table  XXV-B  gives  a  list  of  the  works  in  this 
district. 

TABLE  XXV-B. 
List  of  Steel  Works  in  the  East  of  France. 

Those  marked  (B)  have  Bessemer  converters. 

Province.  Companies.  Location. 

Meurthe-et-Moselle        Soci€te     anonyme     des     Acieries     de 

Longwy    (B)  Mont-Saint-Martin 

Societe     anonyme     des     Acie"ries     de 

Micheville    (B)  Micheville 

MM.   de   Wendel    et   Cie,    Maitres   de 

Forges   (B)  Joeuf 

Societe    anonyme    de    Vezin-Aulnoye 

(B)  Homecourt 

Socie"te"  anonyme  des  Hauts-Four- 
neaur,  Forges  et  Acie"ries  de  Pom- 
pey  (B)  Pompey 

Socie"te  anonyme  des  Forges  et  Fon- 

deries  de  Montataire   (B)  Frouard 

Meuse  Societe  anonyme  des   Forges  et  Aci- 

e"ries  de  Commercy  Commercy 

Haute-Marne  Compagnie     des     Forges     de     Cham- 

pagne et  du  Canal  de  Saint-Dizier       Marnaval-Saint- 
a  Wassy  Dizier 

Ardennes  MM.     Boutmy    et    Cie,     Maitres    de       Messempre"- 

Forges  Carignan 

MM.  Lefort  et  Cie,  Maitres  de 
Forges  Mohon 

SEC.  XXVc.— The  North: 

The  great  coal  field  of  France  lies  in  the  provinces  of  Nord  and 
Pas-de-Calais.  It  is  an  extension  of  the  Belgian  deposit  and  ex- 
tends from  the  border  to  beyond  Bethune ;  the  city  of  Valenciennes 
may  be  regarded  as  a  center.  The  coke  made  is  not  of  the  best 
quality,  but  the  Belgian  is  little  better,  if  at  all,  and  the  demand 
has  been  far  ahead  of  the  supply  owing  to  the  remarkable  devel- 
opment of  the  iron  industry  in  Meurthe  et  Moselle,  so  that 
although  there  are  now  2000  coke  ovens  in  operation  and  many 
more  in  process  of  erection,  the  price  of  fuel  in  France  has  been 
almost  prohibitive.  In  the  year  1900  coal  retailed  in  Paris  at 
$15.00  per  ton  and  coke  for  foundry  use  as  high  as  $10.00.  These 
prices,  which  were  exceptionally  high  even  for  France,  of  course 
encouraged  imports  in  spite  of  a  duty  of  25  cents  per  ton,  and  coal 


768  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

from  the  United  States  entered  Mediterranean  ports,  while  Eng- 
land sent  6,000,000  tons  of  fuel,  including  coal  and  coke,  and  Ger- 
many supplied  considerable  coke.  Much  Belgian  and  English  fuel 
is  imported  into  the  coal  region  itself,  for  in  1899  the  foreign  coal 
used  in  the  provinces  of  Nord  and  Pas-de-Calais  amounted  to  one- 
sixth  of  the  total  consumption.  In  the  province  of  Calvados  in 
the  northwest,  a  comparatively  short  distance  from  the  French 
coal  fields>  nearly  all  the  fuel  consumed  was  brought  from  Eng- 
land. It  is  the  intention  of  French  coke  makers  to  increase  the 
number  of  ovens  so  as  to  render  foreign  imports  unnecessary,  but 
it  is  doubtful  if  this  increase  can  affect  some  of  the  northwestern 
and  southwestern  works,  which  are  close  to  the  sea  and  which  will 
find  English  coke  cheaper,  as  well  as  better.  The  cost  of  mining 
in  the  Nord  and  Pas-de-Calais  field  is  enhanced  by  the  depth  of 
the  shafts  and  by  the  numerous  dislocations  and  contortions  of  the 
strata,  and  the  coal  must  compete  on  the  east  with  the  product  of 
Belgium  and  Germany  and  on  the  west  with  English  fuel. 
^  A  certain  amount  of  iron  has  been  made  in  this  district,  but  the 
great  drawback  has  been  the  absence  of  any  ore  deposit,  the  supply 
having  been  drawn  from  Meurthe  et  Moselle,  or  from  Spain  and 
Sweden.  For  many  years  there  has  been  a  small  amount  of  hema- 
tite mined  in  the  province  of  Calvados,  but  the  amount  produced 
has  been  unimportant.  I  am  informed  that  there  has  now  been 
discovered  the  mother  lode  of  spathic  ore  in  large  quantities  and  of 
good  quality.  The  freight  on  this  will  always  be  low  owing  to  the 
continual  march  of  empty  cars  returning  northward  to  the  coal 
districts,  and  it  is  thus  possible  to  establish  an  iron  center  in  the 
District  of  the  North.  To  what  extent  this  may  develop  remains 
to  be  determined.  Table  XXV-C  gives  a  list  of  the  steel  works  in 
the  district. 

TABLE  XXY-C. 
List  of  Steel  Works  in  the  North  of  France. 

Those  marked   (B)   have  Bessemer  converters. 

Province.  Companies.  Location. 

Nord  Socie*te"     anonyme     des     Hauts-Four- 

neaux,   Forges   et   Acie'ries   de   De- 
nain  et  d'Anzin   (B)  Denain 

Socie"te"  anonyme  des  Forges  et  Aci- 
e'ries du  Nord  et  de  1'Est   (B)  Trlth-Salnt-Leger 
Socie'te'    anonyme    des    Usines    de    la 

Providence  Hautmont 

Pas-de-Calais  SocietS    anonyme    des    Acie'ries     de 

France    (B)  Isbergues 


FRANCE. 


769 


SEC.  XXVd.— 7%«  Center: 

The  central  district  embraces  the  provinces  of  Loire,  Saone  et 
Loire,  Allier,  Rhone,  Cher,  Isere  and  Mevre.  It  includes  the 
works  at  Creusot,  Montlugon,  Commentry,  St.  diamond,  Firminy 
and  St.  Etienne.  Notwithstanding  this  array  of  names  familiar 
to  metallurgists,  the  output  of  this  part  of  France  may  be  briefly 
passed  over.  It  is  of  small  amount  and  the  existing  works  have 
gradually  become  specialized,  making  certain  lines  of  finished  high 
grade  products  for  a  limited  market,  as,  for  instance,  armor  plate, 
guns  and  tool  steels.  The  fuel  supply  is  not  good,  the  blast  fur- 
nace coke  of  St.  Etienne  in  the  Loire  basin  containing  an  average 
of  14  per  cent,  of  ash.  The  supply  from  Allier,  which  goes  to 

TABLE  XXV-D. 
List  of  Steel  Works  in  the  Center  of  France. 

Note :    Those  marked  (B)  have  Bessemer  converters. 


Province. 


Companies. 


Location. 


Allier. 

Isere.. 
Loire . 


Compagnie  des  Forges  de  Chatillon.  Ccmmentry  et 
Neuves-Maisons 

MM.  Ch.  Pinat  et  Cie,  Maitres  de  Forges 

Gompagnie  des  Forges  et  Acieries  de  la  Marine  et  des 
Cheminsde  fer 

Compagnie  des  Fonderies,  Forges  et  Acieries  de  Saint- 

Etifnne 

MM.  Claudinon  et  Cie,  Maitres  de  Forges 


Nievre 

Saone-et-Loire... 


Societ6  anonyme  des  Acieries  et  Forges  de  Firminy  . . 
MM.  Jacob  Holtzer  et  Cie,  Maitres  de  Forges 


Societe  anonyme  de  Commentry-Fourchambault  et 

Decazeville 

MM.  Schneider  et  Cie,  Maitres  de  Forges.    (B) 

MM.  Campionnet  et  Cie 


Montlucon 
Allevard 

Saint  -  Chamond  et 
Assailly 

Saint-Etienne 

Le  Chambon-Feu- 

gerolles 
Firminy 
Unieux 

Imphy 
Le  Creusot 
Gueugnon 


Commentry,  Montlugon,  etc.,  is  no  better,  while  much  of  the  fuel 
for  the  Creusot  works  comes  from  the  Burgundy  basin  in  Saone  et 
Loire,  and  for  the  making  of  coke  must  be  mixed  with  one-third 
of  the  coal  from  St.  Etienne.  Ore  is  wanting,  over  one-third  the 
supply  being  brought  from  Spain,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  future 
development  possible  as  far  as  international  metallurgy  is  con- 
cerned. The  whole  district  in  1899  made  only  4000  tons  of  rails, 
which  was  but  a  little  more  than  one  per  cent,  of  the  total  output 
of  steel.  The  Creusot  works  still  turn  out  a  very  fair  product, 
but  much  of  their  pig-iron  is  brought  from  more  favored  districts. 
This  plant  makes  almost  all  the  few  rails  made  in  this  part  of  the 


770  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

country,  and  quite  a  little  material  for  ships,  and  claims  attention 
on  account  of  its  miscellaneous  business  in  machinery,  ordnance 
and  structural  work;  but  there  is  little  danger  that  the  establish- 
ments of  Central  France  will  make  many  conquests  in  international 
trade  in  the  lines  of  heavy  machinery  or  structures  until  their 
present  methods  of  hand  labor  are  completely  revolutionized.  In 
the  southern  part  of  this  division  Algerian  ore  is  used,  as  well 
as  some  from  the  Pyrenees.  In  1888  there  were  24  blast  furnaces 
reported  in  blast,  but  ten  years  later  in  1898  only  16  were  in  opera- 
tion. Table  XXV-D  gives  a  list  of  the  steel  works  in  this  district. 

SEC.  XXVe.— The  South: 

The  southern  district  covers  the  provinces  of  Gard,  Aveyron, 
Ardeche,  Bouches  du  Rhone  and  Ariege,  and  includes  the  coal  field 
of  Alais  in  Gard,  which  gives  a  coke  that  is  used  in  the  blast  fur- 
naces of  Besseges  and  Tamari.  There  is  also  a  deposit  in  Aveyron, 
which,  though  poorer  than  the  Alais  coal,  will  run  over  18  per 
cent,  in  volatile  matter  and  will  give  a  marketable  coke  in  Coppee 
ovens.  In  the  southeast  there  are  deposits  of  lignite,  the  province 
of  Bouches  du  Ehone  raising  490,000  tons  in  1899,  and  neighbor- 
ing districts  contributing  117,000  tons.  Some  of  this  is  sent  to 

TABLE  XXY-E. ' 
List  of  Steel  Works  in  the  South  of  France. 

Note :    Those  marked  (B)  have  Bessemer  converters. 


Province 

Companies. 

Location. 

Ariege  

Societe  Metallurgique  de  1'Ariege      ..  . 

Pamiers 

Soci6t6  anonyme  de  Commentry-Fourchambault  et 

Decazevil'le 

Decazeville 

Gard     

Switzerland  and  Italy.  The  quality  of  this  fuel,  however,  is  not 
good  and  the  supply  is  scant,  so  that  about  one-quarter  of  all  the 
coal  consumed  in  this  part  of  the  country  is  imported  from  Eng- 
land, principally  for  steam  purposes.  The  iron  industry  has  re- 
ceived an  impetus  from  quite  recent  developments  in  the  Pyrenees ; 
these  mountains  have  long  supplied  ore  in  moderate  quantities,  but 
it  is  likely  that  the  output  will  be  largely  increased.  Some  ore  is 
also  brought  from  Algeria.  In  1888  there  were  nine  blast  fur- 
naces in  operation,  while  in  1898  there  were  eleven  in  blast,  some 


FRANCE. 


771 


of  these  in  the  region  near  the  Pyrenees  being  small  and  using 
charcoal  for  fuel.  Table  XXV-E  gives  a  list  of  the  steel  works  in 
the  district. 

SEC.  XXVf. — The  Northwest  (Loire  Inferieure)  and  the  South' 
west  (Landes)  : 

Both  of  these  divisions  fall  under  the  same  head,  as  both  of  them 
import  Spanish  ores  from  the  north  of  Spain  and  smelt  with  Eng- 
lish coke.  The  works  in  Loire  Inferieure  also  bring  some  pig- 
iron  from  other  provinces  of  France.  The  production  of  neither 
district  is  of  great  importance  from  a  general  point  of  view,  al- 
though both  contribute  quite  largely  to  the  rail  output.  At  the 
works  at  Trignac,  near  St.  Nazaire,  there  are  three  blast  furnaces, 
three  10-ton  converters  and  four  open-hearth  furnaces,  the  pro- 
duction of  Bessemer  steel  being  about  2500  tons  per  month.  The 
names  of  the  works  in  the  two  districts  are  given  in  Table  XXV-F. 

TABLE  XXV-F.  -* 

List  of  Steel  Works  in  the  Northwest  and  Southwest  of  France. 

Note :    Those  marked  (B)  have  Bessemer  converters. 


Province 

Companies. 

Location. 

Loire-Inferieure 

Societe    anonyme  des  Acieries.    Hauts-Fourneaux, 
Forges  et  Acieries  de  Trignac.    (B)  
Societe  anonyme  des  Forges  et  Acieries  de  Basse-Indre 
Compagnie  des  Forges  et  Acieries  de  la  Marine  et  des 

Trignac 
Basse-Indre 

Le  Boucau 

CHAPTEE  XXVI. 


RUSSIA. 

I  am  Indebted  to  Mr.  A.  Monell,  formerly  of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company,  for 
a  careful  reading  of  the  manuscript  in  conjunction  with  a  naval  attache"  of  the 
Russian  Government,  whose  services  he  kindly  requisitioned.  Mr.  Monell  has 
visited  many  of  the  Russian  works  and  his  approval  of  the  text  renders  it  of 
much  greater  value.  The  manuscript  has  also  been  read  by  Mr.  Julian  Kennedy. 

The  information  has  been  gathered  from  many  sources.  Much  of  it  has  been 
taken  at  first  hand  from  the  Russian  Journal  of  Financial  Statistics  and  The 
Mining  Industries  of  Russia,  and  some  from  Consular  Report  No.  555  of  the 
British  Foreign  Office.  A  paper  by  Bauerman,  Jour.  I.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  I.,  1898, 
and  articles  in  "Stahl  und  Eisen,"  by  Neumark  and  Gouvy,  furnished  very  much 
in  the  way  of  detail,  and  many  other  papers  were  consulted.  In  the  matter 
of  statistics,  it  often  happens  that  the  published  figures  are  contradictory,  but 
the  data  given  here  are  in  accord  with  those  issued  from  official  sources. 

In  consulting  statistics  concerning  Russia,  the  weights  are  usually  given  in 
poods  and  the  values  in  roubles.  It  may  be  convenient  therefore  to  record  that 
one  pood  is  about  36.14  pounds,  and  hence  62  poods  are  one  gross  ton,  or  for 
practical  purposes,  60  poods=l  ton.  A  rouble  is  51.5  cents  and  this  is  one 
hundred  kopecks  or  copecks. 

SEC.  XXVIa.— General  View: 

Within  the  last  ten  years  Eussia  has  trebled  her  production  of 
pig-iron  and  increased  her  output  of  steel  fourfold.  No  other 
nation  can  show  such  a  record.  The  reason,  however,  is  not  hard 
to  find,  for  all  the  force  of  an  autocratic  government  has  been  ap- 
plied to  the  building  up  of  home  industries  in  the  same  way  that 
America  and  Germany  have  developed  the  manufacture  of  iron  by 
high  tariffs.  In  Eussia  ore  is  admitted  free,  a  bounty  is  paid  on  all 
pig-iron  exported,  and  the  freight  rates  arc  VTV  low. 

The  government  owns  the  railways,  and  their  requirements,  to- 
gether with  the  supplies  for  the  war  equipment  of  both  army  and 
navy,  absorb  four-fifths  of  all  the  iron  produced.  This  abnormal 
condition  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  one  hundred  million  peas- 
ants in  Bussia  use  scarcely  any  iron  implements  or  tools  of  any 
kind.  They  are  an  undeveloped,  mediaeval  people,  and  like  the 
rest  of  the  human  race,  must  learn  to  know  their  own  needs.  As 
a  result  there  is  a  very  low  limit  to  the  capacity  of  Eussia  to  absorb 

772 


RUSSIA. 


773 


iron  and  steel  and  the  government  may  fix  its  own  price  in  buying 
material. 

The  policy  in  the  past  has  been  to  encourage  manufacture,  espe- 
cially in  South  Russia,  and  the  large  dividends  regularly  pro- 
claimed attracted  large  amounts  of  foreign  capital.  The  New 
Russia  Company,  for  instance,  the  oldest  and  largest  steel  works, 
has  declared  dividends  since  1889  of  from  15  to  125  per  cent.  In 
1899  the  aggregate  share  capital  of  foreign  companies  in  Russia 
was  over  seventy  million  dollars,  more  than  half  of  this  being  in 
mining  interests,  foreign  money  representing  one-quarter  of  all 
the  mining  industry  of  the  Empire.  In  addition  to  this  proportion 
in  mines  there  is  a  very  large  investment  in  iron  and  steel  works ; 
the  Belgians  especially,  and  the  French  also,  have  built  many  ex- 
tensive plants,  oftentimes  without  inquiring  into  local  conditions  at 
all  and  relying  on  the  government  to  buy  whatever  was  made  at 
such  a  price  that  big  dividends  could  be  declared.  The  Bourses  of 
the  Continent  swallowed  anything  with  a  Russian  name,  and  the 
public  contributed  from  its  hoardings.  The  inevitable  crisis  came 
in  1899  and  1900,  the  government  refusing  to  pay  exorbitant 
prices,  and  a  process  of  natural  selection  is  now  in  progress.  The 
situation  of  many  concerns  is  indicated  by  the  official  report  of  a 
French  company,  which  pathetically  but  almost  humorously  states 
that  the  plant  they  have  built  in  the  lonely  forests  of  the  Ural  is 
suffering  from  "the  absence  of  mines  and  railways  near  the  works." 

Naturally,  this  great  crisis  has  had  its  effect  on  the  imports  of 
iron  and  steel  and  this  will  be  shown  in  Table  XX VI- A. 

TABLE  XXVI-A. 
Imports  of  Iron,  Steel  and  Fuel  into  Russia ;  tons. 


1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

Pig  iron  

100000 

113000 

139000 

50000 

Iron  .                ... 

300  000 

320  000 

270000 

97000 

Steel 

90  000 

74  000 

48000 

20  POO 

Iron  and  steel  goods. 
Coal           .... 

270,000 
2  150000 

280.000 
2  500  000 

300,000 
4000  000 

220'.000 
4  000  000 

Coke  

400000 

450000 

'550000 

540'000 

It  will  be  noted  that  importation  of  iron  and  steel  fell  off  re- 
markably owing  to  the  necessity  of  finding  a  market  for  the  home 
production.  The  imports  of  coal  and  coke  did  not  decrease,  be- 


774  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

cause  they  are  brought  in  to  the  plants  in  Northern  Eussia  and 
Poland  which  depend  entirely  on  outside  sources  of  supply. 

Everywhere  in  Russia  the  iron  manufacturer  has  two  great 
troubles :  If  he  is  near  coal,  the  ore  is  uncertain  or  being  rapidly 
exhausted.  If  he  is  near  good  ore,  there  is  no  fuel.  In  either 
event  the  available  labor  is  unreliable  and  inefficient,  for  the  great 
majority  of  the  men  come  from  the  agricultural  class  and  seldom 
break  off  all  connection  with  their  native  village,  many  of  them 
working  in  the  factories  only  during  the  winter  and  going  back  to 
the  farms  in  the  spring.  The  government  watches  over  them  with 
paternal  care.  No  man  can  work  continuously  for  twelve  hours, 
and  if  he  works  at  night  the  hours  must  not  exceed  ten.  On  days 
preceding  holidays  the  day  work  must  not  be  over  ten  hours,  and 
work  must  cease  at  noon  the  day  before  Christmas.  There  are 
fourteen  holidays,  in  addition  to  all  Sundays,  obligatory  on  all 
members  of  the  Russo-Greek  Church,  and  there  are  many  other 
regulations  about  the  making  of  individual  written  contracts  with 
each  laborer,  to  violate  which  is  a  serious  offense  for  either  work- 
man or  employer.  For  joining  a  strike  a  man  may  serve  more 
than  a  year  in  prison,  as  this  would  involve  a  violation  of  a  writ- 
ten agreement.  It  should  be  stated,  however,  that  these  rules, 
although  enforced  with  autocratic  completeness,  are  tempered  by 
regulations  that  allow  for  accidents  and  for  extraordinary  repairs. 

The  government  also  insists  on  very  complete  arrangements  re- 
garding the  health  and  welfare  of  the  workmen  in  their  home  life. 
The  New  Russia  Company,  in  Southern  Russia,  employs  14,500 
workmen.  Only  150  of  these  are  women,  a  showing  which  com- 
pares more  than  favorably  with  conditions  across  the  Austrian 
border.  The  company  supports  a  hospital  with  106  beds  and  a  dis- 
pensary with,  six  doctors,  five  surgeons'  assistants,  two  midwives, 
one  apothecary  and  two  assistants,  the  cost  of  this  department 
amounting  to  $36,000  per  year.  It  also  supports  a  system  of 
schools  costing  $75,000  per  year,  and  tea  houses,  baths,  etc.,  etc. 
That  all  this  is  good  cannot  be  questioned,  but  that  it  is  a  regula- 
tion of  the  State  bespeaks  a  paternal  government,  and  bespeaks  also 
a  people  who  need  a  paternal  government,  and  this  is  a  people  who 
are  in  a  certain  stage  of  sociological  evolution  and  who  must  de- 
velop for  more  than  one  generation  before  the  common  peasant 
becomes  the  industrial  equal  of  the  artisan  of  America. 

As  might  be  expected  in  a  country  so  great,  there  are  several 


RUSSIA. 


775 


•different  centers  of  production,  and  owing  to  the  undeveloped  con- 
dition of  transportation  the  distances  intervening  between  these 
centers  acts  as  a  sort  of  commercial  protection.  This  is  true  in 
every  country  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  but  Eussia  presents  ex- 


RUSSIA 


'\*         _r~^~sj <         .X        ^T"       ~~ZT         / 

^n"n    /    /O    *t*      < 
sr-a    H  *  (         -4L^_»J 


FIG.  XXYI-A. 

treme  examples.  -The  Moscow  district,  in  the  center  of  Eussia, 
is  600  miles  from  the  works  in  Poland,  or  from  those  in  Ekatennos- 
lav,  while  Poland  and  South  Eussia  are  separated  by  an  equal  dis- 
tance. The  Ural 'district  is  still  more  isolated,  being  nearly  900 


776 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


miles  from  Moscow,  1200  miles  from  the  Sea  of  Azov  and  more 
than  that  from  Poland.  Fig.  XXVI-A  will  give  an  idea  of  the 
general  distribution  of  the  iron  and  steel  industry,  while  Table 
XXVI-B  gives  more  definite  statistics.  The  total  output  of  steel 
in  1899  was  1,939,000  tons,  one-third  of  this  being  made  in  the 
Bessemer  converter  and  two-thirds  in  the  open-hearth  furnace.  The 
output  of  rails  was  530,000  tons,  about  one-quarter  of  the  total 
being  made  by  the  New  Kussia  Company. 

TABLE  XXVI-B. 
Production  of  Coal,  Iron  Ore,  Iron  and  Steel  in  Russia. 

Data  for  1899  from  The  Mining  Industries  of  Russia,  published  by  The  Mining 
Scientific  Committee  of  St.  Petersburg,  1901.  Data  for  1900  from  British  Con- 
sular Report,  No.  555,  June,  1901. 


District. 

Coal  in  1900. 

Ore  in  1900. 

Blast  Fur- 
naces in  1899. 

Pig  Iron  in 
1900. 

Steel  in  1899. 

Wr.  Iron 
in  1899. 

Tons. 

tn** 

o 

Tons. 

n-8 
o>  § 

p-l  u 

stf 

fij 

°PP 

4 

"5 
g 

Tons. 

*i 

Tons. 

£1 

Tons. 

*1 

£3 

South.... 
Ural 

10,479,000 
355,000 
3,950,000 
129,000 

69 
2 
26 
3 

3,117,000 
1,612.000 
488,000 
649,000 
32,000 

91,000 

52 
27 
8 
11 
1 

1 
100 

3 

33 
2 
9 
4 

3 

37 
102 
83 
45 
5 

17 

40 

135 
35 
54 
9 

20 

1,474,000 
791,000 
263,000 
239,000 
35,000 

30,000* 

52 
28 
9 
9 
1 

1 

982,000 
291,000 
282,000 
190,000 
178,000 

16,000 

50 
15 
15 
10 
9 

1 

57,000 
246,000 
66,000 
54,000 
87,000 

19,000 

11 

47 
12 
10 
18 

4 

Poland... 
Moscow.  . 
North 

Siberia.) 
and     j- 
Finland] 

Total  .  . 
Imports.  . 

14,913,000 
4,000,000 

100 

5,989,000 

54 

239 

293 

2,832,000 
50,000 

100 

1,939,000 
48,000 

100 

529,000 
270,000 

100 

*  Output  in  1899. 

SEC.  XXVIb.— The  South: 

The  predominant  factors  in  Eussian  development  to-day  are  the 
South  Russian  coal  fields  in  the  basin  of  the  Don  and  the  ore  beds 
of  Krivoi  Rog  and  Kertsch.  The  coal  deposits  cover  an  area  of 
about  90  miles  by  200  miles  and  are  estimated  to  contain  fourteen 
thousand  million  tons  of  fuel.  There  are  nearly  three  hundred 
mines  opened,  some  shafts  going  down  1300  feet,  but  over  three- 
quarters  of  the  total  product  comes  from  fifteen  openings.  The 
seams  are  of  only  moderate  thickness,  not  exceeding  seven  feet, 
rarely  over  five  feet,  and  as  a  rule  from  twenty-four  to  thirty 
inches.  One  seam  which  is  worked  is  only  sixteen  inches. 

The  cost  of  mining  is  therefore  high  and  during  recent  years 
the  supply  has  been  far  behind  the  demand.  "In  the  year  1900 


RUSSIA.  7<7 

the  price  of  coal  at  the  nearest  railroad  station  to  a  Donetz  mine 
was  $5.00  per  ton,  although  good  authority  gives  the  average  cost 
at  $1.00  to  $1.70  per  ton  at  the  pit's  mouth.  The  district  in  1888 
produced  2,205,000 -tons,  6,686,000  in  1897  and  10,479,000  tons  in 
1900,  this  being  69  per  cent,  of  all  that  was  raised  in  Russia.  The 
coal  varies  from  lignite  to  anthracite  the  same  seam  being  quite 
different  in  places  a  few  miles  apart.  The  anthracite  beds  are 
much  more  extensive  than  those  furnishing  the  soft  coal,  but  the 
furnaces  at  Salin  are  the  only  ones  using  hard  coal  for  smelting. 
The  bituminous  varieties  are  generally  high  in  sulphur,  ranging 
from  1  to  4  per  cent.  The  coke  is  of  poor  physical  structure  and 
most  of  the  coal  needs  to  be  washed,  several  plants  for  this  purpose 
having  recently  been  put  in  operation.  The  best  beds  give  a  coke 
containing  8  per  cent,  ash  and  1.1  per  cent,  sulphur,  but  other 
coals  give  a  product  up  to  25  per  cent,  ash  and  4  per  cent,  sulphur. 
In  1900  there  were  made  2,500,000  tons  of  coke,  but  not  more  than 
one-third  the  coal  used  for  this  purpose  could  be  called  true  coking 
coal.  The  percentage  of  volatile  matter  at  some  plants  is  18  to  21 
per  cent.,  while  in  other  places  the  proportion  is  higher.  In  1900 
there  were  4000  ovens,  two-thirds  of  which  were  of  the  Coppee 
type,  no  by-product  plants  being  in  use. 

The  ore  found  in  the  basin  of  the  Don  is  poor  and  of  little 
importance,  the  nearest  deposits  of  any  size  being  in  Krivoi  Rog 
in  Kherson,  on  the  border  of  Ekaterinoslav.  The  deposit  is  of 
limited  extent  and  varies  greatly  in  composition  and  character, 
the  richest  ore  being  pulverulent  and  giving  considerable  trouble 
in  the  blast  furnace  on  account  of  this  fine  condition.  Ores  below 
40  per  cent,  are  considered  worthless,  the  composition  of  eight 
samples  in  the  general  market  supply  varying  as  follows : 

Fe.    47  to    66 

P 01  to  .04 

SiO2    . 4  to    26 

CaO 0.5  to  2.7 

S 0.36 

Water    5.0 

Neumark  gives  the  following  as  an  average : 

Fe 60 

SiO2 5  to  8 

A12O3   1  to  2 

P. 03  to  1.01 

The  most  striking  feature  is  the  great  variation  in  the  content 


778  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

of  phosphorus.  The  amount  of  ore  in  sight  is  very  limited  and 
most  of  the  good  deposits  are  owned  by  companies  that  smelt  their 
own  output  and  sell  no  ore.  At  times  the  end  has  seemed  very 
near,  but  it  is  now  estimated  that  there  is  a  -supply  for  the  next 
twenty  or  thirty  years  at  the  present  rate  of  production.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  this  is  not  a  bright  outlook,  as  a  diminishing  ore  supply 
always  means  a  higher  cost. 

To  help  out  in  this  time  of  trouble,  very  large  deposits  of  ore 
have  been  opened  at  Kertsch,  about  300  miles  to  the  south  across 
the  Sea  of  Azof,  the  beds  being  near  the  surface  so  that  they  can 
be  worked  open  cut  by  steam  shovels.  The  layer  is  about  30  feet 
thick,  but  the  upper  and  lower  portions  are  poor  and  only  the 
middle  strata,  constituting  two-thirds  of  the  whole,  are  used.  The 
composition  is  as  follows : 

Fe 40  to    46 

Mn 0.3  to  3.0 

SiO2   15 

A12O3 5  to      6 

S : 0.1   to  0.2 

P 1.5 

Neumark  considers  that  this  will  give  the  cheapest  iron  in  Eus- 
sia,  and  places  the  cost  of  pig-iron  at  from  $11.00  to  $12.50  per 
ton.  The  ore  will  be  used  in  works  now  building  at  Kertsch,  and 
it  is  also  carried  to  the  furnaces  in  the  Krivoi  Eog  district  in  spite 
of  its  low  content  of  iron. 

In  1899  the  production  of  ore  in  South  Eussia  was  as  follows : 

Tons. 

Krivoi   Rog    2,650,000 

Local  Donetz   180,000 

Kertsch 190,000 

Manganese  ores 100,000 


Total 3,120,000 

South  Eussia  in  1887  produced  only  161,000  tons  of  iron  ore, 
but  in  1897  the  output  had  risen  to  1,898,000  tons,  and  in  1899  to 
3,120,000  tons  or  over  half  the  entire  output  of  the  Empire.  In 
1900  it  was  estimated  that  the  Kertsch  peninsular  would  raise 
600,000  tons.  The  tonnage  of  wrought-iron  and  steel  produced  in 
1899  was  twelve  times  what  it  was  ten  years  before.  In  1888  this 
district  made  only  13  per  cent,  of  the  pig-iron  and  18  per  cent,  of 
the  steel  made  in  Eussia ;  in  1899  it  made  over  50  per  cent,  of  both 
pig-iron  and  steel. 


RUSSIA. 


779 


In  1900  there  were  17  works,  the  most  important  being  given  in 
Table  XXVI-C,  the  new  works  in  Kertsch  not  being  included.  The 
plants  are  scattered  considerably,  one  large  works,  the  Providence 
Russe,  with  three  blast  furnaces,  being  at  Mariupol,  one  at  Tagan- 
roth  and  others  nearer  the  ore  in  the  vicinity  of  Ekaterinoslav. 

TABLE  XXVI-C. 
Principal  Iron  and  Steel  Works  in  South  Russia  in  190Q. 


Pig 
Iron. 

Finished 
Iron  and 

No.  of 

Men 

Employed. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

N6W  Russian  Company  Limited  

270000 

153000 

8,319* 

210000 

170000 

6636 

Petrovski,  Russo-Belgian  Met.  Co  

148,000 

107,000 

2.689 

Alexandrovski,  Briansk  S.  Russian  Co.. 

146,000 

90,000 

7,174 

Donetz-Yurieff  Met  Co                    .... 

110000 

30  000 

3240 

95000 

76000 

2,371 

80060 

65000 

3  122 

80000 

458 

Nikupol-Mariupol  Min  &  Met  Co.  .  .  . 

76'iX'O 

23000 

1,619 

"  Russian  Providence  "  at  Mariupol  .... 

70.000 

40,000 

1,841 

Bulinski  (Pastukhoff)                

40000 

25000 

3091 

*It  has  been  previously  stated,  on  the  authority  of  the  Russian  Journal  of  Financial 
Statistics,  that  the  number  of  workmen  in  1899  in  all  the  works  of  the  New  Russian  Co. 
•was  14,500.  It  is  stated  in  a  British  Consular  Report  that  the  number  is  8,319.  It  is  probable 
that  the  latter  figure  omits  some  of  the  mines  or  associated  industries. 

SEC.  XX Vic.— The  Urals :  -  /, 

The  Ural  district  presents  some  problems  of  peculiar  interest  to 
the  metallurgists.  The  ores  have  long  been  known  and  the  iron 
made  from  the  beds  of  Mount  Tagil  has  been  famous  all  over  the 
world.  The  deposits  are  scattered  over  quite  a  distance  north  and 
south,  both  on  the  eastern  and  western  slopes  of  the  range,  and  lie 
mostly  between  54°  and  60°  north  latitude  and  56°  and  62°  east 
longitude,  an  area  about  240  by  420  miles.  Some  of  the  beds  are 
brown  ore,  occurring  in  strata  130  feet  thick  and  containing  60 
per  cent,  of  iron  after  roasting,  while  other  deposits  are  of  mag- 
netite and  are  among  the  most  important  in  the  world. 

The  chief  center  of  the  Eastern  Urals  is  near  Nisjne  Tagual, 
where  the  hill  known  as  Wissokaia  Gora  offers  a  deposit  about  a 
mile  square,  in  which  the  best  ore  runs  from  60  to  65  per  cent,  in 
iron.  The  famous  iron  mountain  of  Blagodat  is  thirty  miles 
north  of  Nisjne  Tagual  and  three  miles  from  the  Kouchwa  Station 
on  the  Ural  Railway.  This  mountain  is  seamed  with  ore  running 
from  52  to  58  per  cent,  in  iron.  The  more  northern  deposits  in 


780  THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

the  Ural  district  are  difficult  of.  access,  but  the  southern,  as  above 
indicated,  are  on  the  line  of  the  railway  from  Perm  to  Ekatevin- 
burg. 

In  1888  this  district  produced  over  one-half  of  all  the  pig-iron 
made  in  Russia.  Since  then  the  proportion  of  both  has  decreased, 
but  the  production  of  pig-iron  has  doubled  in  tons  and  the  output 
of  steel  increased  nine  fold.  This  development  has  gone  on  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  good  fuel  is  scarce.  There  are  very  large 
deposits  of  coal,  but  the  quality  is  very  bad,  the  ash  running  from 
17  to  23  per  cent,  and  it  gives  a  very  poor  coke.  The  whole  dis- 
trict in  1900  raised  only  339,000  tons,  or  much  less  than  half  a 
ton  for  each  ton  of  pig-iron.  From  this  it  may  easily  be  seen  that 
the  almost  universal  fuel  is  charcoal,  and  this  is  not  always  of  the 
best.  In  the  southern  part  pine  wood  is  used  and  the  blast  fur- 
naces are  built  as  much  as  59  feet  high,  this  being  considered  the 
maximum  allowable,  but  as  we  go  northward  the  charcoal  becomes 
poorer  and  the  possible  height  of  the  furnaces  less,  so  that  in  the 
Central  Urals  they  are  only  50  feet  and  in  the  northern  part  only 
42  feet,  the  average  production  for  one  furnace  per  day  being 
twenty  tons. 

To  the  average  metallurgist  it  may  seem  impracticable  to  carry 
on  metallurgical  operations  on  a  vast  scale  when  charcoal  is  the 
only  available  fuel,  but  certain  things  must  be  taken  into  account. 
First :  The  great  iron  district  of  South  Russia  is  1200  miles  away 
as  the  crow  flies,  rather  far  for  Russian  railways,  and  when  it 
comes  to  water  transportation  the  advantage  is  all  the  other  way, 
for  the  Ural  iron  works  would  be  shipping  down  stream.  This 
is  an  important  matter  in  Russia  where  there  is  an  immense  com- 
.merce  in  the  transportation  of  products  down  river  on  rafts  and 
barges  which  are  broken  up  for  lumber  at  the  end  of  the  journey, 
there  being  no  need  of  a  return  cargo. 

Second:  The  Russian  government  prohibits  the  destructive  de- 
foresting of  lands,  so  that  the  same  area  may  be  reckoned  as  afford- 
ing a  sure  supply  of  charcoal  in  a  given  number  of  years. 

Third:  After  allowing  for  the  growth  of  population  and  its 
needs,  the  Urals  will  have  40,000,000  acres  of  pejpetuat  forest  land, 
equal  to  a  space  250  miles  square,  and  it  is  estimated  that  this  will 
produce  charcoal  sufficient  to  make  4,700,000  tons  of  pig-iron  per 
year.  It  is  also  calculated  that  this  charcoal  can  be  made  for 
$4.25  per  ton. 


RUSSIA. 


781 


Fourth :    The  ore  is  abundant  and  some  of  it  of  the  best  quality. 

These  facts  are  not  disputed  and  it  therefore  becomes  a  question 
why  there  is  not  a  more  rapid  development  in  the  region.  This 
subject  was  made  the  occasion  for  an  investigation  by  the  govern- 
ment. It  was  shown  that  onerous  restrictions  and  routine  im- 
posed by  branches  of  the  government  itself  were  responsible  for 
much  of  the  trouble,  these  being  in  great  contrast  to  the  encourage- 
ment given  to  industries  in  South  Russia.  Possibly  quite  as  seri- 
ous a  matter  was  the  system  of  land  tenure,  for  it  was  pointed  out 
that  a  great  part  of  the  land  has  not  yet  been  allotted  to  the  serfs 
set  free  a  generation  ago,  and  as  no  man  knows  what  land  he  will 
have  or  how  much  he  will  get,  it  can  hardly  be  expected  that  he 
will  take  much  interest  in  any  part  of  it,  or  spend  money  on  im- 
provements. Another  factor  in  the  problem  is  the  law  providing 
that  the  landed  proprietors  must  furnish  steady  work  to  the  people 
living  on  the  estate,  and  under  these  circumstances  it  can  hardly 
be  expected  that  labor  saving  machinery  will  be  introduced. 

A  most  peculiar  feature  in  the  situation  is  the  status  of  what 
are  styled  "Possession  Works."  These  are  owned  by  the  govern- 
ment and  are  leased  to  individuals  or  companies.  These  properties 
embrace  6,000,000  acres  of  forest  land,  equal  to  an  area  100  miles 
square,  and  the  blast  furnaces  produce  200,000  tons  per  year, 
or  one-third  the  total  production  of  the  Urals.  The  terms  of  the 
lease  prohibit  the  proprietor  from  making  any  improvements  or 
changes  without  special  authority  from  the  State.  There  are  also 
numberless  petty  prohibitions,  as  for  instance,  the  sub-letting  of 
leaseholds,  etc.,  that  render  an  efficient  liberal  management  entirely 
out  of  the  question.  Coupled  to  these  conditions  is  the  natural 
opposition  of  mediaeval  feudal  landed  proprietors  to  changing  the 
existing  order.  Some  day  the  spirit  of  enterprise  which  is  now 
transforming  Russia  may  take  hold  of  this  remote  corner  of  the 
empire,  and  when  the  great  plains  of  Siberia  and  Eastern  Russia 
are  more  thickly  peopled  we  may  have  the  curious  condition  of  an 
immense  iron  and  steel  producing  district  with  charcoal  as  the  only 
fuel. 

It  may  also  be  possible  that  some  of  the  best  ores  may  be  trans- 
ported 1200  miles  to  the  Donetz  coal  basin,  or  that  the  coal  may 
be  taken  to  the  ore.  The  prohibitive  distances  intervening  between 
outside  countries  and  the  center  of  the  Continent  make  many  things 
possible  when  the  time  comes  that  the  plains  of  Asia  are  covered 


782  THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

with  cities,  or  when  they  will  be  laid  out  with  railway  systems  as 
the  Great  Desert  of  our  own  West  has  been  reconstructed  in  a  gen- 
eration. 

At  the  present  time  one  solution  to  the  transportation  problem 
in  the  Urals  is  being  given  by  a  company  which  is  building  a  plant 
of  six  15-ton  open-hearth  furnaces  at  Tsaritain  on  the  Volga.  The 
pig-iron  will  be  made  in  charcoal  furnaces  in  the  Urals  and  be 
brought  900  miles  on  barges  by  river,  and  it  must  all  be  brought 
on  the  summer  freshet,  as  the  upper  tributaries  are  only  navigable 
at  that  time.  The  fuel  is  naphtha,  which  will  be  brought  700  miles 
from  Batoum  by  way  of  the  Caspian  Sea  and  the  Volga. 

One  of  the  principal  works  in  the  Urals  is  the  Nijni  Tagual, 
owned  by  Demidoff,  Prince  San-Donato.  This  is  near  the  ore  de- 
posits of  Blagodat  and  Vissiokaia  and  has  eleven  blast  furnaces, 
twelve  open-hearth  furnaces  and  a  Bessemer  plant.  The  largest 
works  in  the  Southern'  Urals  is  near  the  ore  mine  of  Komarowo, 
but  its  output  is  only  2000  tons  of  pig-iron  per  month.  This  ore 
deposit  is  a  brown  hematite,  but  a  little  distance 'to  the  eastward  is 
an  immense  deposit  of  magnetite  at  Magnitnaja  or  the  "Iron  Moun- 
tain." 

SEC.  XXVId.— Poland: 

The  prominence  of  Poland  as  an  iron  center  rests  solely  on  the 
fact  that  with  the  exception  of  Ekerinoslav  it  is  the  only  part  of 
Russia  where  extensive  deposits  of  coal  are  found.  In  1888  the 
Dombrova  field,  in  the  Bendzin  district,  province  of  Petrokov,  in 
Poland,  produced  2,376,000  tons  of  coal,  being  slightly  more  than 
Southern  Russia,  but  in  1899  Poland  had  increased  only  to  3,950,- 
000,  while  South  Russia  raised  6,686,000  tons.  The  coal  of  the 
Dombrovski  basin  is  an  extension  of  the  Silesian  deposit  and  gives 
a  much  poorer  coke  than  is  made  from  the  coal  in  German  and 
Austrian  territory.  The  blast  furnaces  therefore  bring  almost  all 
their  supply  from  Austrian  Silesia  and  Moravia.  This  condition 
has  caused  a  very  slow  development  of  the  coal  industry,  the  in- 
crease in  output  in  the  three  years  from  1897  to  1900  being  only 
6  per  cent.  In  this  latter  year  Poland  produced  26  per  cent,  of  all 
the  coal  raised,  the  South  contributing  69  per  cent,  and  all  other 
portions  of  the  Empire  onlv  5  per  cent.  A  small  amount  of  lignite 
is  raised,  but  in  1900  the  output  was  only  95,000  tons. 

There  are  some  deposits  of  iron  ore  in  Poland,  and  there  are 
nearly  one  hundred  mines  where  brown  hematite  and  spherosiderite 


RUSSIA.  783 

are  found,  but  the  ore  is  very  lean  and  variable,  holding  20  to  50 
per  cent,  of  iron  and  the  amount  produced  is  unimportant.  In 
1899  only  488,000  tons  were  raised,  half  of  which  came  from  the 
province  of  Radom.  The  composition  reported  was  30  per  cent, 
of  iron  in  the  raw  stone  and  35  per  cent,  when  roasted.  In  recent 
years  the  ores  of  the  Krivoi  Rog  have  been  brought  700  miles  to 
replace  the  local  supply.  There  are  about  40  iron  plants  in  the 
district,  but  they  are  as  a  rule  very  small  and  almost  all  the  iron 
is  made  in  four  works,  of  which  the  principal  is  the  Huta  Bank- 
owa,  operated  by  French  capital,  possessing  three  blast  furnaces 
making  together  about  250  tons  of  iron  per  day  and  eleven  open- 
hearth  furnaces.  There  is  also  quite  a  forge  and  tube  plant  at  War- 
saw, which  has  had  open-hearth  furnaces  running  on  imported  pig- 
iron,  though  blast  furnaces  are  now  building.  The  Briansk  Com- 
pany>  which  has  already  been  mentioned  as  having  a  works  in 
South  Russia  at  Ekaterinoslav,  also  has  a  plant  in  Poland  at 
Grodno. 

In  1888  Poland  produced  51,000  tons  of  steel  and  in  1899  it 
made  282,000  tons,  and  yet  owing  to  the  great  advance  in  South 
Russia  the  percentage  of  total  production  made  in  this  province 
was  much  less  at  the  later  period. 

SEC.  XXVIe.— The  Center: 

The  district  of  Central  Russia  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  Empire 
and  includes  an  area  about  two  hundred  miles  square,  with  Mos- 
cow at  its  northwest  corner.  There  is  a  little  coal  found  here,  but 
it  is  the  worst  in  Russia,  being  high  in  ash  and  sulphur  and  of  poor 
structure  and  of  little  use  in  the  iron  industry.  Formerly  there 
were  large  forests,  but  two-thirds  of  this  area  is  now  denuded  and 
charcoal  has  risen  to  prohibitory  prices.  There  is  a  limited  amount 
of  brown  and  spathic  ores,  the  latter  in  the  best  beds  averaging 
about  50  per  cent,  of  iron,  giving  59  per  cent,  in  the  roasted  ore. 
The  silica  is  about  10  per  cent.  The  home  supply  of  raw  material 
is  so  poor  that  coke  is  now  brought  350  miles  from  the  Donetz 
basin,  and  ore  from  the  Krivoi  Rog  and  Kertsch,  the  distance  for 
the  latter  being  about  600  miles.  The  principal  works  are  at  Tula, 
about  75  miles  south  of  Moscow,  and  at  Lipetzk,  about  100  miles 
southeast  of  Tula.  At  the  first  named  place  there  are  three  blast 
furnaces,  each  making  120  tons  per  day,  while  Lipetzk  has  two 
furnaces  of  larger  capacity. 


784  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

SEC.  XXVIf.— The  North: 

The  district  of  North  Kussia  includes  the  provinces  of  Peters- 
burg, Olonetz  and  Courland.  There  are  some  deposits  of  magne- 
tites and  lake  ores,  and  works  have  been  operated  here  for  a  long 
time,  using  charcoal  as  fuel.  The  present  output  of  ore  and  pig- 
iron  is  small,  but  by  the  importation  of  fuel  and  pig-iron,  mostly 
from  England,  a  very  considerable  amount  of  steel  is  made. 

TABLE  XXVI-D. 
Imports  at  St.  Petersburg  in  1899. 

Tons. 

Pig-iron    9,000 

Coke 128,000 

Coal    1,639,000 

There  are  several  works  of  some  size  in  the  north,  the  Poutiloff, 
Nevski,  Alexandrovsky,  Kolpino  and  Obeuhof?  being  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  St.  Petersburg.  The  Poutiloff  is  the  largest  of  these, 
having  two  converters  and  twelve  open-hearth  furnaces.  Another 
works,  the  Petrozavodsk,  is  situated  about  one  hundred  miles  away 
at  Ladogua. 


CHAPTEK  XXVII. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 

I  am  indebted  to  my  friends,  Ernest  Bertrand,  general  manager  at  Kladno, 
and  Carl  Sjogren,  engineer  at  Donawitz,  for  reviewing  this  manuscript  and 
giving  much  information. 

SECTION  XXVIIa. — General  View: 

The  dual  Empire  of  Austria-Hungary  is  often  treated  as  a  unit 
and  often  as  two  distinct  entities,  and  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to 
tell  whether  statistics  relate  to  Austria  proper  or  to  Austria-Hun- 
gary. This  is  due  to  the  peculiar  political  relations  existing  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  which  it  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  article 
to  discuss. 

The  steel  production  of  Austria  demands  attention  on  account  of 
the  energetic  way  in  which  improvements  have  been  made  in  recent 
years,  and  because  her  metallurgists  have  always  been  progressive. 
It  was  as  far  back  as  November,  1863,  that  acid  Bessemer  steel  was 
made  at  Turrach,  in  Styria,  and  this  was  followed  in  the  next  year 
by  Neuberg,  and  by  eight  others  soon  afterwards.  The  Thomas 
Gilchrist  basic  Bessemer  process  was  ushered  into  the  world  in 
1878  and  only  one  year  later  the  first  charge  was  made  at  Kladno, 
in  Bohemia.  In  the  same  year  both  Teplitz  and  Witkowitz  adopted 
the  practice. 

The  steel  industry  of  Austria,  as  far  as  it  is  here  necessary  to 
consider  it,  exists  in  three  districts  shown  in  Fig.  XXVII-A: 
Moravia  and  Silesia  in  the  north  and  east ;  Bohemia  in  the  north- 
west, and  Styria  and  Carinthia  in  the  southwest.  Not  one  of  these 
possesses  all  the  essentials  for  cheap  production,  for  Bohemia  and 
Styria  have  no  coke,  and  Moravia  no  ore.  Moreover,  the  situation 
of  Austria  does  not  facilitate  international  trade,  especially  as  Kus- 
sia,  which  would  be  a  natural  outlet  for  manufactures,  has  adopted 
a  very  decided  protective  tariff  svstem.  For  this  reason  the  Aus- 
trian industry  is  not  specialized  and  cannot  tend  toward  a  heavy 
production  of  one  line  of  work,  but  toward  a  diversified  output,  and 

785 


786 


THE   IKON    INDUSTRY. 


for  this  reason  also  the  basic  open-hearth  is  rapidly  becoming  the- 
general  method  of  manufacture.  Quite  a  considerable  amount  is 
made  by  the  basic  Bessemer,  but  very  little  by  the  acid  open-hearth, 


while  during  January,  1901,  there  was  blown  what  will  probably 
be  the  last  heat  of  acid  Bessemer  steel.  The  statistics  of  produc- 
tion as  far  as  available  are  given  in  Table  XXVII-A  and  XXVII-B 
the  latter  showing  how  the  basic  process  has  supplanted  the  work 
on  acid  linings. 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 


787 


TABLE  XXVII-A. 

Production  of  Fuel,  Ore,  Iron  and  Steel  in  Austria-Hungary  in 
1900;  metric  tons. 

Index  of  Authorities ;  see  Table  XXX- A. 


Province. 

Bituminous 
Coal. 

Lignite. 

Ore. 

Pig  Iron. 

Steel. 

Bohemia  

3  590,670s 

17  359,9529 

667  946» 

281  6399 

214  OOO19 

Styria         .                .  . 

2  802  891* 

1  151  1739 

275  901  9 

205000** 

Moravia  ,  

1,478  957  9 

190  2139 

8  5829 

271  3049 

Silesia   

4  697  091  9 

1  1019 

709 

41  81  9e 

}    235,000  1B 

Gallicia 

1  166  6339 

76  7929 

2*0629 

Trieste  

54  6049 

Other  Provinces         .  • 

59  1949 

1  108  9689 

66  6879 

72  8789 

127  000 

Austria  ...                     .... 

10  992  545 

21  539  917 

1  894  458 

1  000  207 

781  OOO1* 

Hungary  

1  238  8559 

4  292  5849 

1  567  8609 

451  6479 

353  OOO14 

Austria  Hungary  

12,231,400 

25,832,501 

3,462,318 

1,451,854 

l,134,000l* 

TABLE  XXVII-B. 
Production  of  Steel  in  Austria   (not  including  Hungary). 

From   Kupelweiser;    Oesterreichischer    Zeitschrift,   XLIX.,  1901.     In   1879,  the   first 
basic  steel  was  made.     In  January,  1901,  the  last  acid  Bessemer  heat  was  blown. 


Year. 

Bessemer  Steel. 

Open  Hearth  Steel. 

Total 
Steel. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Total. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Total. 

1879 

76,348 

3,500 

79,848 

19,697 

19,697 

99,545 

1880 

75,027 

17,835 

92,862 

20,481 

20,481 

113.348 

1881 

88',279 

31,889 

120,168 

29,846 

29J846 

150,014 

1882 

101,230 

57,714 

.158,944 

39,740 

39,740 

198,684 

1883 

101,254 

88,429    - 

189,683 

43,797 

43*797 

233,480 

1884 

86,855 

70,987 

157  842 

40,009 

40,009 

197,851 

1885 

88,288 

76,821 

165,109 

41,021 

41  021 

206,130 

1886 

60,016 

105,839 

165,855 

25,861 

11,204 

37^065 

202,920 

1887 

67,620 

118,379 

185,999 

18,309 

29,631 

47,940 

233,939 

1888 

76,533 

139,127 

215,660 

25,572 

50,962 

76.534 

292,194 

1889 

72,849 

126,502 

199,351 

32,121 

77,516 

109,637 

308,988 

1890 

76,684 

103,180 

•  179,864 

29,204 

133,808 

163,012 

342,876 

1891 

60,713 

95,061 

155,774 

27,800 

150,493 

178,293 

334,067 

1892 

50,379 

100,841 

151,220 

20,114 

180,951 

201,065 

352,285 

1893 

48,657 

108,104 

156,761 

19,794 

203,894 

223,688 

380,449 

1894 

47,784 

133,131 

180,915 

17,729 

254,835 

272,564 

453,479 

1895 

46,502 

127,816 

174,318 

18,576 

304,747 

323,323 

497,641 

1896 

46,931 

157,216 

204,147 

21,587 

356,973 

378,560 

582,707 

1897 

38,713 

167,688 

206,401 

14,764 

405,098 

419,852 

626,253 

1898 

41,963 

184,650 

226,613 

15,952 

480,125 

496,077 

722,690 

1899 

38,538 

186,643 

225,181 

18,314 

540,894 

559,208 

784,389 

1900 

18,214 

182,809 

201,023 

23,196 

557,110 

580,306 

781,329 

Owing  to  the  high  freight  rates  and  the  long  distances  from  the 
northern  coal  districts  to  the  southern  parts  of  the  Empire  a  large 
quantity  of  coal  is  imported  at  southern  ports.  In  the  year  1899 
ihe  total  coal  raised  was  41,000,000  tons,  but  only  11,450,000  was 


788  THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 

bituminous,  the  remainder  being  lignite.  In  the  same  year  the 
imports  amounted  to  17,000,000,  so  that  much  more  bituminous 
coal  was  imported  than  was  used.  The  local  gas  works  at  Trieste 
sell  coke  for  domestic  use  at  $9.30  per  ton.  A  large  quantity  of 
Westphalian  coke  is  brought  to  the  blast  furnaces  of  Bohemia  and 
even  to  Styria,  since  the  coke  districts  of  Moravia  and  Silesia  are 
as  yet  unable  to  meet  the  demand.  There  is  one  large  blast  furnace 
at  Trieste  which  uses  coke  from  England  and  sometimes  ocean- 
borne  coke  from  Westphalia,  and  some  of  the  smaller  charcoal  fur- 
naces in  the  south  often  use  a  certain  proportion  of  imported  coke. 
I  was  informed  by  one  of  the  great  iron  masters  of  Austria  that 
he  had  seriously  considered  the  use  of  American  coke  in  the  blast 
furnaces  of  southern  Austria,  but  the  high  prices  and  high  freights 
of  the  last  two  years  have  been  prohibitory.  The  total  production 
of  coke  in  Austria  in  1900  was  1,227,918  tons,  almost  all  of  which 
was  made  in  Moravia  and  Silesia.  The  production  of  Hungary 
was  only  about  10.000  tons. 

To  balance  the  very  considerable  quantities  of  coke  coming  into 
Austria  from  Germany,  there  are  large  amounts  of  brown  coal 
(lignite)  carried  from  the  region  around  Teplitz  in  Bohemia  into 
Germany.  It  goes  northward  by  water  transports  on  the  Elbe  to 
Magdeburg,  and  even  to  Hamburg,  meeting  there  the  competition 
of  English  and  Westphalian  fuel. 

SEC.  XXVIIb. — Bohemia  (see  No.  1  on  Map) : 

This  province  is  well  supplied  with  fuel  although  there  is  no 
good  coking  coal.  In  1889  it  raised  4.070,000  tons  of  bituminous 
coal,  or  nearly  as  much  as  Austrian  Silesia,  while  it  produced 
17,960.000  tons  of  brown  coal  (lignite),  or  over  82  per  cent,  of  the 
total  for  Austria,  most  of  the  latter  coming  from  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Teplitz.  Bohemia  also  has  a  supply  of  iron  ore  which 
is  quite  well  suited  for  the  basic  Bessemer.  It  carries  from  0.6 
to  0.8  per  cent,  of  sulphur  and  is  roasted  and  leached  with  water 
to  dissolve  the  sulphates,  after  which  treatment  it  averages  about  as 
follows : 

Per  cent. 

Pe   42.00  to  48.00 

P 1.2 

Mn   0.1 

S.. 0.8 

.  « 

The  coke  is  brought  from  Silesia  and  Westphalia. 

The  principal  works  are  those  of  the  Prager  Eisen  Industrie 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 


789 


Gesellschaft  at  Kladno  and  Teplitz,  and  the  Bohmische  Montan 
Gesellschaft  at  Konigshof.  Kladno  has  four  large  modern  blast 
furnaces,  a  basic  Bessemer  plant  with  three  converters  of  13  tons 
capacity,  a  basic  open-hearth  plant  and  mills  for  rolling  rails, 
structural  shapes,  wire,  etc.  The  blooming  mill  is  strong  and  in- 
gots of  three  tons  are  rolled  into  rails  and  beams  in  one  heat. 
Teplitz  has  three  basic  converters,  two  heavy  plate  mills  and  a  beam 
mill.  It  receives  pig-iron  from  Konigshof,  where  there  are  four 
modern  blast  furnaces,  a  foundry  and  one  basic  converter.  Until 
quite  recently  there  was  considerable  business  done  in  making  small 
ingots  and  great  quantities  were  made  only  four  inches  square, 
which  were  rolled  directly  into  small  shapes,  but  this  practice  is 
now  carried  on  only  at  Konigshof  and  in  very  small  amount.  It  is 
found  more  economical  to  roll  billets  from  large  ingots  than  to  cast 
small  pieces,  this  being  the  trend  of  experience  throughout  Europe 
where  many  plants  are  giving  up  the  old  practice.  It  is  at  Kladno 
that  Mr.  Bertrand  has  developed  the  Bertrand  Thiel  open-hearth 
process  which  has  been  discussed  in  Chapter  XII.  The  ore  used 
in  the  open-hearth  furnaces  is  partly  Gellivare  (Swedish),  and 
some  of  this  is  also  used  in  the  blast  furnace  to  reduce  the  content 
of  phosphorus  in  the  pig-iron  to  about  1.5  per  cent. 

It  is  also  necessary  to  mention  the  steel  casting  plant  of  the 
Skoda  Company  at  Pilsen,  which  has  a  high  reputation  for  difficult 
stern  posts,  etc.,  for  large  ships,  and  is  also  equipped  with  hydraulic 
presses  for  guns  and  armor. 

Table  XXVII-C  gives  a  list  of  the  principal  works  in  Bohemia. 

TABLE  XXVII-C. 

List  of  Steel  Works  in  Bohemia   (Bb'hmen). 

This  district  is  marked  on  the  map  as  No.  1. 


Name  of  Plant. 

Location. 

No.  of  Bessemer 
Converters. 

No.  of  Open 
Hearth  Furnaces. 

Annual 
Output  ; 
tons. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Prager  Eisenindustrie  .  .  .  j 
Boemische  Montan  etc  

Kladno... 

3 
3 
2 

2 

}  160,000 

40,000 
14,000 

Teplitz  

Skoda  Steel  Works  

Pilsen  .  . 

4 

SEC.  XXYIIc. — Moravia  and  Silesia  (see  No.  2  on  Map)  : 
The  coal  field  which  has  already  been  described  as  covering  a 


790  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

large  part  of  Upper  German  Silesia  extends  over  Austrian  Silesia 
and  into  Moravia.  As  before  explained,  the  coal  is  rich,  but  does 
not  give  the  best  of  coke.  Immediately  around  Ostrau,  where 
Witkowitz  is  situated,  the  quality  of  the  coke  is  quite  good,  but  in 
Silesia  it  is  poor.  It  is  however  the  only  coke  district  east  of 
Westphalia,  and  forms  the  nucleus  for  a  considerable  iron  indus- 
try. The  coke  is  used  not  only  in  Moravia,  but  in  adjoining 
Bohemia  and  is  shipped  across  the  Eussian  frontier  to  the  blast 
furnaces  in  Poland,  which  are  almost  entirely  dependent  upon  this 
district  for  their  supply.  Some  is  sent  to  Styria,  but  the  southern 
works  use  much  coke  from  Westphalia  on  account  of  the  better 
quality  of  the  German  product.  The  relative  importance  of  the 
Silesian  coal  district  as  it  affects  the  different  nations  will  be  seen 
from  Table  XXVII-D,  which  shows  the  output  of  bituminous  coal 
from  this  international  field. 

TABLE  XXVII-D. 
Output  of  the  Silesian  Coal  Field. 

Tons  In  1899. 

Germany  ;   Silesia   .' . . .     23,527,000 

Austria;  Moravia  and  Silesia 6,252,000 

Russia ;   Poland    3,905,000 

The  province  of  Silesia  produced  three  times  as  much  coal  as 
Moravia,  but  the  latter  division  made  the  most  coke,  as  the  south- 
ern portion  seems  to  give  the  best  material  for  smelting. 

The  one  predominant  iron  and  steel  producer  in  this  region  is 
the  works  at  Witkowitz  in  the  province  of  Moravia.  This  plant 
draws  much  of  its  ore  from  its  own  mines  in  Hungary,  the  deposit 
being  a  carbonate,  which  is  roasted.  It  makes  about  one-quarter 
of  all  the  pig-iron  that  is  made  in  Austria,  the  output  being  about 
25,000  tons  per  month.  There  are  six  blast  furnaces  and  two  acid 
lined  converters  and  eight  twenty-ton  basic  open-hearth  furnaces, 
which  are  operated  by  the  duplex  process,  the  pig  being  first  blown 
in  an  acid  converter,  and  then  transferred  to  a  basic  open-hearth 
furnace.  In  this  way  the  wear  on  the  converter  lining  is  minimized 
and  the  output  of  the  open-hearth  furnaces  is  about  doubled ;  the 
blast  furnaces  are  not  confined  to  narrow  limits  in  the  composition 
of  the  iron  and  the  whole  process  is  a  very  attractive  solution  of  a 
metallurgical  problem.  Apparently  also  the  financial  solution  is 
attractive,  but  I  believe  that  the  work  is  more  expensive  than  other 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 


791 


methods.  The  works  produces  large  quantities  of  all  forms  of  rolled 
steel  and  has  a  large  steel  casting  plant  which  has  a  wide  reputation. 
In  the  coal  region  of  Silesia  are  the  works  at  Trynietz  with  two  acid 
converters,  and  seven  basic  open-hearth  furnaces,  and  mills  for  the 
making  of  rails,  structural  shapes  and  merchant  iron.  Table 
XXVII-E  gives  a  list  of  the  principal  works  in  Moravia  and 
Silesia. 

TABLE  XXVII-E. 
List  of  Steel  Works  in  Moravia  (Mahren)  and  Silesia  (Schlesien). 

This  district  is  marked  on  the  map  as  No.  2. 


Name  of  Plant. 

Location. 

No.  of  Bessemer 
Converters. 

No.  of  Open 
Hearth  Furnaces. 

Annual 
Output  ; 
tons. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Witkowitz  Bergbau,  etc..  | 
Archduke,  Frederic  

Witkowitz  . 
Witkowitz  . 

2* 

8* 
4 
7 

150,000 
25.000 
60,000 

Teschen  .  .  . 

2 

SEC.  XXYIId. — Styria  (see  No.  8  on  Map) : 

A  journey  to  a  steel  plant,  whether  it  be  in  America,  Germany 
or  Eussia,  is  not  usually  looked  upon  as  a  pleasure  from  an. 
aesthetic  point  of  view,  but  there  is  one  exception  in  a  visit  to  the 
beautiful  valley  where  the  ancient  town  of  Leoben  and  the  steel 
works  of  Donawitz  lie  peacefully  hidden  in  the  shadow  of  the  Alps. 
At  the  end  of  the  valley,  only  a  few  miles  away,  is  a  mountain 
towering  in  a  huge  cone  nearly  5000  feet  above  the  sea  and  3000 
feet  above  the  hamlet  below.  This  is  the  Erzberg  or  Ore  Moun- 
tain. The  whole  surface  is  a  layer  of  spathic  ore  from  200  to 
500  feet  thick  and  it  is  mined  by  a  succession  of  terraces  all  the 
•way  up  the  mountain  side. 

This  deposit  has  been  known  from  the  most  ancient  times,  the 
present  province  of  Styria  being  a  part  of  the  Eoman  province 
of  Noricum,  from  whence  came  a  large  portion  of  the  weapons  of 
the  Eoman  legions  and  other  iron  instruments  of  the  Empire.  In 
fact,  Styria  and  Carinthia  both  claim  the  "rather  doubtful  honor," 
as  Tunner  expresses  it,  of  supplying  the  nails  for  the  cross  thai; 
was  erected  on  Calvary.  Certain  it  is  that  the  mines  were  worked 


*These  converters  and  furnaces  are  worked  by  the  "combined"  or  "duplex"  process. 


792  THE    IRON   INDUSTRY. 

tens  of  thousands  of  years  before  that,  for  the  remains  of  primeval 
man  have  been  found  beside  the  unburned  charcoal  of  prehistoric 
forges. 

To-day  some  of  the  ore  is  brought  to  Donawitz,  near  Leoben, 
while  a  large  amount  is  smelted  in  a  new  furnace  plant  erected  at 
Eisenerz,  nearer  the  Erzberg,  and  there  are  furnaces  also  at  Hieflau. 
It  is  a  spathic  carbonate  of  about  the  following  composition: 


Crude.        Roasted. 

38.93  51.80 

2.15  2.84 


FeO 

I. 
Crude. 
.      34.97 

II. 
Roasted. 
Fe    

PP  O. 

16  75 

74  04          Mn  

Mn3O4.  .    . 

2.98 

4.01 

SiO2 

8.20 

11.04 

AloO* 

2.09 

2.81 

CaO 

3.06 

4.12 

MgO 

2.92 

3.93 

COo 

27  60 

P2O5  

0.04 

0.05 

SO,    . 

tr. 

98.61  100.00 

When  weathered  it  is  a  brown  hematite  containing  about  54  per 
cent,  of  iron,  but  the  proportion  of  weathered  ore  is  small.  The 
ore  is  roasted  in  kilns,  giving  an  average  of  about  50  per  cent,  in 
iron.  It  is  smelted  with  coke  brought  from  Westphalia  and  Aus- 
trian Silesia,  the  first  of  these  being  500  miles  away  in  a  straight 
line.  The  transportation  moreover  is  very  expensive  from  both 
fields  owing  to  the  very  heavy  grades  on  the  picturesque  route 
through  the  Steiermark  Alps. 

Many  of  the  blast  furnaces  of  Austria  are  built  upon  a  plan 
which  is  different  from  the  usual  American  construction.  The 
whole  structure  rests  not  upon  solid  ground  on  the  general  level, 
but  on  a  pier  formed  of  arches,  so  that  one  may  walk  directly  un- 
derneath the  bottom.  At  Donawitz  the  tap  hole  is  at  least  fifteen 
feet  above  the  general  level.  The  mere  elevation  is  nothing  unusual, 
as  many  American  furnaces  are  built  high  in  the  air  to 'allow  the 
iron  and  slag  to  be  carried  away  in  cars,  but  in  Austria  it  is  claimed 
that  the  bottom  of  the  furnace  must  be  kept  cool  in  order  to  pro- 
vent  the  cutting  away  of  the  lining  and  the  breaking  out  of  the  iron. 
This  difference  in  construction  is  due  very  much  to  a  difference  in 
the  work  to  be  done.  When  running  on  ordinary  Bessemer  iron 
for  the  acid  converter,  the  temperature  is  high,  and  graphite  is 
deposited  as  a  protective  covering  in  the  interior  of  the  hearth ;  but 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 


793 


when  a  very  low  silicon  iron  is  desired  the  conditions  are  quite  the 
reverse.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  American  furnaceman  will  agree 
to  make  iron  regularly  with  as  low  a  content  of  silicon  as  that 
which  is  considered  the  standard  product  at  Donawitz.  I  have 
been  given  the  following  as  typical : 


c  4.00 

Si    0.10  to  0.30 

S tr  to  0.03 

P   0.08  to  0.10 

Mn..  2.0  to  2.5 


This  iron  is  taken  to  a  basic  open-hearth  furnace  in  a  molten 
state,  and  the  value  of  the  low  silicon  need  not  be  dwelled  upon. 
The  linings  are  of  magnesite,  for  in  Styria  this  mineral  is  abund- 
ant and  it  is  as  cheap  as  almost  any  other  refractory  material. 
Taken  all  in  all,  it  may  be  considered  a  fortunate  thing  for  the 
rest  of  the  world  that  good  coking  coal  does  not  exist  in  the  Steier- 
mark. 

There  is  a  deposit  of  brown  coal  nearby,  and  Styria  in  1899 
raised  2,624,000  tons  or  about  ten  per  cent,  of  the  total  output  of 
Austria.  It  is  the  only  province  besides  Bohemia  that  does  pro- 
duce a  large  quantity,  but  there  is  no  bituminous  coal  found  in  the 
empire  except  in  the  northern  provinces. 

The  predominant  steel  producer  in  the  district  is  the  Alpine 
Montan  Gesellschaft  and  mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  fur- 
nace plants  smelting  the  ore  of  the  Erzberg.  The  one  great  steel 
works  is  at  Donawitz,  near  Leoben,  which  has  lately  been  entirely 
rebuilt.  There  are  also  modern  plate  and  universal  mills  at  Zelt- 
weg.  Table  XXVII-F  gives  a  list  of  the  principal  works  in  Styria. 

TABLB  XXVII-F. 
List  of  Steel  Works  in  Styria  (Steiermark). 

This  district  Is  marked  on  the  map  as  No.  3. 


Name  of  Plant. 

Location. 

No.  of  Bessemer 
Converters. 

No.  of  Open 
Hearth  Furnaces. 

Annual 
Output  ; 
tons. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Oesterreichische     

13 
2 
2 

160,000 
20.000 
25,000 

Alpin  Montan  etc 

3 

THE   IRON    INDUSTRY 

SEC.  XXVIIe.— Hungary: 

The  iron  industry  of  Hungary  is  considerably  scattered,  but 
more  than  half  of  all  the  pig-iron  of  the  country  is  made  in  the 
northern  portion  in  the  counties  of  Szepes,  Gomor,  Borsod  and  in 
their  immediate  neighborhood.  (See  No.  4  on  map.)  Consider- 
able ore  is  found  in  this  district,  the  deposit  being  a  spathic  car- 
bonate which  must  be  calcined.  In  1899  there  were  1,337,000 
tons  of  ore  raised  in  this  field,  about  30  per  cent,  of  this  being  ex- 
ported. The  steel  works  at  Witkowitz  in  Moravia  owns  mines 
here  and  in  1899  took  200,000  tons  of  ore  from  Borsod  County, 
which  was  nearly  all  it  produced,  while  a  considerable  quantity  is 
sent  from  other  mines  to  Bohemia  and  German  Silesia,  the  works 
at  Friedenshiitte  owning  mines  near  Kotterbach.  Out  of  67  blast 
furnaces  in  all  Hungary  there  are  37  in  this  Szepes  Iglo  district. 
Most  of  them  are  small,  some  use  charcoal,  but  many  bring  coke 
from  Silesia,  as  good  coking  coal  is  not  found  either  here  or  in  any 
other  part  of  Hungary. 

There  is  a  very  considerable  steel  plant  of  the  Eimamurian 
Salgo  Tarjan  Ironworks  Company  at  Salgo-Tarjan,  this  company 
owning  mines  in  Gomor  County  and  having  blast  furnaces  and 
rolling  mills.  About  75,000  tons  of  steel  are  made  per  year  from 
three  7-ton  basic  converters.  There  are  also  smaller  works  at  Ozd, 
while  the  Austrian-Hungarian  State  Railway  operates  a  plant  of 
two  basic  converters  and  several  open-hearth  furnaces,  making  to- 
gether about  50,000  tons  per  year.  Another  small  Bessemer  plant 
it  situated  at  Sohl.  In  the  South  is  the  old  established  plant  at 
Reschitza,  where  there  are  three  basic  converters  and  three  20-ton 
open-hearth  furnaces  with  a  capacity  of  about  40,000  tons  per  year. 
The  iron  for  this  is  made  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 

These  two  districts  in  the  north  "and  in  the  south  make  three- 
quarters  of  all  the  pig-iron  smelted  in  Hungary  and  a  larger  pro- 
portion of  the  steel.  The  only  other  district  worth  mentioning  is 
^in  the  southeast  in  Transylvania,  where  a  larger  amount  of  pig- 
iron  is  made  than  in  Reschitza.  The  great  drawback  throughout 
all  Hungary  is  the  absence  of  coking  coal  and  only  10,000  tons  are 
produced  per  year,  this  being  made  in  the  vicinity  of  Buda  Pest. 
The  Hungarian  works  therefore  are  on  a  moderate  scale,  and  being 
protected  by  the  government  in  every  way  content  themselves  with 
supplying  the  wants  of  the  state  railways  and  of  the  general  home 


AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 


795 


market.     Table  XXVII-G  gives  the  output  of  fuel  and  iron  in 
1899,  while  Table  XXVII-H  gives  the  records  of  steel  production. 

TABLE  XXVII-G. 

Production  of  Coal,  Ore  and  Pig-Iron  in  Hungary  in  1899  by  Dis- 
tricts; in  metric  tons. 

From  Struthers :  Eng.  &  Min.  Journal ;  private  communication. 


of 

.? 

i 

f* 

i! 

Is 

i 

eg  >> 

>  V 

m 

|9 

if 

of 

1 

s 

"3 

I 

I 

I 

i 

o 

I 

Designation  in  Fig.  XXVII-A. 
Active  blast  furnaces    .  .  . 

4 
32 

5 
9 

6 
7 

Q 

54 

Idle  blast  furnaces  

5 

2 

2 

4 

13 

Pig  Iron...  

259  698 

107  575 

76  060 

8  314 

451  647 

1  33?'451* 

270  882 

135  793 

186  230 

22  823 

1  567  860 

Bituminous  Coal  

7  648 

470  018 

761  189 

1  238855 

Coke  

10036 

10,036 

785  010 

53  819 

1  883  114 

1  570  641 

4292584 

TABLE  XXVII-H. 
Production  of  Steel  in  Hungary. 

From  Kupelweiser;   Oesterreichischen  Zeitschrift ;   XLIX,    1901. 


Year. 

Bessemer  Steel. 

Open  Hearth  Steel. 

Total 

Steel. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Total. 

Acid. 

Basic. 

Total. 

1880 
1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1900 

12,854 
61,269 
51,106 
47,163 
72,687 
60,152 
72,976 
57,475 
54,030 
68,493 
69,968 
80579 
73,172 
66,567 
66,081 
41,894 
49,842 

12.8E4 
61,269 
51,106 
47,163 
72,687 
75,066 
107,817 
98,737 
99,478 
119,806 
127,464 
146,097 
139,714 
132,345 
137,391 
104,030 
112,178 

8,021 
11,384 
3,201 
4,199 
3,100 
3,800 
4,700 
525 

8,021 
11,384 
5,941 
18,090 
27,932 
32,458 
48,907 
53,234 
59,380 
69,421 
79,483 
100,809 
154,976 
170,965 
194,160 
228,605 
240,586 

20,875 
72,653 
67,017 
65,253 
100,619 
107,524 
156,724 
151,971 
158,858 
189,227 
206,947 
246,906 
294,690 
303,310 
331,551 
332,635 
352,764 

2,740 
13,891 
24,832 
28,658 
44,207 
52,709 
59,380 
69,421 
79,483 
100,809 
153,563 
176,436 
189,862 
226,195 
229,199 

14,914 
34,841 
41,262 
45,448 
51,313 
57,4% 
65,518 
66,542 
65,778 
71,310 
62,136 
62,336 

1,413 
3,529 
4,298 
2,410 
11,387 

*  Of  this  total,  385,319  tons  were  exported,  mainly  to  Moravia,  but  some  to 
Bohemia  and  German  Silesia. 


CHAPTEE  XXVIII. 

BELGIUM. 

This  article  has  been  submitted  to  M.  H.  de  Nlmot,  secretary  of  the  Association 
des  Maitres  des  Forges,  at  Charleroi,  Belgium,  who  has  been  kind  enough  to 
go  through  it  very  carefully  and  give  me  some  figures  for  1900  not  otherwise 
obtainable.  M.  de  Nimot  objects  to  my  statement  that  the  working  people  of 
Belgium  are  "bound  to  the  vocations  of  their  fathers."  I  deem  it  merely  justice 
to  him  to  offer  his  protest,  but  I  believe  that  while  it  may  not  be  absolutely  and 
universally  true,  as  no  such  generalization  can  ever  be,  the  argument  as  herein 
given  portrays  a  real  condition  and  a  real  difference  between  the  workmen  of 
Belgium  and  America. 

Belgium  is  essentially  a  fuel  producing  country.  In  1900  she 
raised  23,462,817  tons  of  coal,  which  is  about  one-tenth  of  the 
production  of  the  United  States  or  of  Great  Britain.  The  produc- 
tion of  coke  was  2,434,678  tons.  Table  XXVIII-A  gives  the  main 
facts  about  the  country,  from  which  it  may  be  seen  that  about  three- 
fourths  of  all  the  coal  and  also  of  the  coke  comes  from  the  province 
of  Hainaut  on  the  border  of  France,  and  almost  all  the  remainder 
from  Liege.  The  Belgian  coal  mines  have  reached  a  great  depth, 
which  materially  increases  the  cost  of  operation,  and  there  is  much 
trouble  from  the  great  amount  of  gas  in  the  beds,  causing  fearful 
explosions  which  seemingly  no  care  can  prevent.  The  average 
working  depth  in  Hainaut  is  1600  feet,  while  some  mines  run  from 
3400  to  3800  feet.  It  is  estimated  that  the  coal  supply  will  last 
from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  years  longer,  this  period  being 
the  same  as  that  assigned  to  the  deposit  of  Central  France,  the 
North  of  England  and  Central  Bohemia. 

The  average  cost  of  coal  at  the  mines  for  the  whole  country  for 
1899  was  officially  given  at  10.72  francs  =$2.07  per  ton,  and  the 
average  selling  price  $2.40.  In  1900  the  cost  was  $2.78  and  the 
selling  price  $3.48.  The  average  price  of  coke  was  $3.96  at  the 
ovens  in  1899,  but  in  1900  the  price  averaged  $4.18,  although  blast 
furnace  coke  was  sold  at  an  average  of  $3.40  per  metric  ton.  About 
one-fifth  of  all  the  coal  raised,  and  over  one-third  of  all  the  coke 
made,  is  exported,  most  of  these  shipments  going  to  France.  On 

796 


BELGIUM. 


797 


the  other  hand,  the  imports  of  coal  amount  to  one-seventh  as  much 
as  is  raised  and  a  very  considerable  quantity  of  coke  is  brought  in, 
these  imports  coming  from  Westphalia  across  the  eastern  border 
while  the  exports  go  southward.  The  Westphalian  coke  is  far  su- 
perior to  the  Belgian  product,  but  it  is  economical  for  the  French 
works  to  buy  the  poorer  article  on  account  of  the  short  haul. 

TABLE  XXVIII-A. 

Production  of  Coal,  Coke,  Iron  and  Steel  in  Belgium  in  1900; 

metric  tons. 


Hainaut. 

Liege. 

Namur. 

Luxem- 
burg. 

Total. 

16,532  630 

6190892 

739295 

23  462  817 

Imported  from  Germany 

1  573  697 

1  173  917 

"           "     France 

497  088 

Exported  to     France 

3  917  765 

Coke  made 

1  748  450 

«  , 
686 

,  ' 
228 

2  434  678 

Imported  from  Germany  .  .  . 

'220  753 

'*           "     England.  .  . 

40  559 

25*688 

Total  exports          

1  073  313 

Exported  to  France 

646  369 

Ore  raised  

247890 

247  890 

Imported  from  Luxemburg 

1  564  579 

321  478 

291  783 

98539 

Others    . 

2.*>2  236 

Pig  iron  made 

1  018  561 

Imported  from  England  .... 

155  873 

France  

78603 

Germany  .  .  . 

53  674 

Un  States 

12*259 

Steel  made  

225,945 

429254 

655  199 

Rails  

184  428 

Puddled  iron  

333  981 

Finished  iron  

358  163 

Exports  of  finished  iron  &  steel 

415808 

Total  number  of  blast  furnace- 

16 

17 

6 

39 

Active  in  1901 

g 

12 

5 

Number  of  Bessemer  converters 

47 

Number  of  open  hearth  fur 
naces 

18 

Av.  wage  in  steel  works  per  day 

77  cents 

78  cents 

Belgium  formerly  raised  quite  a  considerable  quantity  of  iron 
ore,  but  her  maximum  production  was  reached  in  1865  with  a  total 
of  1,019,000  tons,  the  output  since  then  having  decreased  until 
now  it  is  only  about  one-fifth  of  that  amount.  Some  ore  is  raised 
in  the  province  of  Luxemburg,  which  just  touches  the  great  Minette 
deposit  that  spreads  out  over  the  adjoining  Grand  Duchy  of  Lux- 
emburg, now  in  commercial  alliance  with  the  German  Empire.  It 
is  from  the  Grand  Duchy  and  from  Rhenish  Prussia  that  Belgium 


798 


THE   IEON   INDUSTRY. 


draws  most  of  her  ore,  although  a  very  considerable  amount  is 
brought  from  Spain  to  Liege,  very  little  foreign  ore  going  else- 
where in  the  country  except  some  containing  manganese.  The 
pig-iron  from  these  Spanish  ores  makes  about  one-sixth  of  all  the 
iron  produced  in  Belgium,  and  it  is  used  almost  entirely  for  the 
manufacture  of  acid  Bessemer  steel. 

The  ores  from  the  Minette  district  give  an  iron  running  from  1.3 
to  2.0  per  cent,  in  phosphorus  and  large  quantities  are  used  for 
puddling  and  for  foundry  purposes.  In  making  iron  for  the  basic 
Bessemer  it  is  a  common  practice  to  use  a  certain  proportion  of 
manganiferous  ores  and  slags  so  that  the  iron  will  contain  from  1.5 
to  2.0  per  cent,  of  manganese. 

The  pig-iron  used  in  Belgium  is  almost  all  of  domestic  manu- 
facture, about  one-sixth  of  the  total  output  being  made  in  the 
province  of  Luxemburg,  the  remainder  being  equally  divided  be- 
tween Liege  and  Hainaut.  The  total  production  of  the  country 
at  its  maximum  is  about  one  million  tons  per  year  or  just  about 
what  would  be  made  by  ten  furnaces  making  three  hundred  tons  per 
day.  Three-quarters  of  all  the  pig-iron  made  in  the  Kingdom  is 
smelted  at  eight  plants,  a  list  of  which  is  given  in  Table  XXVIII-B. 

TABLE  XXVIII-B. 
List  of  Important  Blast  Furnace  Plants  in  Belgium. 


Province. 

Name  of  Works. 

Location. 

Number 
of 
Blast 
Furnaces. 

Capacity 
per 
Furnace 
per  Day. 

( 

la  Providence.  

Marchienne        .... 

3 

Hainaut  J 

de  Coullet  

Near  Charleroi 

4 

90 

de  Monceau  Sur  Sambre.  .  . 

Near  Charleroi  

2 

90 

.        f 

Soc.  John  Cockerill  

Seraing  

6 

L'Esperance  Longdoz  

Seraing  

2 

Liege  •< 

Angleur                      .  . 

Tilleur 

4 

I 

4 

Luxemburg.  .  .  . 

d'Athus  

Athus                   . 

2 

70 

The  steel  is  made  almost  entirely  in  the  two  provinces  of  Liege 
and  Hainaut.  The  production  in  1899  was  718,000  tons  or  about 
60,000  tons  per  month,  but  in  1900  this  fell  to  655,000,  while  in 
1901  it  was  about  500,000  tons,  owing  to  the  great  depression  in 
business  throughout  Europe.  Out  of  47  converters  only  25  are  in 
operation  and  only  12  open-hearth  furnaces  are  working  in  the 
whole  country.  Over  60  per  cent,  of  the  steel  was  made  at  Liege, 


BELGIUM. 


799 


and  the  works  of  John  Cockerill  made  most  of  the  rails  that  were 
rolled,  amounting  in  1900  to  134,000  tons,  or  about  11,000  tons 
per  month. 

The  great  advantages  possessed  by  Belgium  are  the  short  dis- 
tances through  which  material  must  be  carried,  as  will  be  shown  in 


HOLLAND  AND  BELGIUM 


SCALE  OF  MILES 


0    6  10       20       30        40        60 

STATISTICS  OF  PRODUCTION: 

1  Unit  =  1000  Tons  per  Year. 

Distances  are  in  Straight  Lines. 


NOR 


Mouth  of  Maas 

SEA 


D  R  E  N  T  H  E  ' V 


NORTH, 


ZUYDER 


OVERYSSEL 


1 


/ 

L       AU..N       D     ,i 


FIG.  XXVIII-A. 


800  THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

Fig.  XXVIII-A.  A  circle  of  less  than  a  hundred  miles  radius 
takes  in  the  coal  and  ore  mines  and  a  seaport,  while  the  average 
haul  is  much  less  than  this.  The  wages  of  labor  are  also  very  low, 
and  although  it  is  a  common  saying  that  a  man  works  just  in  pro- 
portion to  the  way  he  is  paid,  this  saying  is  not  always  mathe- 
matically exact.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  a  man  working  for  60 
cents  a  day  in  Liege  does  not  do  as  much  work  as  an  American 
laborer  receiving  twice  as  much,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  he  is 
only  half  as  efficient.  It  is  true  that  a  woman  loading  coke  and 
ore  buggies  and  pulling  them  on  the  blast  furnace  hoist  for  thirty 
cents  a  day  may  not  do  the  work  done  by  a  buggy  puller  in  Pitts- 
burgh receiving  six  times  as  much  pay,  but  it  does  not  follow 
that  she  only  does  one-sixth  as  much.  There  is  a  chance  for  a 
large  margin  of  profit  for  the  manufacturer,  particularly  in  the 
very  great  number  of  cases  where  some  human  intelligence  and 
some  human  hand  must  be  at  a  certain  post,  and  where  the  grade 
of  the  intelligence  and  the  strength  of  the  hand  are  matters  of  little 
moment.  There  are  multitudes  of  positions  in  a  steel  works  where 
this  condition  obtains,  and  in  Belgium  women  fill  such  positions, 
receiving  a  mere  pittance.  As  before  stated,  they  do  a  very  large 
share  of  the  work  that  we  call  "general  labor."  About  ten  years 
ago  Belgium  passed  laws  regulating  the  employment  of  women  and 
children  in  mines,  and  there  has  been  a  very  marked  advance  in 
this  direction.  In  1870  there  were  from  8000  to  9000  women  and 
girls  working  underground  in  the  coal  mines.  In  1889  there  were 
3700.  In  1891  the  women  and  girls  constituted  four  per  cent, 
of  all  the  working  force  under  ground,  while  in  1899  they  formed 
only  a  fraction  of  one  per  cent.  Of  the  over  ground  workers  the 
women  and  girls  constituted  25.1  per  cent,  in  1891,  24.3  per  cent,  in 
1899,  and  23.1  per  cent,  in  1900.  Of  the  over  ground  workers  at 
these  mines  in  1900,  in  a  total  of  34,075  people,  there  were  3787 
girls  between  the  ages  of  16  and  20,  or  11.1  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 
In  addition  to  these  there  were  2589  girls  between  14  and  16,  a  pro- 
portion of  7.6  per  cent.,  so  that  18.6  per  cent,  of  the  entire  force 
was  made  up  of  girls  between  14  and  20  years  of  age. 

Considering  the  works  above  and  below  ground  together  for  the 
year  1899,  concerning  which  I  have  the  full  official  statistics,  there 
was  a  total  of  125,258  people,  of  whom  there  were  6522  girls  from 
14  to  20  years  of  age,  or  5.2  per  cent.  A  little  calculation  from 
the  mortality  tables  will  show  that  this  represents  over  half  of  all 


BELGIUM.  801 

the  girls  of  that  age  that  would  be  found  in  a  community  contain- 
ing that  number  of  people,  and  after  allowing  for  the  infirm  it 
will  be  'seen  that  in  the  coal  mining  communities  of  Belgium  almost 
all  the  girls  between  the  ages  of  14  and  21  work  around  the  coal 
mines  or  coke  ovens.* 

It  is  difficult  for  an  American  to  appreciate  what  this  means 
until  he  sees  the  conditions  on  the  spot  and  until  he  has  known 
what  it  is  to  work  day  and  night  shift  out  doors  in  all  weather 
and  in  all  seasons.  It  seems  inevitable  that  the  same  law  of  pro- 
gress which  has  just  led  Germany  to  abolish  woman  labor  in  steel 
works,  which  emancipated  woman  in  England  a  generation  ago, 
and  which  never  allowed  her  to  consider  drudgery  in  America,  will 
extend  its  power  over  Belgium  and  Austria.  When  this  happens 
the  wages  of  the  men  must  be  increased,  as  there  will  be  but  one 
wage  earner  in  the  houshold. 

The  spread  of  general  intelligence  will  also  have  its  effect  upon 
even  the  remote  districts.  At  present  the  working  classes  in  many 
places  seem  bound  to  their  home  and  to  the  vocation  that  their 
fathers  knew  before  them.  This  is  a  sort  of  mediaeval  and  pro- 
vincial idea  not  entirely  absent  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  it 
may  even  be  detected  in  America,  but  in  England  and  in  the  United 
States  it  cannot  be  reckoned  with  in  the  labor  situation.  These 
ideas  must  disappear  and  with  them  will  disappear  the  cheap  labor 
of  Belgium,  although  all  history  shows  that  an  increase  in  the 
wages  of  the  day  laborer  need  not  necessarily  raise  the  cost  of 
manufactures. 

In  addition  to  her  production  of  steel,  Belgium  turns  out  a  large 
quantity  of  puddled  iron.  In  the  year  1900  her  production  of  steel 
was  655,000  tons  and  of  wrought-iron  358,000  tons,  a  great  deal 
of  the  latter  being  exported  in  the  form  of  structural  shapes. 
Belgium  covers  an  area  of  only  11,370  square  miles  and  had  a 
population  in  1899  of  6,744,532,  so  that  her  output  of  steel  and 
wrought-iron  is  greater  per  inhabitant  than  any  other  nation.  As 
a  result  she  must  seek  an  outlet  and  her  exports  of  iron  and  steel 
wares  amount  to  nearly  one-half  her  total  production.  The  actual 
tonnage  so  shipped,  however,  is  comparatively  small,  being  only 
one-quarter  of  the  exports  of  Great  Britain. 

The  area  of  Belgium  is  only  one-fourth  that  of  Pennsylvania, 

*  I  have  calculated  these  figures  from  the  official  report  of  the  Directeur 
General  des  Mines  for  1899. 


802  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

but  if  we  take  the  southwestern  part  of  the  latter  State,  compris- 
ing the  great  coke  and  iron  districts  in  the  counties  of  Allegheny, 
Westmoreland  and  Fayette  and  as  far  east  as  Indiana,  Cambria 
and  Blair,  we  find  that  this  section  of  the  State,  though  having  the 
same  number  of  square  miles  as  Belgium,  contains  less  than  one- 
fourth  of  her  population.  Or  if  we  take  the  most  thickly  settled 
three  States  in  the  Union — the  New  England  States,  Massachu- 
setts, Ehode  Island  and  Connecticut — we  find  that  these  three  have 
an  area  thirty  per  cent,  greater  than  Belgium  and  yet  have  only 
half  the  population.  These  figures  may  give  some  idea  of  the 
density  of  population  in  this  ancient  state. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

SWEDEN". 

For  the  Information  herein  given  concerning  Sweden  I  am  principally  Indebted 
to  my  friend,  Hjalmar  Braune,  metallurgical  engineer  of  the  Mining  School  at 
Filipstad,  who  has  carefully  read,  corrected  and  twice  reread  the  manuscript, 
a'nd  I  feel  sure  that  there  can  be  no  errors  in  the  text.  I  have  also  consulted 
the  Swedish  official  publication,  Kommerscollegii  beriittelse,  for  1900  for  the 
statistical  data  in  Table  XXIX-A  and  Fig.  XXIX-A.  Much  general  information 
has  been  taken  from  L'Industrie  Miniere  de  la,  Suede,  1897,  by  Nordenstrom, 
and  the  paper  by  Akerman  in  the  Journal  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  for  1898. 

Compared  with  the  greater  nations,  the  quantity  of  steel  turned 
out  by  Sweden  is  of  little  importance  when  measured  by  tons,  but 
she  cannot  be  omitted  from  special  consideration  on  account  of  her 
increasing  importance  as  a  source  of  iron  ore,  on  account  of  the 
ancient  prestige  of  her  products,  and  on  account  of  the  care  and 
skill  with  which  that  prestige  is  maintained. 


TABLE  XXIX-A. 

Production  of  Coal,  Ore,  Iron  and  Steel  in  Sweden  in  1900  and 
1901;  metric  tons. 

Data  for  1901  from  private  communication  from  Richard  Akerman. 


South 
1900. 

Southeast 
1900. 

Centre 
1900. 

North 
1900. 

Total 
1900. 

Total 
1901. 

Coal... 

250,000 

250  000 

271  509 

Ore           .... 

1  000 

1  563  000 

1  044  000 

2  608  000 

2  795  160 

Pig  

24000 

503  000 

527  000 

'523'  375 

Wrought  Iron 

23  000 

165  000 

188  000* 

165  000*  \ 

Bessemer  Steel  

9l!(XX) 

91,000 

77,231 

Open  Hearth  Steel 

19000 

188  000 

207  000 

190  877 

Total  Steel  

19000 

279000 

298  000 

269  897 

*  The  classification  of  wrought  iron  products  is  very  imperfect  and  the  figures  are  not 
Accurate. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  Sweden  in  the  iron  industry  is  her 
lack  of  coal  and  her  supply  of  forests  for  the  manufacture  of  char- 
coal. It  is  quite  a  safe  assertion  that  had  coal  existed  in  Sweden 


804 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


to  any  extent  the  manufacture  of  iron  would  be  far  greater,  but 
her  steel  would  never  have  achieved  its  present  reputation  or  com- 


NOKWAY  AND  SWEDEN 


A    T 


PRUSSIA 


FIG.  XXIX-A. 

manded  its  present  price.  There  are  two  or  three  ore  beds  of 
exceptional  purity  as  far  as  phosphorus  is  concerned,  and  the  fame 
of  Swedish  iron  rests  on  these  deposits  at  Dannemora,  Norberg  and 


SWEDEN.  805 

Persberg.  It  is  well  known  that  charcoal  contains  no  sulphur,  and 
if  the  ore  after  roasting  contains  none  the  pig-iron  can  contain 
none,  even  though  the  blast  furnace  be  working  cold.  This  is  a 
proposition  rather  startling,  but  decidedly  attractive  to  the  average 
furnaceman. 

Up  to  the  year  1895  Sweden  produced  more  wrought-iron  than 
steel,  but  since  then  the  output  of  iron  has  remained  stationary, 
while  the  output  of  steel  has  increased.  Ninety  per  cent,  of  this 
iron  has  always  been  made  on  the  Swedish  Lancashire  hearth,  an 
improved  form  of  the  ancient  device,  wherein  a  mass  of  pig-iron 
is  caused  to  melt  on  the  top  of  a  charcoal  fire  and  the  melted  mass 
again  brought  to  the  top  and  remelted,  all  the  time  being  exposed 
to  the  blast,  by  which  the  silicon,  manganese  and  carbon  are 
eliminated  under  the  influence  of  a  slag  of  about  the  following 
composition:  Si02=10  per  cent.;  FeO=78  per  cent;  Fe203= 
12  per  cent.  This  gives  the  softest  product  that  can  be  made  by 
any  steel  or  iron-making  process,  and  when  a  charcoal  pig-iron, 
low  in  phosphorus,  sulphur,  manganese  and  silicon,  is  used  with 
charcoal,  the  latter  being  free  from  phosphorus  and  sulphur,  the 
product  must  necessarily  be  pure. 

In  order  to  get  the  proper  kind  of  pig-iron,  it  is  necessary  to 
have  an  ore  free  from  phosphorus.  The  usual  Swedish  ore  is  a 
very  hard  magnetite;  the  blast  furnaces  are  small,  ranging  from 
40  to  60  feet  in  height  and  7  to  10  feet  bosh,  with  a  diameter  at 
the  tuyeres  of  from  3.5  to  6.5  feet.  When  making  pig  for  the 
Lancashire  hearth  the  blast  is  kept  at  about  300°  C.  (570°  F.)  in 
order  to  keep  the  furnace  cool,  and  for  the  same  reason  a  diameter 
of  over  five  feet  at  the  tuyeres  is  not  considered  good  practice,  for  a 
larger  diameter  even  with  cold  blast  will  produce  so  high  a  tem- 
perature that  manganese  and  silicon  will  be  reduced.  A  drawing 
of  a  Swedish  blast  furnace  for  making  pig-iron  for  the  Lancashire 
hearth  is  shown  in  Fig.  XXIX-B.  The  pig-iron  used  in  the  Lan- 
cashire hearth  runs  about  as  follows  in  per  cent. :  . 

Si    0.10  to  0.50,  usually  0.25  to  0.30 

Mn 0.10  to  0.30 

P 0.01  to  0.03 

S 0.00  to  0.02 

The  composition  of  a  very  soft  Lancashire  wrought-iron,  used 
for  electrical  purposes,  is  as  follows  in  per  cent. : 


806 


THE   IrfON   INDUSTRY. 


FIG.  XXIX-B.— SWEDISH  BLAST  FURNACE. 


SWEDEN.  807 

C    0.05  —  0.06 

Si... 0.023 

Mn    0.03 

P 0.025 

S    0.005 

In  making  Bessemer  iron  a  somewhat  higher  temperature  is 
allowable  and  the  diameter  may  be  6.5  feet,  at  the  tuyeres,  and  the 
blast  may  be  from  400°  C.  to  500°  C.  (750°  F.  to  930°  F.),  but 
even  under  this  practice,  and  still  more  surely  in  the  making  of  pig 
for  the  Lancashire  process,  the  temperature  of  the  zone  of  fusion 
in  the  blast  furnace  is  so  low  that  sulphur  cannot  be  eliminated  in 
the  slag,  and  it  is  therefore  necessary  to  always  roast  the  ores 
even  though  they  contain  but  a  small  quantity  of  pyrite.  This 
roasting  also  changes  the  condition  of  the  iron  from  Fe304  to 
Fe203,  and  thereby  reduces  the  consumption  of  fuel  in  the  blast 
furnace.  In  making  Bessemer  iron  the  aim  is  to  get  about  1.00 
per  cent,  silicon  and  from  1.50  to  3.00  per  cent,  manganese.  The 
charcoal  contains  about  85  per  cent,  of  carbon,  3  per  cent,  of  ash, 
12  per  cent,  of  moisture  and  0.01  per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  and 
the  consumption  of  fuel  is  such  that  from  600  to  1000  kg.  of 
carbon  are  burned  per  1000  kg.  of  pig-iron. 

In  1897  an  accurate  calculation  showed  144  active  furnaces,  and 
allowing  for  the  actual  time  in  blast  there  was  an  average  produc- 
tion of  13.1  tons  per  day.  There  were  130  works  making  wrought- 
iron  and  steel,  and  they  averaged  12  tons  per  working  day,  which 
may  give  some  idea  of  the  scale  of  operations  in  Sweden.  It  is,  of 
course,  true  that  the  average  is  no  measure  of  the  best,  but  in  1897 
the  largest  blast  furnaces  were  reckoned  at  40  tons  per  day.  In  1901 
there  were  139  blast  furnaces  giving  an  average  daily  product  of 
13.96  tons  for  the  time  they  were  in  operation.  In  1893  the  produc- 
tion of  Bessemer  steel  was  84,400  tons,  being  a  trifle  more  than  the 
open-hearth,  which  was  81,890  tons.  The  Bessemer  output  in- 
creased to  114,120  tons  in  1896,  but  it  is  decreasing  and  in  1901 
was  only  77,231  tons,  while  the  open-hearth  product  meanwhile 
steadily  increased,  until  in  1900  it  was  207,450  tons,  there  being 
a  falling  off  in  1901  to  190,877  tons.  During  the  year  1900  about 
one-third  of  the  Bessemer  and  one-fifth  of  the  open-hearth  steel 
was  made  by  the  basic  process,  the  basic  Bessemer  being  used  in 
only  one  works.  The  production  of  crucible  steel  amounts  to  a 
little  over  1000  tons  per  year. 

Sweden  exports  large  quantities  of  her  iron  and  steel,  the  pro- 


808  THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 

portion  sent  to  foreign  countries  varying  very  much  according  to 
general  business  conditions,  but  on  the  whole  there  has  been  a  tend- 
ency for  the  proportion  to  be  less  as  the  growth  of  basic  processes 
has  enabled  other  nations  to  make  the  purer  grades  of  metal.  In 
1840  she  exported  86  per  cent,  of  her  wrought-iron  and  steel;  in 
1870,  62  per  cent,  and  in  1897,  45  per  cent.  In  1890  the  exports 
amounted  to  225,000  tons  and  in  1897  to  210,000  tons.  In  1900 
she  exported  356,080  tons  of  wrought-iron  and  steel,  or  about  73 
per  cent,  of  her  output,  showing  the  effect  of  the  general  revival  in 
the  iron  industry. 

Having  regard  to  the  coal  and  iron  industry  alone,  we  may 
arbitrarily  divide  the  country  into  .seven  parts.  In  the  extreme 
south  there  is  the  district  of  Malmohus,  which  produces  about' 
250,000  tons  of  bituminous  coal  per  year,  but  this  has  no  bearing 
at  all  on  the  iron  trade.  On  the  southwest  is  the  district  of  Elfs- 
borgs,  where  two  open-hearth  furnaces  make  about  3000  tons  of 
steel  per  year.  In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Stockholm, 
in  the  districts  of  Stockholm,  Upsala  and  Sodermanland,  a  small 
quantity  of  ore  is  mined,  and  there  are  eighteen  works  producing 
about  7  per  cent,  of  the  iron  and  steel  output  of  the  country.  In 
the  southern  central  portion,  comprising  the  districts  of  Ostergot- 
land,  Jonkoping,  Kronoberg,  Kalmar  and  Blekinge,  are  21  works 
making  about  8  per  cent.  A  little  north  of  Stockholm  is  the  dis- 
trict of  Gefleborg  making  15  per  cent. 

The  western  central  portion,  including  the  district  of  Vermland, 
Orebro,  Vestmanland  and  Kopparberg,  is  the  great  center  of  manu- 
facture. This  district  in  1900,  notwithstanding  the  great  develop- 
ment in  the  extreme  north  in  the  Gellivare  mines,  raised  55  per 
cent,  of  all  the  ore  produced  in  Sweden,  nearly  one-half  of  this 
coming  from  the  mines  at  Grangesberg.  This  last  named  ore  runs 
about  55  per  cent,  in  metallic  iron  and  .08  per  cent,  in  phosphorus, 
and  most  of  it  is  exported.  It  is  in  this  region  that  the  old  mines 
of  Dannemora,  Norberg  and  Persberg  are  located,  some  of  which 
have  been  worked,  for  six  and  seven  hundred  years,  and  which  have 
made  Sweden  famous  for  the  quality  of  her  products. 

There  are  56  iron  works  in  this  western  central  section  and  in 
the  year  1900  they  made  74  per  cent,  of  all  the  pig-iron  and  nearly 
70  per  cent,  of  all  the  iron  and  steel.  There  were  179  Lancashire 
hearths,  17  converters  making  a  total  of  58,392  tons  in  the  year, 
and  34  open-hearth  furnaces,  making  156,110  tons  of  steel.  The 


SWEDEN.  809 

Bessemer  converters  averaged  a  little  over  3400  tons  per  year  or 
less  than  300  tons  per  month.  The  capacity  of  Swedish  converters 
is  from  three  to  six  tons.  The  iron  is  taken  to  them  directly  from 
the  blast  furnace  and  only  three  to  five  heats  are  blown  per  day. 

To  the  outside  world,  one  of  the  most  important  features  of 
Sweden  to-day  is  the  exploitation  of  the  great  iron  mines  recently 
opened  beneath  the  Arctic  Circle.  At  present  the  Gellivare  mines 
are  the  only  ,ones  that  are  well  developed.  The  ore  is  carried  by  rail 
to  Lulea  on  the  Baltic  Sea,  but  a  railroad  is  now  under  construc- 
tion in  a  westerly  direction  across  Norway  to  Ofoten.  This  port, 
although  so  far  north,  is  open  all  the  year,  while  Lulea  is  inac- 
cessible in  winter.  The  railroad  is  now  constructed  as  far  as  the 
great  deposits  of  Kirunavaara  and  Luossavaara,  where  surveys  indi- 
cate the  existence  of  over  200,000,000  tons  of  ore  above  the  water 
level,  and  it  is  expected  to  complete  the  line  to  Ofoten  in  the  year 
1903.  The  Swedish  government  has  limited  the  amount  for  ex- 
port to  about  1,500,000  tons  per  year.  The  ore  run's  from  57  to 
70  per  cent,  in  iron,  the  A  grade  being  guaranteed  between  67  and 
70  per  cent,  with  phosphorus  below  .05  per  cent.,  but  unfortunately 
there  is  comparatively  little  of  this  kind.  The  next  class  runs 
from  66  to  69  per  cent,  with  phosphorus  from  .05  to  .10  per  cent., 
and  so  on  down  to  the  poorest  with  57  to  61  per  cent,  of  iron  and 
1.50  to  3.00  per  cent,  of  phosphorus. 

The  field  has  been  only  partially  explored,  but  it  is  quite  certain 
that  the  phosphorus  is  scattered  haphazard  throughout  the  whole 
deposit,  so  as  to  make  careful  selection  necessary,  and  it  also  seems 
certain  that  the  greater  part  will  run  from  0.7  to  1.0  per  cent,  in 
phosphorus  and  possibly  from  1.0  to  2.0  per  cent.  The  ore  is  very 
hard  and  must  be  blasted.  The  sulphur  is  almost  always  below 
0.10  per  cent.,  the  manganese  about  0.30  per  cent.,  but  titanic  acid 
is  present  in  varying  quantities  from  0.3  to  1.0  per  cent.  In  the 
immediate  neighborhood  are  the  Routivare  deposits,  of  great  extent, 
but  as.  they  contain  only  50  per  cent,  of  iron  and  carry  11  to  13 
per  cent,  of  titanic  acid,  they  can  hardly  be  looked  upon  as  of 
great  value. 

Some  of  the  older  iron  mines  in  Sweden  can  offer  ores  of  only 
moderate  quality.  The  great  deposit  at  Grangesberg  has  been  al- 
ready mentioned  as  being  from  50  to  58  per  cent,  in  iron,  from 
.06  to  .27  per  cent,  in  phosphorus  and  from  .03  to  .25  per  cent,  in 
sulphur.  These  beds  have  only  lately  come  into  prominence  being 


810 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


made  valuable  by  the  development  of  the  basic  process.  The  far- 
famed  Dannemora  mines  produce  about  47,000  tons  per  year.  The 
phosphorus  is  extremely  low,  about  .002  per  cent.,  but  the  iron  is 
about  50  per  cent,  and  the  silica  from  9  to  15  per  cent.  The 
Norberg  mines,  producing  138,000  tons,  give  about  52  per  cent, 
iron  and  from  2  to  32  per  cent,  of  silica.  Mention  is  sometimes 
made  of  the  famous  iron  mountain  of  Taberg,  but  it  is  merely  a 
rock  carrying  30  per  cent,  of  iron  with  14  per  cent,  silica  and  6  per 
cent,  titanic  acid. 

The  total  exports  of  ore  in  1900  were  1,619,900  tons,  of  which 
Northern  Sweden,  principally  the  Gellivare  district,  contributed 
two-thirds,  the  rest  coming  from  the  districts  of  Yestmanland,  the 
Kopparberg  and  Gefleberg.  Out  of  this  total  1,390,000  tons  went 
to  Germany,  103,000  tons  to  Great  Britain,  99,000  tons  to  Bel- 
gium, and  9000  tons  to  France,  while  about  19,000  tons  were  sent 
across  the  border  into  Finland.  A  large  proportion  of  the  ore 
shipped  to  Germany  was  really  intended  for  trans-shipment  to 
Austria,  it  being  impossible  to  determine  the  exact  amounts. 


TABLE  XXIX-B. 
List  of  Largest  Works  in  Sweden. 


Districts. 

Name  of 
Works. 

Nearest 
Large  Town. 

Steel 
Output  in 
1900; 
tons. 

f 

Iggesund  

Hudiksvall  

6.000 

Forsbacka  

Gefle  

12,000 

(jreneborg  •( 

Hofors  
Sandviken  
A  vesta 

Gefle  
Gefle  
Falun 

20,000 
25,000 
20  000 

Kopparberg  j 

Domnarf  vet  

Falun  

50,000 

Vertnland  -< 

Munkfors  
Hagf  ors    

Filipstad  
Filipstad  

6,000 
14,000 

Nykroppa 

Filipstad  .  .  . 

15,000 

Orebro                  -1 

Bofors*  

Ohnstinehamn  .... 

5,000 

Vestmanland 

Degenfors  

Christinehamn  — 

23,000 
15000 

Upsala 

Gefle 

5000 

Motola 

6000 

Ostergotland  —  -j 

Finnspang  

Norrkoping  

7,000 

*  Mainly  steel  castings,  guns,  armor,  etc. 

In  Fig.  XXIX- A  I  have  combined  the  districts  before  described 
and  have  shown  (1)  the  extreme  north,  a  forest-covered,  unsettled 
country,  producing  ore  alone;  (2)  the  extreme  south,  producing 


SWEDEN.  811 

COL(  alone  and  the  southern  central  portion,  making  a  small  amount 
of  *ron;  (3)  the  central  district  west  of  Stockholm — in  which  the 
iron  industry  of  Sweden  is  centered. 

Some  readers  may  inquire  concerning  the  production  of  Norway, 
so  that  it  may  be  well  to  say  that  there  is  no  iron  made  in  Norway, 
and  the  amount  has  always  been  small ;  but  a  great  deal  of  Swedish 
Lancashire  product  has  been  taken  to  that  country  and  worked  into 
finished  articles  and  exported  under  the  very  incorrect  name  of 
"Norway  iron."  This  term  may  now  be  a  fixture  in  the  trade, 
but  has  no  place  in  a  metallurgical  treatise. 

In  Table  XXIX-B  is  a  list  of  the  principal  steel  works  in  Swe- 
den, showing  their  location  and  production  of  steel  in  1900. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

SPAIN. 

The  Information  concerning  Spain  is  taken  from  a  paper  by  Alzola,  Jour.  I.  & 
S.  I.,  Vol.  11,  1896,  and  from  miscellaneous  sources. 

The  only  claim  held  by  Spain  to  our  consideration  as  an  iron 
nation  is  her  position  as  a  source  of  supply  for  ore.  It  has  been 
announced  many  times  that  the  mines  were  exhausted,  and  it  is  a 
fact  that  the  ore  exported  is  growing  leaner.  At  some  mines  con- 
siderable spathic  ore  is  shipped,  which  was  not  considered  of  any 
value  fifteen  years  ago,  but  in  spite  of  the  immense  amounts  of  ore 
produced  for  so  many  years  the  total  output  has  steadily  increased, 
and  the  year  1899  saw  by  far  the  greatest  record,  the  output  of 
the  mines  being  9,400,000  tons,  four-fifths  of  which  was  raised  in 
the  region  around  Bilbao.  Quite  a  considerable  quantity  of  this 
is  smelted  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  mines,  and  there  are  a  few 
steel  works  of  considerable  magnitude  in  the  district,  the  fuel 
being  drawn  from  coal  mines  in  Asturias,  about  200  miles  west 
of  Bilbao.  The  local  steel  works,  however,  use  but  a  small  pro- 
portion of  the  ore  output,  and  in  1900  over  90  per  cent,  was  ex- 
ported, the  port  of  Bilbao  sending  out  two-thirds  of  the  whole. 
England  claimed  nearly  three-quarters  of  the  shipments  and  Ger- 
many the  greater  part  of  the  rest.  Detailed  figures  are  shown  in 
Table  XXX-A  and  are  illustrated  by  Fig.  XXX-A.  The  Bilbao 
ore  proper  comes  from  an  area  about  15  miles  in  length  and  2% 
miles  in  width.  Four  classes  are  distinguished  :* 

( 1 )  Vena,  a  soft  purple  compact  and  often  powdery  hematite. 

(2)  Campanil,  a  compact  and  crystalline  red  hematite,  often  ac- 
companied by  rhombohedra  of  carbonate  of  lime. 

(3)  Rubio,  a  brown  hematite  usually  mixed  with  silicious  ma- 
terial. 

(4)  Carbonato,  a  grey  granular  and  silicious  or  a  creamy  white 
laminated  and  crystalline  spathic  iron  ore. 

*  Brough,  Cantor  Lectures  Soc.  Arts,  Man.  and  Commerce,  Feb.,  1900. 

812 


SPAIN. 


813 


Vena  is  the  purest  of  these  and  was  the  only  one  used  in  the 
ancient  local  Catalan  forges.  Carnpanil,  on  account  of  its  low 
phosphorus,  is  the  most  valuable,  but  is  now  nearly  exhausted. 


Rubio  is  the  most  abundant,  but  is  likely  to  be  mixed  with  veins 

of  iron  pyrites.     Carbonate  is  found  usually  below  the  other  ores. 

The  district  is  divided  into  seven  parts,  of  which  the  Sommorosto 


814 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


produces  half  the.  total  from  the  beds  of  Triano  and  Matamoros. 
The  other  districts  are  Galdames,  Sopuerta,  Ollargan,  Abondo, 
Alonsolegui  and  Guenes,  each  of  which  yields  a  supply  for  ship- 
ment. The  Vena  ore  runs  about  56  per  cent,  in  iron;  Campanil 
about  54  per  cent.,  and  the  spathic  ore  from  40  to  45  per  cent,, 
giving  55  to  60  per  cent,  after  roasting.  The  composition  of 
Kubio  ore,  which  is  the  great  bulk  of  the  hematite  shipments,  was 
the  subject  of  discussion  by  William  Whitwell,  in  his  presidential 

TABLE  XXX-A. 
Spanish  Ore  Production  and  Exports. 


1899. 

1900. 

Production- 

(Province  of  Vizcava 

6  495  564 

5  317  920 

1  158  169 

1  117  017 

Northern  part. 

'   Oviedo    

65  944 

6l'oOO 

'   Guipuzcoa  ...              . 

27  618 

17  476 

f  Province  of  Murcia    .         

668  947 

806609 

Southern  part  . 

'   Almeria  and  Grenada  
}                   '   Sevilla  

537,144 
309  688 

562,758 
365  434 

1   Malaga  and  Jaen 

66  575 

68  691 

Northwest  

4   Lugo  

H'OOO 

104  no 

Others  

54085 

99  131 

Total  

9  397  734 

8  520  146 

Exports- 

{From  Bilbao  in  Vizcaya 

5512067 

4  556  317 

Northern  ports. 

Santander  in  Santander  

673,807 

612,109 

Castro  Urdiales  in  Santander.  . 
(From  Carthagena  in  Murcia  

662,715 
430,255 

674,690 
436,462 

'       Porman  in  Murcia  

120  120 

128,180 

Southern  ports 

'       Garrucha  in  Almeria  

405,153 

312,087 

'       Almeria  in  Almeria     

188,858 

246,351 

Sevilla 

319  026 

339,432 

Destination  — 

Great  Britain 

6  224  229 

5  484  323 

Germany  via  Holland        

1  416  198 

1  268  623 

Germany  direct 

128  251 

172  496 

443818 

450,749 

Belgium                 .                    

254  860 

247  351 

United  States  

32,422 

195,961 

Other  countries  

13  359 

3  758 

Total  

8  613,137 

7  823,270 

address  before  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute.  He  compared  the 
analyses  reported  at  his  own  works  at  Thornaby,  near  Middles- 
borough,  during  eleven  years,  and  they  showed  a  constant  decrease 
in  quality.  Since  the  determinations  are  averages  of  a  very  large 
number  of  cargoes  in  each  case,  and  are  given  under  such  author- 
ity, they  must  be  accepted  as  representative. 


SPAIN. 

1890  1900 

Fe  in  ore  as  received 50.50  47.99 

SiO2  in  ore  as  received 7.10  10.09 

Moisture    9.00  9.10 

Fe  in  dry  state 55.50  52.80 

The  spathic  ore,  which  has  been  lately  considered  of  much  value,, 
runs  from  40  to  45  per  cent,  in  iron,  giving  from  55  to  60  per  cent, 
after  roasting. 

In  addition  to  the  well  known  deposits  of  Northern  Spam,  there 
are  very  extensive  deposits  on  the  Mediterranean,  the  principal  ore 
centers  being  in  the  provinces  of  Murcia,  Almeria  and  Malaga.  It 
is  from  Murcia  that  the  well  known  Porman  ore  comes,  the  mines 
being  near  to  Carthagena.  This  is  a  brown  hematite  rather  high 
in  silica  and  containing  a  certain  amount  of  lead,  which  is  not  a 
desirable  thing  around  an  iron  furnace.  There  are  other  deposits 
farther  inland,  the  deposits  of  Morata  being  ten  miles  from  the 
coast  and  those  of  Calaspara  about  85  miles,  the  latter  ore  being  a 
red  hematite  running  about  57  per  cent.  Some  magnetite  of  poorer 
quality  is  also  found.  Almeria  produces  the  Herrerias  ore,  contain- 
ing on  the  average  of  about  52  per  cent,  of  iron  and  8  per  cent,  of 
manganese,  which  is  used  for  the  manufacture  of  spiegel,  and  it  also 
furnishes  the  Sierra  de  Bedar  ore  from  the  mines  of  Jupiter,  Por- 
fiado  and  San  Manuel.  Some  of  the  Bedar  ore  is  fine  and  runs 
about  60  per  cent,  in  iron  when  dry,  while  other  mines  give  a  purple 
lump  ore  running  about  50  per  cent,  in  the  dry.  The  Sierra  Alha- 
milla  deposits  at  Los  Banos,  Alfaro  and  Lucainena  are  also  in  this 
province.  They  are  remarkably  low  in  phosphorus  and  are  in  the 
form  of  big  hard  lumps,  and  command  an  extra  price  for  use  in 
open-hearth  furnaces. 

In  the  provinces  of  Malaga  are  found  the  ores  of  Marbella,  the 
mines  lying  about  three  miles  from  the  coast  and  about  thirty 
miles  southwest  of  Malaga.  This  is  a  magnetite  containing  about 
60  per  cent,  of  iron.  There  are  other  deposits  in  the  vicinity  'of 
Estepona  and  Eobledal.  The  province  of  Sevilla  also  produces  a 
considerable  quantity  from  the  mines  of  Pedroso  and  Guadalcanal, 
but  the  ore  must  be  carried  over  fifty  miles  to  Sevilla  and  this  port 
cannot  accommodate  vessels  of  a  large  size.  The  province  of 
Huelva  furnishes  the  Eio  Tinta  ore,  which  is  a  hard  and  lumpy,  but 
sulphurous  deposit. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

ITALY. 

A  certain  amount  of  iron  and  steel  is  made  in  Italy,  the  whole 
country  in  1899  having  in  operation  21  open-hearth  furnaces,  two 
Bessemer  and  two  Robert  converters.  Most  of  the  steel  was  made 
from  imported  pig-iron  and  scrap.  The  Terni  works  is  the  largest 
plant,  and  in  1899  it  imported  90,000  tons  of  material,  converting 
this  principally  into  supplies  for  the  railways  and  the  navy.  As 
the  amount  of  pig-iron  imported  into  the  country  is  from  six  to 
eight  times  as  much  as  is  melted  within  its  borders  little  need  be 
said  regarding  this  industry.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  make 
mention  of  the  mines  of  Elba,  which  have  been  famous  for  cen- 
turies and  which  have  supplied  America  with  large  quantities  of 
low  phosphorus  ores.  These  deposits  are  controlled  by  the  Italian 
government,  which  has  leased  them  for  short  periods  to  contrac- 
tors, but  now  has  followed  the  wiser  plan  of  giving  a  long  lease. 
The  terms  of  the  contract,  made  in  1898,  are  intended  to  encour- 
age the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel  at  home.  The  government 
is  to  receive  a  royalty  of  ten  cents  per  ton  on  all  ore  smelted  in 
Italy,  but  it  must  receive  $1.50  on  all  ore  shipped  to  other  coun- 
tries. The  company  securing  this  lease  is  made  up  of  home  capital 
in  the  Island  of  Elba,  and  it  is  developing  coal  mines  across  the 
ocean  in  Venezuela  for  a  supply  of  fuel.  The  lease  runs  twenty 
years,  and  not  over  160,000  tons  per  year  may  be  exported,  while  at 
least  40,000  tons  must  be  offered  to  Italian  furnaces. 

An  important  point  in  the  general  problem  is  that  in  the  past 
the  ore  has  been  taken  away  from  Elba  as  return  cargo  in  vessels 
carrying  coal  to  Italy,  and  if  such  exports  cease  the  cost  of  coal  and 
coke  will  be  higher.  A  still  more  important  matter  is  the  ap- 
proaching exhaustion  of  the  deposit.  The  government  has  care- 
fully surveyed  the  remaining  supply  and  has  limited  the  output  so 
that  it  will  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  at  the  rate  of  about  250,000 
tons  per  year.  Needless  to  say  the  working  of  the  lessening  and 

816 


ITALY.  817 

narrowing  beds,  scattered  over  a  considerable  area,  will  be  done 
at  a  considerably  increasing  cost.  It  is  safe  to  say  therefore  that 
the  mines  of  Elba  can  hardly  be  viewed  as  an  important  factor  in 
the  international  iron  trade. 

TABLE  XXXI-A. 

Exports  of  Ore  from  Elba  in  1899. 

Tons. 

Great  Britain   102,700 

Germany  via  Holland 53,300 

United  States   41,700 

France   29,000 

Total    226,700 


CHAPTEE  XXXII. 

CANADA. 

Up  to  the  year  1901  the  iron  and  steel  industry  of  Canada  was 
of  little  importance,  but  it  has  now  come  to  the  front  as  the  land 
of  new  enterprises  of  very  considerable  magnitude.  The  Cramp 
Steel  Company  is  erecting  a  plant  at  Collingwood,  Ontario,  for 
making  Bessemer  and  open-hearth  steel,,  while  a  very  extensive 
system  of  industries,  of  which  a  steel  works  is  only  a  part,  is  de- 
veloping on  the  Canadian  side  of  the  Sault,  between  Lake  Superior 
and  Lake  Huron.  The  Bessemer  plant  connected  with  this  latter 
enterprise  consists  of  two  six-ton  converters  and  was  started  in 
February,  1902.  It  is  for  the  future  to  say  just  how  great  all 
these  works  will  become,  but  it  is  the  intention  now  that  they  will 
follow  the  current  American  practice  of  smelting  the  rich  ores  of 
the  Canadian  Lake  Superior  region  with  coke  brought  from  the- 
coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania  or  West  Virginia. 

Another  plant  is  on  different  lines  and  presents  points  of  inter- 
est to  the  metallurgist.  The  Dominion  Iron  and  Steel  Company 
has  built  a  steel  works  at  Sydney,  Cape  Breton,  at  which  point  the 
company  owns  very  extensive  fields  of  rich  coal,  giving  a  coke- 
which  has  been  successfully  worked  in  blast  furnaces.  The  high 
percentage  of  volatile  matter  leads  to  the  hope  that  a  large  excess 
of  gas  will  be  available  for  use  in  open-hearth  furnaces.  The  coal 
varies  considerably  and  some  beds  are  quite  high  in  sulphur,  so 
that  for  the  production  of  coke  it  has  been  found  necessary  to- 
wash  the  coal.  Table  XX XII- A  shows  the  composition  of  the  raw- 
material  as  publicly  stated  by  the  management. 

The  ore,  which  goes  by  the  name  of  Wabana,  comes  from  Great 
Bell  Island  in  Concepcion  Bay,  Newfoundland,  about  35  miles 
from  St.  Johns,  and  about  400  miles  from  the  steel  plant  at  Syd- 
ney. It  is  easily  mined,  being  in  well  defined  thin  layers  and  of  a. 
brittle  nature,  but  it  is  not  of  the  best  quality,  as  shown  in  the 
table  just  given.  It  will  give  a  pig-iron  running  about  1.5  per 

818 


CANADA. 


819 


cent,  in  phosphorus,  which  is  rather  low  for  basic  Bessemer  prac- 
tice and  rather  high  for  economical  working  in  an  open-hearth 
furnace. 

TABLE  XXXII-A, 
Composition  of  Fuel  and  Ore  at  Cape  Breton. 


Raw  Coal. 

Reserve 
Mine. 

Caledonia 
Mine. 

Dominion 
Mine. 

Moisture  

1  45 

1.54 

1.21 

Volatile  Matter.. 
Fixed  Carbon  .  .  . 
Sulphur 

32  45 
60.45 
1  64 

30.86 
62  91 
1  50 

31.89 
61  49 
1  56 

Ash  

5.65 

4.69 

5.41 

Washed  Coal— 
Moisture  

1  01 

1.08 

0.84 

Volatile  Mattter. 
Fixed  Carbon  
Sulphur  
Ash  

32.99 
62.21 
1.11 
3  79 

33.92 
61.69 
1.07 
3.31 

37.86 
62.60 
1  17 
4.50 

Retort  Coke- 
Sulphur  

0.91 

0.78 

1.01 

Ash  

6  07 

5  38 

6  24 

Bell  Island  Ore. 

Best. 

Worst. 

Moisture  

1  50 

2.50 

Fe  

54  43 

51  84 

SiO, 

9  34 

13  00 

p  . 

0  744 

0  835 

s 

0  05 

0  03 

There  will  be  four  blast  furnaces  85  by  20  feet  and  ten  50-ton 
open-hearth  furnaces  of  the  Campbell  type.  The  first  steel  was 
made  on  December  31,  1901,  and  the  plant  has  been  com- 
pleted during  the  summer  of  1902.  There  are  to  be  400  Otto 
Hoffman  by-product  ovens,  which  will  be  similar  to  those  which  have 
been  in  operation  near  Boston,  Mass.,  for  making  gas  for  city  use 
from  Cape  Breton  coal.  The  steel  plant  of  Sydney  is  in  a  good  har- 
bor, but  this  is  closed  by  ice  a  part  of  the  year,  during  which  time 
traffic  can  be  carried  on  by  way  of  Louisburg,  about  forty  miles  by 
railroad  on  the  south  coast.  The  ore  deposit  at  Bell  Island  is  also  on 
good  water,  but  is  likewise  ice-bound  for  three  or  four  months  in 
the  year. 

One  of  the  great  arguments  advanced  in  favor  of  new  works  in 


820 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


Canada  is  the  bounty  offered  by  the  government  on  pig-iron  and 
steel  manufactured  within  the  Dominion.  The  bounty  is  to  grow 
less  in  the  future  and  expires  completely  in  1907.  The  schedule 
appears  in  Table  XXXII-B,  by  which  it  appears  that  a  company 
making  steel  from  native  ores  receives  a  bounty  of  $2.70  per  ton 
of  pig-iron  and  $2.70  per  ton  of  steel,  or  say  about  $6.00  per  ton 
of  finished  product.  From  this  it  declines  to  nothing  in  July, 
1907. 

TABLE  XXXII-B. 

Canadian  Bounty  on  Iron  and  Steel,  per  ton. 


Pig 

Iron. 

From 

From 

Steel. 

Native 

Foreign 

Ore. 

Ore. 

ToApril21  1903  

$3  00 

$2  00 

$3  00 

April  21,  1902,  to  July  1,  1903. 
July  1,  1903,  to  July  1,  1904.  .  . 

2.70 
2.25 

1.80 
1.50 

2.70 
2.25 

July  1,  1904,  to  July  1,  1905.  .  . 
July  1,  1905,  to  July  1,  1906.  .  . 
July  1,  1906,  to  July  1,  1907... 

1.65 
1.05 
.60 

1.10 
.70 
.40 

1.-65 
1.05 
.60 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
STATISTICS  OF  THE  IRON  INDUSTRY. 

In  Tables  XXXIII-D  to  M,  inclusive,  are  given  statistics  of  the 
production  of  coal,  iron  ore,  iron  and  steel  in  the  leading  nations, 
and  the  imports  and  exports  for  the  most  recent  year  for  which 
complete  statistics  are  available,  the  official  reports  for  different 
countries  and  for  different  branches  of  the  same  Government  often 
appearing  at  different  times.  In  the  case  of  some  countries  certain 
information  can  hardly  be  obtained  at  all,  as,  for  instance,  in  regard 
to  the  production  of  wrought  iron  or  of  lignite  in  the  United  States. 
In  other  cases  there  is  much  difference  in  the  way  the  figures  are 
usually  given.  In  the  United  States  the  production  of  steel  is 
always  given  in  the  ingot  weight.  We  do  have  a  figure  of  finished 
rolled  material,  but  this  includes  all  the  wrought  iron.  In  Eng- 
land the  ingot  is  also  used,  but  in  some  other  countries  the  data 
are  given  for  the  finished  bar,  while  in  Belgium  the  records  show 
the  weight  of  the  blooms  or  billets  in  the  intermediate  stage.  Any 
one  of  these  systems  has  its  good  points,  but  comparisons  are 
difficult. 

Judging  from  my  own  ignorance  in  the  matter,  it  is  doubtful  if 
most  people  appreciate  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  accurate  statistics 
of  production,  and  it  may  be  well  to  illustrate  by  referring  to  an 
attempt  to  get  data  for  Germany,  which  is  supposed  to  have  a 
complete  system.  In  Table  XXXIII-A  are  given  the  various  fig- 
ures encountered.  The  data  from  Wedding  were  collected  exclu- 
sively for  this  book  and  as  they  disagreed  with  some  other  records,  an 
investigation  was  made  for  me  by  Consul  General  Mason  in  Berlin, 
with  the  results  accredited  to  him  in  the  table,  the  divisions  used 
being  the  customary  items  given  in  German  statistics.  The  dif- 
ferent figures  were  then  sent  to  Mr.  Schrodter  and  I  asked  for  an 
explanation  of  what  is  meant  by  finished  steel,  and  whether  the 
same  metal  could  appear  twice  in  Mason's  tabulation.  Mr. 
Schrodter  states  that  not  until  the  year  1900  were  any  records  kept 

821 


822 


THE   IRON    INDUSTRY. 


of  the  output  of  ingots,  but  he  does  not  cast  any  light  on  the  ques- 
tion of  duplication.  He  does  state,  however,  that  the  amount  of  fin- 
ished material  in  1900  was  6,361,650  tons,  which  is  the  amount 
given  by  Mason  as  the  total  output.  He  also  states  that  the  total 
production  of  ingots  and  castings  was  6,645,869.  Now  this  is  the 
same  thing  as  saying  that  the  weight  of  finished  material  was  95.72 
per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  the  ingots,  a  difference  of  only  4.28  per 
cent,  to  account  for  all  scrap  and  oxidation,  and  while  the  losses 
from  these  causes  may  be  much  less  in  Germany  than  here,  I  can 
hardly  believe  that  the  figures  are  correct. 


TABLE  XXXIII-A. 

Discordant  Data  on  Steel  Output  in  Germany. 


Source  of  Information. 

1898 

1899 

1900 

1901 

Swank  •  Am  I.  &  S  Ass  ,  1901    

6  328  666 

6  365  259 

Miner*!  Industry  19  1 

5  734  307 

6  290  434 

6  645  869 

Rentzoch.        

5  0%  896 

5  667  050 

6  645  869 

Gemeinfass,  Darstel    1901 

4  352  831 

4  791  022 

4  799  000 

Wedding*  

4  967  770 

Mason  •  *  ingots 

441  601 

467  721 

352  935 

Blooms,  billets,  etc  .... 

986  572 

1  040  670 

1  183  128 

Finished  steel 

4  352  831 

4  820  275 

4  825  587 

Total  

5  781  004 

6  328  666 

6  361  650 

Schrodter;  *  steel  castings                 .   . 

107  210 

Bess  and  O  H  ingots 

6  287  OL2 

Total  . 

6  645  S69 

6  394  222 

*  Private  Communication. 

A  great  deal  of  confusion  is  caused  by  differences  in  nomencla- 
ture and  classification  in  different  countries  by  different  statisti- 
cians. The  term  "iron  and  steel  productions"  may  include  pig-iron 
and  it  may  not.  The  term  "bar-iron"  may  mean  wr ought-iron,  or 
it  may  include  steel,  as  soft  steel  is  called  ingot-iron  on  the  Con- 
tinent. Sometimes  steam  engines  are  included  in  "iron  and  steel 
exports,"  and  sometimes  they  are  classed  under  machinery.  It  is 
difficult  to  find  the  truth  without  a  detailed  analysis  of  the  original 
records,  and  if  professional  statisticians  are  guilty  of  grievous  er- 
rors, I  trust  I  may  be  pardoned  for  any  that  may  creep  into  the 
data  herewith  given.  In  almost  every  case  I  have  indicated  the 
authority  by  putting  a  small  distinguishing  numeral.  The  key  to 
these  numbers  is  given  in  Table  XXXIII-B. 


STATISTICS    OF    THE    IliON    INDUSTRY. 


823 


TABLE  XXX11I-B. 
Key  to  Numbers  Denoting  Source  of  Statistical  Information. 


*  Swedish  Offlc.  Stat.,  1900. 

2  Swank :    Am.  I.  and  S.  Assoc.,  1900, 

1901  and  1902. 

3  Gemeinfass.    Darstell.    des    Eisenhiit- 

ten,  1901. 

4  TJ.  S.  Geol.  Survey. 
5Min.  Ind.,  1900. 

8  British  Iron  Trade  Assoc.,  1900. 
'.British  Home  Office  Reports,  1900. 
«  Russian  Journ.  Financial  Stat.,  1899. 
•l  ^truthers  :      Sci.    Pub.     Co. ;    private 
communication. 

10  Nimot :    Belgium  ;    private  communi- 

cation. 

11  Wedding  :    Berlin  ;    private  communi- 

cation. 

12  Iron  and  Coal   Trades   Rev.,  Jan.   5, 

1900. 

13Min.  Ind.,  1893. 
"  Oesterreich.  Zeitschrift,  XLIX,  1901. 

15  A.    von    Kerpeley,    Vienna ;     private 

communication. 

16  Bertrand,  Kladuo  ;    private  communi- 

cation. 
"Verein    Deutscher,    E.    and    S..    Ind., 

1882. 

"Iron,  Vol.  XXXIII,  p.  376. 
18  Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  IX,  p.  445. 
20  Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  X,  p.  164. 


21  Kintzle;  Journ.  I.  and  S.  L,  Vol.  II, 

1690. 

--  Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  XI,  p.  428. 
2:5  Swedish  Offic.  Stat.,  1890. 
14  British  I.  T.  Assn.  Bulletin,  No.  20. 
25  Swedish  Offic.  Stat,  1892. 
2"  Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  XII,  p.  1007. 
-7  Swedish  Offic.  Stat.,  1893. 
28  Verein '  Deutscher,    E.    and    S.,    Ind., 

1893,  No.  17. 

20  Verein    Deutscher,    E.    and    S.,    Ind., 

1894,  No.  21. 

30  Journ.  I.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1894. 

31  Verein    Deutscher,    E.    and    S.,    Ind., 

1895,  No.  20. 

32  Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  XVI,  p.  395. 

33  Journ.  I.  and  S.  I.,  Vol.  II,  1896. 

34  Swedish  Offic.  Stat.,  1897. 

s-  Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  XVIII,  p.  38. 

35  Swedish  Offic.  Stat.,  1898. 

37  Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  XIX,  p.  32. 

38  Comite  des  Forges  Bulletin,  1458. 

39  Stahl  und  Eisen,  Vol.  XX,  p.  39. 

40  Akerman  ;    private  communication. 

41  Comite  des  Forges. 

42  Mining  Industries  of  Russia,  1901. 

43  Schrodter  ;    private  communication. 

44  British  Iron  Trade  Ass'n,  1901. 

45  British  Consular  Report,  No.  555. 


A  complete  statistical  digest  cannot  be  attempted  in  such  a  lim- 
ited space,  but  it  is  desirable  to  find  the  main  conditions  in  order 
to  know  the  internal  economy  of  each  nation  and  its  relation  to 
the  world  at  large  at  the  beginning  of  the  new  century.  The  tables 
show  that  the  iron  producers  may  be  divided  into  three  classes 
according  to  the  quantity  of  pig-iron  and  steel  they  produce. 
First,  and  almost  in  a  class  hv  itself,  is  the  United  States;  next 
come  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  the  latter  producing  slightly 
more  pig-iron  than  Germany,  but  verv  much  less  steel.  These 
three  nations  produce  eigfttv  per  cent,  of  all  the  coal,  pig-iron  and 
steel  made  in  the  world,  and  nearly  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  iron 
ore. 

In  the  next  class  are  France,  Russia,  Austria  and  Belgium. 
These  four  nations  produce  about  eighteen  per  cent,  of  all  the  pier- 
iron  and  steel  made  in  the  world,  and  about  fifteen  per  cent,  of  all 
the  coal  and  iron  ore. 

•"i-o  fi,;-n^  nincs  inolri^ps  Sweden  and  Spain,  which  are  important 


824  THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 

as  sources  of  the  iron  ore  supply  for  the  greater  nations,  but  which 
have  no  coal  for  smelting.  In  the  same  list,  but  of  less  importance, 
are  Greece,  Algeria,  Cuba  and  Italy,  which  are  widely  known  for 
their  ore  mines,  but  produce  very  little  or  no  iron. 

Another  way  of  comparing  the  nations  is  according  to  the 
amount  of  pig-iron  produced  per  inhabitant.  This  is  done  in  Table 
XXXIII-C. 

TABLE  XXXIII-C. 
Production  of  Pig-iron  per  Capita  in  1899,  Pounds. 


Great  Britain 505 

United  States : 405 

Germany  ...  330 

Belgium 322 

Sweden 244 

France 145 

Austria- Hungary 67 

Russia 46 

Italy 1 


The  United  States  may  be  looked  upon  as  self-contained,  pos- 
sessing within  its  borders  all  the  material  necessary  for  the  iron 
industry.  A  certain  amount  of  ore  is  imported  for  use  in  plants 
near  the  seaboard,  and  some  small  lots  of  foreign  pig-iron  find  their 
way  into  distant  portions  of  the  country;  but  the  proportion  of 
imports  to  the  total  consumption  is  very  small  for  either  fuel,  ore, 
iron  or  steel.  This  condition  arises  in  great  measure  from  the 
geographical  isolation  of  America  and  the  almost  prohibitory  dis- 
tances from  sources  of  supply.  To  understand  the  totally  different 
conditions  in  Europe  it  is  only  necessary 'to  consider  that  the 
boundary  of  France  touches  the  coal  fields  of  Belgium,  and  the 
boundary  of  Belgium  touches  the  ore  fields  of  Luxemburg. 

The  close  geographical  relations  of  the  countries  in  Northwestern 
Europe  naturally  give  rise  to  inter-traffic  in  raw  materials,  when 
unhampered  by  foolish  tariff  restrictions  on  such  article?.  The 
iron  industry  of  Belgium  is  founded  on  imported  ore,  while  France, 
Germany  and  England  bring  from  one-fifth  to  one-third  of  their 
ore  supply  from  beyond  the  boundary.  With  coal  also  it  is  neces- 
sary to  disregard  the  political  limits,  and  in  some  cases  the  figures 
seem  contradictory,  as  when  a  nation  both  imports  and  exports  large 
quantities.  This  may  be  explained  by  local  conditions,  as  for  in- 
stance on  the  eastern  boundary  of  Germany  we  may  find  coke  going 
into  Austria  and  brown  coal  returning  into  Germany,  this  brown 


STATISTICS    OF   THE   IRON    INDUSTRY.  825 

coal  being  cheap  and  perfectly  suitable  for  heating,  but  not  fit  for 
smelting. 

There  is  room  for  difference  of  opinion  as  to  just  how  percentages 
should  be  calculated,  but  I  have  compared  the  quantity  of  imports 
with  the  quantity  actually  used.  Thus  the  amount  of  iron  ore  used 
in  a  country  is  the  tonnage  raised  plus  the  imports  minus  the  ex- 
ports, and  I  have  found  the  proportion  of  imports  to  this  tonnage 
so  smelted.  In  calculating  the  exports,  however,  I  have  taken  into 
account  only  the  quantity  raised  and  the  quantity  exported,  so  as  to 
find  the  proportion  of  the  home  production  which  was  sent  away 
from  the  country.  Any  other  basis  of  calculation  will  be  found  to 
give  curious  results  in  the  case  of  countries  that  both  import  and 
export  large  quantities. 

Taking  up  the  question  of  fuel  supply  it  will  be  found  that 
France  imports  one-third  of  all  she  uses.  Austria  imports  one- 
third  of  all  her  bituminous  coal,  but  produces  large  quantities  of 
brown  coal  and  is  a  heavy  exporter  of  this  inferior  fuel.  Russia 
and  Belgium  import  about  fifteen  per  cent,  of  their  consumption, 
while  Sweden  is  almost  wholly  dependent  upon  other  countries  for 
her  coal. 

The  figures  for  iron  ore  show  that  Belgium  imports  almost  all 
her  supply  and  that  Great  Britain  and  France  import  about  one- 
third  of  all  that  is  used.  On  the  other  hand,  Germany  exports 
almost  as  much  as  she  imports,  ^fhile  Sweden  sends  most  of  her 
ore  abroad.  Spain  is  also  a  factor  in  the  ore  question,  but  is  not 
included  in  the  table  as  she  has  no  bearing  on  international  com- 
merce in  any  other  line  of  iron  products. 

The  statistics  for  pig-iron  show  that  Belgium  and  Germany  are 
the  only  nations  that  import  any  considerable  portion  of  their  sup- 
ply, while  Great  Britain  is  the  only  one  that  exports  any  important 
amount.  In  1899  and  1900  the  latter  nation  exported  15  per  cent, 
of  her  pig-iron.  In  these  two  years  the  United  States  exported 
only  two  per  cent,  and  Germany  about  the  same,  while  in  1901  the 
United  States  sent  abroad  only  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  of  her  pig- 
iron. 

In  wrought-iron  and  steel,  Great  Britain,  Russia  and  Belgium 
import  quite  a  considerable  proportion  of  their  total  production, 
while  the  United  States  imports  a  very  small  percentage.  Singu- 
larly enough,  the  nations  that  import  the  greatest  proportion  also 
export  the  greatest,  for  England  exports  one-third  of  her  finished 


826  THE   IKON    INDUSTRY. 

iron  and  steel,  and  Belgium  nearly  one-half  of  her  output.  The 
United  States  up  to  the  present  time  has  shipped  away  only  a  small 
proportion  of  her  output,  but  in  1900  it  reached  12  per  cent,  of  the 
total.  In  1901  there  was  quite  a  falling  off  in  exports  owing  to 
the  extraordinary  home  demand. 

This  comparison  gives  some  idea  of  the  character  of  the  busi- 
ness of  these  nations,  but  it  does  not  convey  any  definite  informa- 
tion about  the  extent  to  which  these  nations  influence  the  com- 
merce of  the  world.  Thus,  although  the  United  States  sent  abroad 
only  a  small  proportion  of  her  products,  the  actual  tonnage  so  ex- 
ported in  1900  was  nearly  three  times  the  over-sea  shipments  of 
Belgium,  although  the  latter  nation,  as  above  stated,  sent  nearly 
half  of  her  products  to  other  countries.  The  overshadowing  factors 
in  over-sea  commerce  are  Great  Britain,  Germany  and  the  United 
States  in  the  order  named,  and  in  this  calculation  the  commerce  of 
England  with  her  own  colonies  is  not  included.  Other  nations 
play  a  very  small  part  in  the  general  international  iron  trade. 

There  are  some  people  who  may  look  for  a  table  giving  the  rate 
of  wages  in  each  country,  and  possibly  it  would  please  some  of  my 
political  friends  to  have  some  figures  duly  tabulated  to  prove  some 
tariff  theories.  It  would  be  quite  easy  to  give  statistics  on  either 
side.  From  personal  knowledge  I  could  quote  the  earnings  of 
boiler-makers  in  free-trade  England  at  over  $7.00  per  day  and  the 
wages  of  skilled  rolling  mill  men  at  $1.50  in  protectionist  Germany 
and  Austria.  It  is  thoroughly  well  known  to  manufacturers  and 
practical  employers  of  labor  that  the  information  collected  by  our 
Government  at  so  much  cost  and  trouble  is  hardly  worth  the  trouble 
of  printing,  but  statisticians  are  constantly  quoting  the  records  for 
want  of  better  information.  The  weak  points  are  recognized  by 
the  Department  itself,  but  there  are  great  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  obtaining  really  valuable  data.  Thus,  for  instance,  it  is  of  little 
use  to  record  that  the  wages  of  bricklayers  are  $5.00  per  day  in  a 
certain  city  and  only  $2.50  in  a  certain  town,  for  it  is  quite  prob- 
able that  in  the  city  the  work  is  intermittent,  made  up  of  short 
jobs  interrupted  by  weather,  so  that  from  inclement  days  and 
intervals  between  jobs,  the  annual  earnings  will  be  no  more  than 
in  the  town  where  perhaps  a  steel  works  offers  perfectly  steady  work 
under  shelter  in  rough  weather  throughout  the  whole  year,  and 
where  the  rent  and  cost  of  living  is  much  less  than  in  the  greater 
community.  It  is  also  of  little  value  to  give  -the  average  amount 


STATISTICS   OF   THE   IRON   INDUSTRY.  827 

of  money  drawn  by  an  employee,  for  it  is  necessary  to  know  whether 
every  man  worked  full  time.  The  information  so  gathered  is,  how- 
ever, of  more  value  than  the  usual  statements  of  the  number  of 
men  employed  in  good  times  and  bad  times.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
a  rolling  mill  always  employs  the  same  number  of  men  whether  it 
runs  six  days  per  week  or  one  day  a  month.  The  men  are  on  the 
pay  roll  and  never  replace  other  men  in  other  departments,  but 
work  when  the  mill  works  and  are  idle  when  it  is  idle.  Their  earn- 
ings are  a  measure  of  the  industrial  situation,  but  their  number  is 
constant.  A  decrease  in  the  actual  working  force  in  a  steel  works 
generally  signifies  a  stoppage  of  certain  portions  of  the  plant,  as, 
for  instance,  a  certain  number  of  blast  furnaces,  or  it  indicates  a 
cessation  of  new  work  on  improvements,  which  in  America  we 
regard  as  an  inherent  part  of  the  general  plan  of  operation. 

It  is  not  in  the  province  of  this  book  to  discuss  the  future,  since 
prophecies  are  only  guesses ;  but  it  may  be  well  to  call  attention  to 
the  serious  inroads  now  being  made  upon  the  supply  of  iron  ore.  I 
make  no  mention  of  the  exhaustion  of  coal  beds,  because  this  is  a 
hackneyed  subject  and  a  long  supply  is  assured.  The  ore  question 
is  seldom  considered,  but  it  would  seem  to  merit  consideration.  In 
1865  the  world  mined  about  18,000,000  tons  of  ore,  and  in  1900 
about  87,000,000  tons.  If  this  rate  of  increase  continues  during 
the  coming  years  it  will  be  found  that  in  1935  the  consumption  will 
be  so  rapid  that  in  a  period  of  five  years,  say  from  1935  to  1939 
inclusive,  as  much  ore  will  be  smelted  as  was  used  from  1880  to 
1900.  This  is  true  of  the  United  States  in  particular  as  well  as  of 
the  world  in  general,  and  I  believe  that  few  American  iron  masters 
can  view  with  equanimity  such  a  prospect. 

We  are  to-day  eating  up  the  hoardings  of  untold  geologic  ages 
at  a  rate  which  will  exhaust  the  known  rich  deposits  during  the 
present  century.  When  these  are  gone  it  may  be  that  others  will 
be  discovered,  and  it  may  be  that  the  eastern  part  of  the  United 
States  will  depend  upon  the  concentration  of  the  lean  beds  of  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  Alabama,  while  Europe  will 
work  the  mammoth  beds  of  Luxemburg  and  Lothringen.  It  is 
to  be  expected  that  the  Eocky  Mountains  will  furnish  new  fields, 
while  Africa  and  the  unknown  corners  of  the  earth  may  be  relied 
on  to.  prevent  a  catastrophe. 


828 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


*4U 

2-30 
220 
210 
200 
190 
180 
170 
160 
150 
140 
130 
120 
110 
100 
90 
80 
70 
60 
50 
40 
30 
20 
10 

COAL  PRODUCTION. 

1  UNIT=  1  MILLION  TONS. 

/ 

I 

x 

1 

is 

lg- 

CO 

pf> 

2 

.X 

x^ 

^ 

li 

x 

^ 

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RU; 

RIA  (tU^C 

SSI  A 

FIG.  XXXIII-A. 


STATISTICS    OF   THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


829 


FIG.  XXXIII-BJ 


830 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


PIG  IRON  PRODUCTION 

ONE  UNIT=1  MILLION  TONS. 


FIG.  XXXIII-C. 


STATISTICS   OF   THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


831 


STEEL  PRODUCTION. 

ONE  UNIT=1  MILLION  TONS. 


832 


THE    IRON   INDUSTRY. 

TABLE     XXXIII-D 

Pig    Iron    Producing    Districts    of    the    World. 


cS 
1 

2 
3 
4 
5 

6 

8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
20 
27 

28 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 
34 
35 
3*i 
37 
38 
39 
40 
41 
42 
43 
44 
4.5 
40 
47 
48 
4'J 
50 

District;  see  foregoing  chapters  for  further  information. 

g 

> 

Output. 
Tons. 

Estimates 
in  paren- 
theses. 

Per. 

Cent 
of 
total 

Pittsburg  •  parts  of  Pa    Ohio  and  W  Va    U  S  A  

1902 
1899 
1900 
1899 
1902 
1900 
1899 
1900 
1902 
1900 
1900 
1902 
1900 
1900 
1899 
1901 
1899 
1900 
1900 
1899 
1902 
1900 
1902 
1902 
1902 
1900 

1901 
1900 
1902 
1902 
1900 
1902 
1899 
1900 
1900 
1900 
1900 
1902 
1900 
1899 
1901 
1900 
1902 
1902 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1897 
1900 
1899 

1902 
1900 
1899 
1899 
1900 
1900 
1900 
1900 

(7,852,000) 
3,187,000 
3,110,000 
2,273,000 
1,730,000 
1,586.000 
1,576,000 
1,474,000 
1,472,000 
1,156,000 
1,019,000 
860,000 
818,000 
791,000 
743,000 
695,000 
657,000 
637,000 
597,000 
597  000- 
593,000 
562,000 
537,000 
518,000 
512,000 
503,000 

478,000 
452,000 
393,000 
327,000 
313,000 
303,000 
297,000 
294,000 
291,000 
282,000 
276,000 
274,000 
263,000 
247,000 
245,000 
239,000 
223,000 
155,000 
153,000 
136,000 
124,000 
58,000 
24,000 
20,000 

899,000 
203,000 
396,000 
181,000 
35,000 
130,000 
24,000 
(100,000) 

17.89 
7.26 
7.09 
5.18 
3.94 
3.61 
3.59 
3.36 
3.35 
2.63 
2.32 
.96 
.86 
.80 
.69 
.58 
.50 
.45 
.36 
.36 
.35 
.28 
.22 
.18 
.17 
.15 

.09 
.03 
.90 
.75 
.71 
.69 
.68 
.67 
.66 
.64 
.63 
.62 
.60 
.56 
.56 
.55 
.51 
.35 
.35 
.31 
.28 
.13 
.06 
.05 

2.05 
.46 
.90 
.41 
.08 
.30 
.06 
.23 

Cleveland  northeast  coast  of  Kngland  .                 

Lothringen  and  Luxemburg,  the  Minette  district  of  Germany  .  . 
Illinois  USA                                                      

Alabama  USA                

Scotland                                                                                       .    .    . 

Cleveland  Ohio  USA 

South  Wales      

The  Urals  Russia 

Silesia,  Germany  

Steelton;  Dauphin  and  Lebanon  counties,  Pa.,  U.  S.  A  
The  Siegen,  Germany  

Eastern  Central  England,  Lincoln,  Leicester  and  Northampton 
Staffordshire,  England  

The  Saar  Germany 

New  York  and  New  Jersey,  U.  S.  A  

Central  England  Derby  and  Nottingham 

Virginia,  U.  S.  A  

Lehigh  Valley,  Pa.,  U.  S.  A  

Johnstown,  Pa.,  U.  S.  A  

Central  Sweden  (95  per  cent  of  total  for  Sweden) 

•Southeastern  Pennsylvania,  U.  S.  A.  (the  Schuylkill  Valley, 
Philadelphia,  Delaware  and  Chester  counties)  

Hungary  

Tennessee  USA 

Hanging  Rock,  Ohio,  U.  S.  A  

Moravia  and  Silesia  Austria 

Sparrow's  Point,  Maryland,  U.  S.  A  
Northern  France  . 

Spain  '  

South  Yorkshire  (Sheffield)  England  

Styria,  Austria  

Wisconsin  and  Minnesota 

Poland,  Russia  

Central  France 

Canada  •  

Moscow,  Russia  . 

Michigan,  U  S  A  

Aachen  (Aix  la  Chapelle)  Germany  

Southern  France  ....        .    . 

lisede  (Peine)  Germany 

Japan  .  .  .'  

Italy    

Kentucky,   Missouri,   Washington,    North   Carolina,   Georgia, 
Texas,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  parts  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Ohio  not  included  above  

Great  Britain,  parts  not  included  above  

Germany,  parts  not  included  above  

France,  parts  not  included  above 

Russia,  parts  not  included  above  

Austria,  parts  not  included  above  

Sweden,  parts  not  included  above.  .  .  

Other  countries  

TOTAL  ,  

43,890,000 

100.00 

STATISTICS  OF  THE  IRON"  INDUSTRY. 


833 


TABLE    XXXIII-E 


Steel    Producing    Districts    of  the    World. 


M 

& 

District  ;  see  foregoing  chapters  for  further  information. 

£ 

Output 
tons  ;  esti- 
mates in 
parentheses 

Per 
Cent 
of 
total 

1 
2 
3 

4 

5 
6 

I 

9 

10 
11 
12 
13 
14 

15 

16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 
39 
40 
41 
42 
43 
44 
45 
46 
47 
48 
49 

Pittsburg;  parts  of  Pa.,  Ohio,  and  W.  Va.,  U.'S.  A  
The  Ruhr  western  Westphalia  Germany                

1901 
1902 
1901 
1902 
1900 
1902 
1899 
1900 
1900 
1901 
1900 
1901 
1900 

1901 
1900 
1902 
1900 
1901 
1900 
1900 
1900 
1901 
1901 
1902 
1900 
1899 
1899 
1900 
1902 
1902 
1900 
1900 
1900 
1899 
1899 
1901 
1902 
1901 
1900 
1902 
1902 
1901 
1900 
1900 
1901 
1900 
1902 
1900 
1901 

1901 
1900 
1900 
1900 
1900 
1900 

(7.317  000) 
4,329,000 
1,750,000 
1,406,000 
1,333,000 
1,037,000 
982,000 
963,000 
960,000 
(870,000) 
659,000 
656,000 
655,000 

629,000 
626,000 
589,000 
588,000 
427,000 
371,000 
367,000 
353,000 
352,000 
352,000 
333,000 
314,000 
291,000 
282,000 
279,000 
240,000 
238.000 
235,000 
214,000 
205,000 
190,000 
178,000 
173,000 
154,000 
(150,000) 
150,000 
143,000 
130,000 
107,000 
93,000 
88,000 
69,000 
61,000 
59,000 
58,000 
26,000 

472,000 
30,000 
69,000 
127,000 
19,000 
16,000 

22.33 
13.21 
5.34 
4.29 
4.07 
3.17 
3.00 
2.94 
2.93 
2.65 
2.01 
2.00 
2.00 

.92 
.91 
.80 
.79 
.30 
.13 
.12 
.08 
.07 
.07 
.02 
.96 
.89 
.86 
.85 
.73 
.73 
.72 
.65 
.62 
.58 
.54 
.53 
.47 
.46 
.46 
.44 
.40 
.33 
.28 
.27 
.21 
.19 
.18 
.18 
.08 

1.44 
.09 
.21 
.39 
.06 
.05 

100.00 

Illinois  USA 

Lothringen  and  Luxemburg,  the  Minette  district  of  Germany.  . 

The  Saar  Germany                                  

South  Wales 

Cleveland  Ohio  USA             

ohnstown  Pa    USA. 

Belgium  

Southeastern  Pennsylvania,  U.  S.  A.  (the  Schuylkill  Valley, 
Philadelphia,  Delaware  and  Chester  counties.)  

Eastern  France  the  Minette  district                                  .    . 

Silesia,  Germany  

South  Yorkshire  (Sheffield)  England 

Steelton   Pa  ,  U  S.  A  

taff  ordshire  ,  England  

parrow's  Point   Maryland  USA  

cranton   Pa    U  S  A 

Aachen  (Aix  la  Chapelle)  Germany     

The  Urals  Russia  .  .                

Central  Sweden  (94  per  cent  of  total  for  Sweden) 

Isede  (Peine),  Germany  

Colorado,  U.  S.  A  

Moravia  and  Silesia,  Austria  

Northern  Russia     

New  England,  U.  S.  A  

The  Siegen  Germany     

Alabama,  U.  S.  A  

Lehigh  Valley  Pa    USA  

Osnabruck  Germany  

Italy                             ;  

Missouri,  Delaware,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  California  and  parts  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Ohio  not  included  above  . 

Great  Britain,  parts  not  included  above  

France  parts  not  included  above  

Austria  parts  not  included  above  

Sweden  parts  not  included  above  * 

32,764,000 

834 


THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


TABLE  XXXIII-F. 
Production  of  Coal.,  Ore,  Pig-iron  and  Steel  in  1900. 

United  States  and  Great  Britain,  1  unit  =  1000  gross  tons ;  other  countries  =  1000  metric  tonst 
Index  of  Authorities  (see  Table  XXXIII  B). 


Country. 

Coal. 

Iron  ore. 

Pig  iron. 

Steel. 

Tons. 

Per 
cent, 
of 
total. 

Tons. 

Per 
cent, 
of 
total. 

Tons. 

Per 
cent, 
of 
total. 

Tons. 

Per 

cent- 
of 
totaL 

239,567  B 
225  181  2 
149.5512 
3:3.2702 
14,9138 
38,0649 
23,4632 
252? 
2,7732 
4802 
5,5982 
6.0952 

31.5 
29.6 
197 
44 
1  9 
50 
3.1 

0  4 
01 

0.7 
0.8 

27,553* 
14.0282 
18.9642 
4  9861* 
5.8801* 
3,462" 
248  1° 
2.6102 
8.4802 
247  2 
148* 
63  2 
4392 
4852f 
551  2 
272g 

308 
15.7 
212 
66 
6.6 
3.9 
03 
29 
95 
0.3 
01 
01 
0.5 
05 
07 

13,7892 
8.9092 
8,5202 
2,6992 
2.8212 
1.462* 
1,0192 
527  2 
2942 
24* 
862 
202* 

34.2 
221 
21.1 
67 
70 
36 
25 
13 
07 
01 
02 
01 

10,1882 
4,9016 
6.6466 
1,6602 
1.468* 
1,146" 
655  2 
3012 
1506 
586 
248 

87.8- 

18.0 
24.4 
61 
5.4 
42- 
2.4 
11 
0.6 
02 
0.1 

Germany  and  Luxemb'g 

fggr  ...:....... 

TnfHa 

17f 

6.7222 
5,5072 
1,830* 
388f 
l,938f 
5,OC02 

0.9 

07 
02 
0.1 
0.2 
07 

582t 

01 

Natal  • 

8.  African  Republic.  .  . 
Others             

12002 

13 

1002 

0.3 

162 

Total  

760,609 

1000 

89,345 

100.0 

40,318 

100.0 

27,207 

100.  a 

*  1899. 


g  1896. 


1  1898.  J  1897. 

TABLE  XXXIII-G. 
Production  of  Coal  (all  kinds)  by  the  Leading  Nations. 

United  States  and  Great  Britain,  1  unit  =  1000  gross  tons  ;  other  countries  =  1000  metric  tons. 
Index  of  authorities;  see  Table  XXXIII-B. 


Year. 

United 

States. 

Great 
Britain. 

Germany 
and  Lux- 
emburg 

France 

Russia 

Austria- 
Hunga'y 

Bel. 

gium. 

Swe- 
den. 

Italy. 

Spain. 

1880  
1881  
1882  
1883 

63,S23* 

76,865* 
92.219* 
102  868* 

146,969* 
164,184* 
156  500* 
163,737* 

f9,118* 
61,540* 
65,378* 
7C.443* 

19  362* 
19.766* 
20,604* 
21  334* 

3238* 
3,440* 
3673* 
3.916* 

14,800* 
15,  80S* 
15,555* 
17.048* 

16  867* 
16,874* 
17  591* 
18.178* 

984 
115* 
140* 
149* 

139* 
136* 
165* 
214* 

847* 
1,210* 
1,196* 
1,071* 

1884  
1885  
1886  
1887 

106,906* 
99,069* 
101  500* 
116  652* 

160,758* 
159  351* 
167.518* 
162  120* 

72,114* 
73.676* 
73,683* 
76  233* 

20  024* 
19,511* 
19,910* 
21,288* 

3,870* 
4208* 
4,506* 
4464* 

18,000* 
20,435* 
20,779* 
21  879* 

18  051* 
17  438* 
17,286* 
18  379* 

161* 
170* 
166* 
165* 

228* 
190* 
243* 
328* 

979* 
946* 
1,001* 
1,0?8* 

1888  
1889 

132.733* 
126  098* 

169,936* 
176  917* 

81  960* 
84  789* 

22,603* 
24,304* 

5.187* 
6,216* 

23,860* 
25  328* 

19  218* 
19,870* 

169* 
187* 

367* 
390* 

1,037* 
1,154* 

1890  
1891  
1892  
1893  
1894  
1895  
1898  
1897.... 
1898  
1899.  .  .  . 
1900.... 
1901.... 

140.867* 
150,5061 
160,115* 
162,815* 
152.448* 
172,426* 
171.416* 
178,769* 
191  9415 
225.103'' 
239,5675 
261,8742 

181.614* 
185,479* 
181,787* 
164,326* 
188  278* 
189.661* 
195.361* 
•202.1195 
202,0126 
220085& 
225,1812 
219.0472 

89^057* 
94  252*3 
9^  544*3 
95.426*3 
98  806*3 
103  958*3 
112  471*3 
120.474*3 
127.959*3 
135,844*3 
149.788*3 
152,6292 

26.083* 
26,025* 
26179* 
.25  651* 
27,459* 
28,020* 
29.1905 
30.7985 
82,3565 
328635 
33,2702 
32,3252 

6,017* 
6,233* 
6.816* 
7.535* 
8.629* 
9079* 
9229* 
11  207* 
12.2425 
13.5582 
14  918*5 
16.2702 

27.504* 
28,823* 
•29,038* 
30,449* 
31.492* 
32,655* 
33.6765 
35.939' 
87,786-' 
38,7385 
38.0649 
41,203» 

20  866* 
19  676* 
19.583* 
19.411* 
20.459* 
20  415* 
21  2525 
21  4925 
22  0885 
22  07:5 
23,4632 
22,2132 

188* 
198^ 
199* 
200* 
214* 
224* 
226* 
224* 
236* 
239* 
252* 
272*o 

376* 
289* 
296* 
317* 
271* 
250* 
276* 
314* 
341* 
389* 
4802 
426« 

1  212* 
1.288* 
1,461* 
1,485* 
1,657* 
1,784* 
1.878* 
1,939* 
2.4675 
2.6005 
2.7732 
2,7482 

STATISTICS   OF   THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


835 


TABLE  XXXIII-H. 
Production  of  Iron  Ore  by  the  Leading  Nations. 

United  States  and  Great  Britain,  1  unit  =  1000  gross  tons ;  other  nations  =  1000  metric  tons. 
Index  of  authorities  ;  See  Table  XXXIII-B. 


Year. 

United 

States. 

Great 
Britain. 

Germa- 
ny and 
Luxem- 
burg. 

France. 

Russia 
and 
Finland. 

Aus- 
tria. 

Hun- 
gary. 

Bel. 
;ium. 

Swe- 
den. 

Italy. 

£ 

02 

OS 

1 

1880... 

7,120i 

18,0267 

7,239i 

2,874i 

l,024i 

6971 

4461 

2531 

7751 

2891 

3,5651 

6141 

1881... 

8400* 

17.4167 

7,6001 

30^21 

l,017i 

6191 

4651 

2231 

8261 

4211 

3.5031 

6571 

1882... 

9'154i 

18  0  ',27 

8,2*531 

34671 

1.0771 

9031 

5461 

2091 

8931 

2421 

47261 

5671 

1883... 

9,1141 

17,383' 

8.7571 

3298 

997i 

8821 

5981 

2161 

8851 

2041 

4  5261 

5571 

1884... 

7,6401 

16,138' 

9,006' 

2.977 

1  0151 

9741 

6511 

1761 

9101 

2251 

3,9071 

4931 

1885... 

7.600 

15  418' 

91581 

2,318' 

1  0941 

9311 

6511 

1871 

8731 

2011 

3,9331 

4191 

1886. 

10  OOO1 

141107 

84861 

22861 

1,0891 

7961 

6351 

1531 

8721 

2091 

41671 

4331 

1887... 

ll.SOOf 

13  098? 

93511 

25791 

l,356i 

8471 

566* 

1721 

9031 

2311 

6.7961 

4381 

1888... 

12,060' 

14,5917 

10  6641 

2842' 

1.4011 

1,009! 

6341 

186* 

9601 

1771 

56101 

3841 

1889... 

14  518* 

14.5467 

11  0('2i 

30701 

1,6401 

1,1151 

6661 

1821 

9861 

1731 

57111 

3521 

1890... 

16,036* 

13,7817 

11,4101 

3,472i 

1  7961 

1362* 

7921 

1721 

9411 

2211 

6,5461 

4751 

1891... 

14,591* 

12,7787 

10  6581 

3,579i 

1.9991 

12311 

8761 

2021 

9871 

2161 

4,8821 

4051 

1892... 

16,297* 

11,3137 

11,5391 

3  7071 

2,0441 

9931 

9211 

2101 

1,2941 

2141 

5.4361 

4531 

1893... 

11,588' 

11.2037 

11,4581 

3,517' 

2,0951 

l,109i 

9771 

2391 

1,4841 

1911 

54981 

3941 

1894.  .  . 

11.880' 

12  3677 

12  S92i 

3.7721 

2.4881 

1,2151 

900' 

3111 

l,927i 

1881 

5.3971 

3441 

1895... 

15,958' 

12,6157 

12,3501 

3680' 

2,9271 

1.38.-)i 

9551 

3131 

1,9051 

183» 

5  5141 

3181 

1896... 

160051 

13,7017 

14.16-'i 

4.0621 

32051 

1,4491 

l,270i 

3071 

2  0391 

2041 

6.7631 

3741 

1897   .. 

17,518* 

13.788' 

15  4661 

4,582 

4,1121 

1,6141 

14211 

2411 

2,0871 

20H 

7.4201 

4411 

1898... 

19.434* 

14,1777 

15.893* 

47311 

4,8711 

1,7341 

1,6671 

2171 

2.3031 

190' 

7,1971 

4741 

1899... 

24  683* 

14.4617 

17.9901 

4986 

58801 

1,9001 

1,9531 

2011 

24361 

2371 

93981 

6511 

1900... 

27.553* 

34,028' 

18  <  642 

5.448* 

5,989*2 

1,8949 

1,668' 

24810 

2.6102 

2472 

8,4809 

602a 

1901 

28,887* 

12,275a 

16  570a 

4,7912 

5,663a 

2192 

2,795*0 

232a 

79072 

514a 

TABLE  XXXIII-I. 
Production  of  Pig-iron  by  the  Leading.  Nations. 

United  States  and  Great  Britain,  1  unit  =  1,000  gross  tons ;  other  countries  =  1,000  metric  tons. 
Index  of  authorities ;  see  Table  XXXIII-B. 


Year. 

United 
States. 

Great 
Britain 

Germany 
and  Lux- 
emburg. 

France. 

Russia 
and 
Finland. 

Aus- 
tria. 

Hun- 
gary. 

Bel- 

gium. 

Swe- 
den. 

Italy. 

Spain 

1880.. 

3,8352 

7,7497 

2,7291 

1,7251 

4711 

3201 

1441 

6081 

4061 

17i 

86i 

1881.. 

4,1442 

8,1447 

2,9l4i 

1,8861 

4921 

3801 

1641 

6251 

4301 

281 

114i 

1882  .  . 

4,6232 

8,5877 

3,3811 

2,039i 

6011 

4351 

r.6i 

7271 

3991 

251 

1201 

1883.. 

4.5962 

8,5297 

3,470i 

2.0691 

5001 

5221 

1761 

7831 

4231 

241 

1401 

1884.. 

4,0982 

78127 

3.6011 

1,8721 

5321 

5401 

1951 

7511 

4311 

181 

1211 

1885.. 

4,0452 

7.4157 

3,6871 

1,6311 

5521 

4991 

2:61 

7131 

4651 

161 

1591 

1886.. 

5,6832 

7,0107 

3,5291 

1.6171 

5491 

4851 

2351 

7021 

4421 

121 

1181 

1887.. 

64172 

7.5607 

4,0241 

1,5681 

6331 

5121 

1931 

7561 

4571 

121 

1651 

1888.. 

6,4902 

7,9997 

4,3371 

168  Ji 

6871 

5861 

2041 

8271 

4571 

131 

1651 

1889.. 

7,6042 

8  3237 

4,5251 

1,7341 

7551 

6171 

2391 

8321 

4211 

131 

1981 

189J.. 

9,2C3-' 

7.9047 

4.6581 

1,9621 

9501 

6661 

2991 

7881 

4561 

141 

17H 

1891  .  . 

8,2802 

7.4(,67 

4.641*3 

1.897* 

t,028i 

6171 

3051 

6841 

4911 

121 

1491 

1892... 

9,1572 

6,7097 

4,937*3 

2,0571 

,0381 

6311 

3101 

753* 

4861 

131 

1341 

1893... 

71252 

69777 

4,953*3 

2,0031 

,1811 

6631 

3191 

7451 

4531 

81 

1351 

1894... 

66572 

7,4277 

5,5?9*3 

2.0701 

,3331 

6901  r 

33  'l 

8191 

4631 

101 

l*a 

1895... 

9,446-' 

7,7037 

5,789*3 

2,0041 

,4541 

759'-  e 

3491 

8291 

4631 

91 

18t,i 

1896... 

8.6232 

8,6607 

6361« 

2,340i 

,8671 

817*6 

4011 

9591 

4941 

lU 

24  <n 

1897... 

9.6532 

8.7967 

6889*3 

2,4841 

1,8691 

90016 

4201 

l,OS5i 

5381 

81 

28v/' 

1H98... 

11,7742 

8,6  (07 

7,313*3 

2,5341 

2,2221 

9-8'  c 

4691 

9831 

£321 

131 

26?"- 

1899.... 

13,6^2 

9,  421  7 

8.143« 

2,5671 

2,7261 

996'  e 

4711 

10361 

4981 

131 

300* 

1000.... 

13.7892 

89607 

8.423*3 

2.714*1 

2667*2 

10009 

4529 

10192 

5272 

242 

294'- 

1901.... 

15  8782 

7  761** 

7  786*3 

2  400*1 

765 

528*° 

16a 

2972 

1902.... 

17!821 

2^427 

2,831 

1,103 

524 

836 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


TABLE  XXXIII-J. 
Production  of  Steel  by  the  Leading  Nations. 

United  States  and  Great  Britain,  1  unit  =  1000  gross  tons ;  other  countries  =  1000  metric  tons. 
Index  of  authorities ;  see  Table  XXXIII-B. 


Tear. 

United 
States. 

Great 
Britain. 

Germany 
and  Lux- 
emburg. 

France. 

Russia 
and 
Finland. 

Aus- 
tria. 

Hun- 
gary. 

Bel- 
gium. 

Swe- 
den. 

Italy. 

Spain 

1  OCA 

1  24.72 

1  3752 

66113 

389* 

2963 

1131* 

211* 

1323 

293 

looU.    .  • 

1881  .   .  . 

J»t9si* 

1  5882 

1^8602 

897" 

422'* 

2933 

1501* 

381* 

1423 

383 

43 

1»82.   .. 

1,7372 

2,1902 

1,07513 

458s 

2483 

1991* 

41M 

1833 

413 

3 

1883.   .. 

1,6742 

2,0892 

1,06H3 

5223 

222s 

2331* 

5614 

179'! 

453 

7 

, 

1884.    .. 

1,5512 

1,8552 

1,20013 

5033 

2078 

1981* 

611* 

1873 

743 

53 

1885.   .. 

1,712^ 

1,968-' 

1.203^3 

5543 

1933 

206i* 

7314 

1553 

813 

63 

. 

1886.   .. 

2.563^ 

2,3452 

1  36113 

4283 

2428 

203" 

5714 

1643 

773 

243 

203 

1887.   .. 

3,339^ 

3,1512 

1,68513 

4933 

2258 

234" 

651* 

2293 

1103 

733 

? 

1888     .'. 

2,899- 

3.406-' 

1.86213 

5173 

222* 

292  l* 

10114 

2443 

1153 

1183 

<f 

1889.   .. 

3,386-' 

3,6702 

2,02213 

529  J 

2598 

3091* 

1091* 

2613 

1353 

1583 

49» 

1890.   .. 

4,2772 

3,6792 

2,16213 

582J 

3788 

313" 

16714 

2213 

1693 

1083 

763 

1891.   .. 

3.9042 

3,2572 

2.56343 

639  ! 

4338 

834" 

15214 

2443 

1733 

763 

703 

1892.   .. 

4.9282 

30202 

2,756*3 

6823 

5158 

352i* 

15914 

2603 

1693 

573 

5«3 

]S93.    .. 

40202 

3,0o02 

3,163*3 

6643 

6318 

380H 

189H 

2733 

1663 

713 

71» 

1894     .  . 

4|412^ 

3,2112 

3,642*3 

6633 

726* 

453" 

20714 

406s 

1683 

653 

703 

1895.   .. 

6,1152 

3,3902 

3,963« 

900^ 

879* 

498  14 

247H 

4553 

2323 

503 

653 

1896.   .. 

5,2822 

4,2332 

4,821*3 

1,1603 

1,023* 

5831* 

29514 

6993 

2513 

603 

1053 

1897.    .. 

7,1572 

4,586^ 

5.137*3 

1,2823 

1,2058 

6261* 

3031* 

6173 

2683 

573 

1213 

1898.    .. 

8,9332 

4,6662 

5.781*3 

1,4423 

1,596*2 

7231* 

3321* 

6533 

2643 

593 

US3 

1899.   .. 

10,6402 

4.8556 

6329*3 

1.4993 

1,939*2 

7841* 

33314 

7313 

2723 

623 

1233 

1900.   .. 

10,1882 

4,9016 

6,646*3 

1,565*1 

1,4632 

781M 

35314 

6552 

3009 

585 

1505 

1901  . 

13  4742 

4.90444 

6  394*3 

1,465*1 

2050 

27040 

123 

1902!   '.'. 

14^9472 

8'.419 

1,660 

284 

!.'.'.' 

TABLE  XXXIII-K. 
Production  of  Wrought-Iron  in  the  Leading  Nations. 

United  States  and  Great  Britain,  1  unit  =  1000  gross  tons ;  other  countries  =  1000  metric  tons. 
Index  of  authorities ;  see  Table  XXXIII-B. 


Year. 

United 

States. 

Great 
Britain. 

Germany 
and 
Luxemburg. 

France. 

Belgium. 

Sweden. 

Russia. 

Austria- 
Hungary. 

1881 

2  681° 

1  2941 

1  02613 

480  13 

250  ! 

1888 

2.031' 

1  5471 

817  13 

54813 

253  1 

366  8 

'349 

1889 

2,254" 

1  6501 

794 

67713 

2751 

428  8 

1890 

1  9236 

1  4542 

825  1S 

514i3 

282  l 

4836 

1891 

1  7346 

1  484* 

83313 

497  13 

280  » 

448s 

1892 

1  561  8 

1  367* 

829  13 

47913 

874  l 

498s 

1893 

1  364s 

1  178* 

830  13 

485  9 

277  2 

499s 

1894 

l'339a 

1  1434 

7869 

453  9 

282s 

502s 

1895 



1  1486 

1  0804 

757  9 

4469 

1893 

440s 

1896 

1  214s 

1  2004 

829  9 

464  9 

1883 

498s 

1897 

1  386* 

1  112* 

7349 

47913 

190  3 

512" 

1898 

1  1166 

1  160* 

gO1?  9 

5109 

199° 

47442 

1899 

1  202  9 

1  204* 

8336 

4756 

195  6 

5H42 

1900 

1  1636 

1  01643 

70S41 

362e 

1889 

1901 

97444 

55441 

16540 

420 

STATISTICS   OF   THE   IRON   INDUSTRY. 


837 


TABLE  XXXIII-L. 

Production,  Imports  and  Exports  of  Certain  Staples  by  the 
Leading  Nations. 

1  unit  =  lOOOtons. 

The  amount  "  used  "  is  the  output,  plus  imports,  minus  exports. 
Index  of  authorities ;  see  Table  XXXIII-B. 


United 

States. 

Great 
Bri&in. 

Germ'y 
and 
Luxem- 
burg. 

France. 

Russia. 

Austria 
H'gary. 

Bel- 
gium. 

Swe- 
den. 

1900 

1899 

1900 

1899 

1897 

1899 

1899 

1899 

Bituminous  coal  raised 

239  567  5 
1  909  B 

220,085  5 
25 

109,272s 
6  220  9 

32.863s 
13  3709 

11.2074 
2,122s 

12  6946 
6  291s 

22,072s 
2  844" 

239* 
3  048s 

Exported  

6  255  5 

41  839s 

15  2762 

1.0269 

33s 

879  5 

4  569s 

I5 

Used           .      .  . 

235  221 

181  779 

100  216 

45  207 

13  293 

17  106 

20347 

3  286 

Import^  •  %  of  use.  .  •  . 

'    6 

30 

16 

31 

14 

93 

3 

19 

14 

2 

7 

21 

1900 

1900 

1899 

1899 

Lignite  raised  .  .  

little 

nil 

40,  279  6 

607s 

? 

26.045s 

nil 

nil 

7  9609 

21  s 

Exported  

'  53» 

8  663s 

Used 

48  292 

607 

17  403 

Imports  '  %  of  use  .... 

17 

Exports  '  %  of  output 

33 

1900 

1809 

1899 

1898 

1897 

1900 

1899 

Coke  made 

17  149B 

Est. 

(12  500) 

11  50011 

1  952  9 

J 

1  24116 

243410 

nil 

Imported  

103  6 

463  5 

400  5 

564s 

297s 

little 

881s 

253s 

1,OC95 

Used  

17,252 

9,825 

? 

1,652 

1,722 

Imports  •  %  of  use 

5 

f 

34 

17 

Exports  ;  %  of  output 

7 

19 

? 

20 

42 

19CO 

1900 

1900 

1899 

1897 

1899 

1899 

1899 

Iron  ore  raised  

27  553* 

14  0282 

18  964  2 

4  986  l 

58801 

3  8531 

201  l 

2  4361 

Imported 

898  5 

6  399s 

4  108  6 

1  9515 

212  2 

2  621s 

Exported 

61s 

3  '2486 

327  2 

518s 

1  628  5 

Used  .  . 

28  400 

20  427 

19  824 

6  937 

5880 

3  738 

2  512 

807 

Imports  ;  %  of  use..  .  .  . 

'     3 

31 

21 

28 

Q 

100 

Exports;  %  of  output. 

17 

Q 

100 

67 

1900 

1900 

1900 

1900 

1898 

(?-1899) 
1900 

1899 

1901 

Pig  iron  made  

13  7892 

8  909  * 

8  5£02 

2  699  2 

2  8212 

1  452  9 

1  036  1 

513*0  • 

53  s 

1816 

7278 

1506 

109" 

97" 

362s 

(50  Est  ) 

Exported  

2875 

1  427  6 

1296 

114s 

166 

43s 

8540 

Used 

13  555 

7  663 

9  118 

2  735 

2  930 

1  633 

1  355 

478 

Imports  *  %  of  use  .... 

2 

8 

5 

4 

6 

27 

10 

Exports  *  %  of  output 

2 

16 

2 

4 

1 

4 

17 

' 

1900 

1900 

1900 

1900 

1898 

(1899?) 
1900 

1900 

1899 

Finished  iron  and  steel 
Made    

94872 

60576 

7  5765+6 

24056+2 

Est. 
(1  645) 

1  0176+2 

4573+6 

2102 

5786 

ISO6 

64° 

4486 

1626 

476 

Exported  

1  1542 

2  0136 

1  314  6 

1976 

1086 

4166 

1976 

Used  

8  543 

4,622 

6412 

2  272 

2,027 

817 

Imports  '  %  of  use   .  . 

2 

12 

2 

3 

19 

15 

Exports  '  %  of  output 

12 

33 

17 

8 

41 

42 

S3S 


THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


TABLE  XXXIII-M. 
Import  Duties  on  Iron  Staples  in  Dollars  per  Long  Ton. 

Round  numbers  are  given  and  ad  valorem  duties  are  calculated  for  average  values. 
Arranged  from  the  Mineral  Industry  for  1900. 


England 

United 
States. 

Ger- 
many. 

France. 

Russia 

Aus- 
tria. 

Sweden. 

Spain. 

Coal             

Free. 

Free 

Free. 

Free 

0«oo 

Coke  

Free. 

040 

Free. 

0.2*3 

Free 

C  00 

Pig  iron  

Free. 

4  00 

240 

3  90 

14  00 

3  25 

Free 

4  20 

Bars                      .    ... 

Free 

13  40 

6  Of) 

9  70 

11  20 

6  70 

22  00 

Sheets  and  plates    ... 

Free. 

7  20 

14.50 

16  20 

10  70 

Ingots 

Free  { 

670 

^-     6  00 

9  70 

25  00 

11  20 

5  50 

1200 

Rails    .        

Free 

to  10.  50 

7  80 

f 
6  00 

1350 

2800 

11  20 

Free 

14  00 

Tin  plates 

Free 

33  60 

12  00 

29  00 

79  00 

16  20 

Free 

46  00 

APPENDIX. 
Value  of  Certain  Factors  Used  in  Iron  Metallurgy. 

ATOMIC  WEIGHTS. 


Fe, 

56 

Si, 

28 

c, 

12 

Mn, 

55 

Ca, 

40 

0. 

16 

32 
31 

Mg, 

Al, 

24 

27 

N, 
Ti, 

14 

48 

Ni 

59 

Cr 

52 

W 

184 

CONTENT  OF  METALLIC  IRON  IN  PURE  COMPOUNDS  OF  IRON. 


FeCOs it  or  48  28  per  cent. 

FeO |or77.78 

Fe203 T7ffor70.CO 

Fe304 


REACTIONS  IN  OPEN-HEARTH  FURNACES. 


100  pounds  CaCO3  proc 
100       "       MffCO, 

luce   56  pou 
48 

nds  CaO. 
MgO. 

100 
100 

8i 
'        Mn 

214 
129 

SiOa. 
MnO. 

100 

Fe               * 

128 

FeO. 

100 

P 

229 

P,06. 

100 

C 

233 

c6. 

100 

'        C                -.« 

367 

C02. 

Properties  of  Air. 
Composition  by  volume  {{«£• 

Composition  by  weight  {§7gi|  P^O 

Weight  of  1  cubic  metre=1.293  kilogrammes. 
Weight  of  1  cubic  foot=0.0807  pounds. 

s*^m  t  „      f          «C,»^T,  /Constant  volume=0.003665 
Coefficient  of  expansion  {Constant  pressure=0.003670 


-70'1  per 
N=T6'8  ""' 


STATISTICS    OF    THE    IRON    INDUSTRY. 


839 


Comparison  of  English  and  Metric  Systems. 

1  metre=39.37  inches. 

1  cubic  metre=35.316  cubic  feet. 

1  kilogramme=2.2046  pounds. 

1  kilogramme  per  square  millimetre=1422.32  pounds  per  square  inch. 

1  kilogramme  per  cubic  metre=0.0624  pounds  per  cubic  foot. 

I  gross  ton=2240  pounds. 

1  metric  ton=2205  pounds. 

Gravimetric  and  Calorific  Values. 

1  calorie  raises  1  kilogramme  of  water  1°  Centigrade. 

1  British  thermal  unit  raises  1  pound  of  water  1°  Fahrenheit. 

1  calorie=3.9683  British  thermal  units. 


Weight  per 

Calorific  Value  in  Calories. 

kilogrammes. 

Products  of  combustion. 

Per  kilo. 

Per  cubic 
metre. 

CO- 

1  97 

N 

1  26 

CO 
H 

1.25 
009 

C02 
H20 

2438 
29040 

3072 
2614 

CH4 

0  72 

CO2  and  H2O 

11970 

8620 

C2H* 

1.25 

CO2  and  H2O 

10300 

12980 

C 

CO 

2450 

C 

coa 

8133 

Si 

SiOe 

6414 

P 

P208 

5740 

Fe 

Flo 

1173 

Fe 

FeaO3 

1746 

Mn 

MnO 

1635 

FORMULAE  FOR  SPECIFIC  HEAT  OF  GASES  BETWEEN  O°C  and  t°C. 


CO2  =  0.374  +  0.00027 1 

CO,  O,  H,  N  and  O  =  0,30  >  -f  0.000027 1 
H.O  =  0  342  +  0.00015 1 

CH4  =  0.418 -4- 0.00024 1 

C5H4  =  0.424  -f  0.00052 1 


Mariotte's  Law.— The  volume  of  a  gas  is  directly  proportional  to  the  absolute  temperature 

and  inversely  proportional  to  the  pressure  upon  it. 

Note :  Absolute  zero  = 273-5*  C. 

Law  of  Dulong  and  Petit.— The  product  of  the  atomic  weight  of  an  elementary  substance 

by  its  specific  heat  is  always  a  constant  quantity. 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Aachen  iron  industry 755 

Absolute  zero 839 

Acid  open  hearth  process 12,  269 

Acid  steel,  low  phosphorus  at  Steelton 211 

Acid  vs.  Basic  Steel .. 14,  23,  25,  29,  534 

Air,  composition  of 234 

Air,  properties  of 838 

Air  needed  in  combustion 235 

Akerman,  on  definition  of  steel 143 

on  Swedish  Bessemer  work 161  et  seq. 

Alabama,  iron  industry 49,  668 

open  hearth 307 

Algeria,  statistics 834 

Allegheny    County 657 

Allotropic  forms,  microscopic 403  et  seq. 

Allotropic   theory 418 

Alpha  iron 418 

Alumina,  in  blast  furnace  slag 82 

Aluminum,  effect  on  physical  properties 475 

in  castings .595 

Alzola,  on  Spanish  ores 812 

American  practice    660 

American  Society  for  Testing  Materials 25 

American  Steel  Manufacturers'  Association 24 

Angles,  physical  properties 371  et  seq. 

Annealing 381  et  seq.,  415  et  seq.,  429 

Anthracite,  combustion  of 234,  235,  236 

for    recarburization 301 

gas  in  gas  engines 245 

in  blast  furnace 51,  639 

in  producers 244 

in  Russia 777 

mining  districts  in  United  States 640 

Appleby,  on  tests  of  rounds 433 

Arnold,  on  sub-carbide  theory 419 

Arsenic,  effect  on  physical  properties 478 

Ash,  from  producer 241 

in  coal 241,  266 

Atomic  weights 839 

(841) 


842  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Austenite -. 403  et  seq. 

Australia,  statistics 834 

Austria-Hungary,  iron  industry 785 

imports  of  coke 788 

statistics 834  et  seq. 

Axles,  specifications 569 

Ayrshire,  see  Scotland 

Bahnis-Roozeboom,  on  phase  doctrine 418 

Ball,  on  effect  of  copper 474 

Barba,  on  tests  of  steel : 434  et  seq. 

Barrow-in-Furness   717 

Basic  vs.  acid  steel 14,  23,  25,  29,  534 

Basic  linings,  functions  of 282 

Basic  open  hearth  process 15,  282 

Bauxite  for  basic  hearths 282 

Bessemer,  acid  process 7,  155 

American    practice 83 

basic  process 8,  176 

at  Steelton 180 

at  Troy 689 

basic  steel,  quality 14 

calorific  history,  acid 164,  171 

basic 183 

for  steel  castings 27 

gases   from 164 

increments  in  cost 333 

in  Sweden 168 

iron  burned,  acid    166 

basic 183 

lime  used,  basic 176 

pig  iron 5 

slag,  acid 163 

basic 179 

steel    , 6 

vs.  open  hearth 14 

Bavaria,  iron  industry 759 

Belgium,  coal  field 765 

iron  industry 796 

labor  question 800 

statistics 834  et  seq. 

Bell,  on  blast  furnace  reactions.  .53,  55,  64,  69,  70,  76,  77,  78,  80,  87,  88,  97,  98 

on  heat  of  gasification 223 

Bertrand,  blast  furnace  top 63 

on  Austria 785 

on  reduction  of  ore 319 

Bertrand-Thiel  process 315  et  seq.,  325,  331,  789 

Beta  iron 418 

Bethlehem   works. .  .  .688 


INDEX.  843 

PAGE 

Bilbao  ore 49 

Birmingham;   see  Alabama 

Bituminous  coal 643 

in  gas  producer 237 

Black  band 48,  710,  722 

Blast,  for  blast  furnaces 85  et  seq. 

heating  of 78 

Blast  furnace 3,  4,  5,  48  et  seq. 

boilers 79,  103,  110 

chemical  reactions 55,  64  • 

gas  combustion .* 107,  108,  109,  110 

gas  in  gas  engines Ill 

height   of 57 

stoves,  air  needed 122 

use  of  anthracite  in  South  Russia 777 

charcoal  in  Urals 780 

raw  coal 711 

Blauvelt,  on  coke  ovens 257,  259,  262 

Blister  steel 147 

Blow  holes 594 

Bohemia,  iron  industry 48,  788 

Boilers,  blast  furnace 79,  103,  110 

gas  needed 101 

over  heating  furnaces 252 

Boiler  plate  specifications 559 

Bounties    .' 627 

Canadian 820 

Bridge  steel,  specifications 550 

Brown  hematite 49 

Braune,  on  Sweden 803 

Bumby,  on  pig  iron  in  Scotland 711 

Buildings,  steel  for,  specifications 555 

Burned  lime  in  basic  Bessemer 176 

Burning  of  steel 198 

By-products 257 

By-product  coke  ovens  in  United  States 663 

Calorie,  definition 839 

Calorific  equation  of  acid  converter 164 

basic  converter 183 

open  hearth  furnace 218  et  seq. 

Campbell,  tilting  furnace 205  et  seq.,  307 

Campbell,  J.  W.,  on  heat  treatment 381 

Canada,  iron  industry 818 

statistics  834 

Cape  Breton,  iron  industry 819 

open  hearth  furnaces • 307 

Carbo-Allotropic   theory 418 

Carbon,  calorific  value  in  converter 167 


844  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Carbon,  calorific  value  in  open  hearth 322 

combustion   of. 233 

determination  of . 40 

effect  on  pig  iron 126 

on  steel 22,  46,  456,  487  et  seq.,  527 

on  wrought  iron 139 

for  basic  hearths 282 

in  pig  iron 4 

in  producer  ash 241 

in  puddle  furnace 131 

in  tool  steel.  /. . . , 151 

in  wrought  iron 138 

protective  power  of 271 

segregation  of 340  et  seq. 

theory    (metallography) 417 

use  as  recarburizer 154 

Carbon  deposition 68 

Carbonic  acid  and  iron 66  et  seq. 

Carbonic  acid  in  blast  furnaces 54,  73  et  seq. 

in  producer  gas 243 

Carbonic  oxide,  combustion  of 233 

in  products  of  combustion 105 

Carbon  Steel  Company,  open  hearth  practice 208 

Carnegie  Steel  Company,  slabbing  mill 367 

Cast  iron ;  see  pig  iron. 

Cast   steel 151 

Castings,   specifications 577 

Cement  carbon 413 

Cementation 147 

Cementite,  in  cast  iron 125 

in  steel 403  et  seq. 

Cement  steel 147 

Central  I.  &  S.  Co.,  plates 349,  423 

wrought  iron 135 

Chambers  for  open  hearth  furnace 190  et  seq. 

Charcoal  in  blast  furnaces 51,  780 

Charcoal  blooms  in  United  States 302 

Charge  in  open  hearth  furnace 269 

Charging  open  hearth  furnace 211 

Checkers  in  regenerators 190 

Chicago,  iron  industry 665 

Chromite  for  basic  hearths 282 

Chromium,  effect  on  physical  properties 480 

Clay  band 48 

Clay  iron  stone 48 

Cleveland  (England)  coke  ovens 262 

iron  industry 48,  76  et  seq.,  684  et  seq. 

labor  conditions. .  .  . .  604 


INDEX.  845 

PAGE 

Cleveland  (England)  ore  deposits. 701 

Cleveland   (U.  S.)   iron  industry 684 

Coal  fields;  see  Table  of  Contents. 

Coal  production :  see  Table  of  Contents. 

Coal,  imports  and  exports;  see  Table  of  Contents. 

Coal,  international  trade 825 

Coal  washing . .... 263  et  seq. 

Cobalt,  effect  on  welding 139,  584 

Covhran,  on  use  of  lime  in  blast  furnace 56 

Cockerill  Co.,  gas  engines 114 

Coke,  districts  of  United  States 646 

exports  from  N.  E.  coast  (England) 705 

imports  and  exports ;  see  Table  of  Contents. 

in  blast  furnace 52 

production ;  see  Table  of  Contents. 

Coke  ovens  256 

by-product  in  United  States 663 

by-product,  use  abroad 606 

Combustion,  general  view 233  et  seq. 

of  blast  furnace  gas. . . 104,  107 

Colby,  on  influence  of  copper .475 

on  specifications 547,  548 

Colorado,  iron  industry 687 

Colored  labor  in  Alabama 674 

Connellsville,  coke 52,  76  et  seq. 

coke  ovens . . 260 

district 657 

Continuous   furnaces 255 

Converter  ladle . . . .210 

Cooper,  on  Northeast  Coast 700 

Copper,  effect  on  welding 139,  584 

in  Cornwall  ore 472 

influence  on  physical  properties 22,  472,  475 

Cornwall  ore  deposit 83,  676,  690 

copper  in 472 

Cost  of  manufacture...... ... 604,  626 

Crucible  steel. . , 7,   147 

Crystallization  by  heat .584 

Critical  point 394  et  seq. 

Cuba,  ore '. 49,  472,  636,  682 

statistics 636,  834 

Cuban  ore,  copper  in 472 

smelting  of 68,  69 

Cumberland,  iron  industry 717 

Cunningham,  on  segregation 181,  347 

Cupola  castings 591 

Cupolas,  practice 166,  170 

Custcr,  on  tests  of  steel 435,  451 


846  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Cyanogen  in  blast  furnace 72,  75 

Dead  melt 188 

Depreciation 625 

Derbyshire,  iron  industry 725,  726 

Diameter,  influence  on  physical  qualities 431,  433 

Direct  metal  at  Steelton 208 

in  open  hearth 308,  310,  313 

in  Sweden 168 

ore  needed 324 

Dissociation 187 

Distances  in  America 630 

in  Russia 630 

Dolomite  in  basic  Bessemer 176 

in  basic  open  hearth 282 

in  blast  furnace 671 

for  basic  hearths 9,  282 

Don,  basin  of 49,  776 

Donawitz,  iron  industry 792 

open  hearth  furnace 193 

Dougherty,  J.  W.}  on  blast  furnace 64,  70 

Dowlais  Iron  Company,  plan  of  works 715 

Drillings,  method  of  taking 533 

Drop  of  beam 451 

Duplex   process 337 

Duquesne,  open  hearth  furnace 193 

Durham  coal  and  coke. , 52,  76,  77,  78,  80,  704 

Dutreux,  iron  industry  of  France 762 

Edison,  on  ore  concentration 50 

Ehrenwerth,  on  Bessemer  practice  (acid) 172 

on  open  hearth  work 278 

Elastic  limit 540 

Elastic  ratio,  errors  in  measuring 450 

higher  in  soft  steel 535 

Elba  ore 48,  49,  816 

Elbers,  on  blast  furnace  slag 82 

Electric  concentration 690 

Electric  welding 588 

Elongation 20 

errors  in  measuring 450 

influence  of  diameter 431,  433 

of  length 435  et  seq. 

of  width 434  et  seq. 

England;  see  Great  Britain. 

Ensley,  Ala.,  coke  ovens 258 

Erie   Canal 686 

Errors  in  metallurgical  records 39  et  seq. 

Erzberg;  see  Styria 791 

Essen,  machine  shops 746 


INDEX.  847 

PAGE 

European  methods 255,  256 

Eutectic  alloy 405 

Exports  from  Sweden , 808 

of  leading  nations 837 

of  ore  from  Germany 729 

Excess  air 104 

Eye  bars,  annealing 389 

physical  properties 421 

tests  on 440  et  seq. 

Fawcett,  on  ore  transportation 651 

Felton,  on  rest  after  rolling .448 

Ferrite  in  cast  iron 125 

in  steel 403  et  seq. 

Ferro-manganese 8,  12,  463,  464 

Ferro-silicon,  composition  of 127 

Finishing  temperature,  effect  of 409  et  seq. 

Firmstone,  on  dolomite 53 

Flats  vs.  rounds 422,  427,  430 

Fluidity  of  basic  slag 290 

Flux  in  blast  furnace 52,  73,  74 

use  of  dolomite 671 

Foreign   practice 610 

Forest  of  Dean 714 

Forgings,  physical  properties 370,  421 

specifications 574 

Formulae  for  tensile  strength 21,  23 

Forter  valve 216 

France,  iron  industry 762  et  seq. 

statistics 764,  834  et  seq. 

Frazer-Talbot  producer 239 

Freights 627 

Fuel 233  et  seq. 

economy  of 661 

ratio,  blast  furnace 86 

Gain  from  ore  in  open  hearth 313 

Gamma  iron 418 

Gas,  blast  furnace 102,  111  et  seq. 

engines Ill 

for  open  hearth  furnaces 187 

from  basic  converter 179 

from  tunnel  head 107,  108,  109,  110 

producer   • 240 

use  abroad 606 

Gas  scrubbers,  at  Scotch  blast  furnaces .711 

Gayley,  on  blast  furnaces 77 

German  nomenclature 6 

Germany,  Bessemer  practice   (acid) „ 160 

coke  exports  to  France 768 


848-  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Germany,  iron  industry*  ..»».»„.*...*...... 727 

railroads  .  K .......  \ . 736 

rolling  mill  practice. 610 

statistics 834  et  seq. 

errors  in. 821 

Gjers  pits .-.-..-.• 249,  250 

Gogebic ;  see  Lake  Superior. 

Graphite  in  pig  iron 4 

Great  Britain,  coal  fields 694 

engineering  practice 603 

exports  of  fuel 695,  768,  784 

imports  of  ore . . 696 

iron  industry 692 

production  by  districts 698 

of  rails 634 

of  steel 634,  692 

statistics 692,  834  et  seq. 

Greece,  statistics •..-.- 834 

Grooved  tests  vs.  parallel  sided 424 

Guide  rounds  vs.  "hand  rounds 375 

Hadfield,  on  effect  of  aluminum. 476 

on  effect  of  silicon 457 

on  manganese  steel 467 

on  steel  castings. 594 

Hand  rounds  vs.  guide  rounds 375 

Harbord,  on  effect  of  arsenic < 478 

Hard  coal ;  see  anthracite. 

Hardening  carbon 413 

Hardening  of  steel,  definition 142 

Hard  structural  steel •  546 

Hartshorne,  on  basic  Bessemer 185 

on  Bertrand-Thiel  process. . .. 331 

Heating  furnaces 249 

Heat  lost  in  open  hearth  furnace 218  et  seq. 

Heat  treatment 381  et  seq. 

Hematite 48,  669,  682,  718 

Henning,  on  elastic  limit • 451 

on  methods  of  annealing 389,  390 

Hibbard,  on  oxide  of  iron 482 

High  carbon  steel 147,  634 

homogeneity  of 357 

Hofman,  Prof.  H.  0.,  on  coking. . .' 226 

Holley,  on  wrought  iron 136 

Homogeneity  of  open  hearth  steel 152,  281,  347 

Horde,  basic  Bessemer  practice 183 

Horse-power  of  blast  furnace  gas 101,  1 12 

Hot  working 18 

Howe,  on  Bessemer  practice  (acid) 158,  159 


INDEX.  849 

PAGE 

Howe,  on  carbon  deposition 69 

on  critical   point 394 

on  definition  of  steel 142,  143 

on  effect  of  carbon 46 

on  effect  of  phosphorus 469 

on  effect  of  silicon . 456 

on  invisibility   ... 393 

on  micrometallurgy    406 

on  phosphorus  in  acid  slag 159 

on  structure  of  pig  iron 125 

on  temperature   of  melting 596 

Humidity '. . . 93 

Hungary,  iron  industry 48,  794 

statistics 834  et  seq. 

Hunt,  A.  E.,  on  influence  of  method  of  manufacture  on  physical  properties,  529 

on  preliminary  tests 426 

on  quench  test 540 

on  wrought  iron 136 

Huston,  on  plate  tests 424 

Hydrogen,  combustion  of. ' 233 

in  blast  furnace  gas 97,  99,  100 

in  producer  gas 227,  242,  248 

Illinois  Steel  Company;  Bessemer  practice : 157 

Bessemer  slag  (slag) 163 

slabbing  mill 367 

Ilsede,  iron  industry 755 

Imports  of  leading  nations 837 

of  ore  into  Germany . . 729 

Increments  in  cost,  duplex   process 338 

open  hearth  process 335 

rolling  mills 336 

India,  statistics 834 

Indicator  cards,  gas  and  steam  engines 119 

Influence  of  elements  upon  steel. 21,  455  et  seq. 

Ingot  iron 141 

Ingot  steel 141 

Inspection 28  et  seq. 

Iron,  calorific  value  in  converter 167 

Iron  oxide;  see  Iron  ore. 

in  basic  slag 289,  291,  292 

in  open  hearth 311 

Italy,  iron  industry 816 

statistics 834  et  seq. 

Japan,   statistics 834 

Joeuf  district 766 

Johnstown,  iron  industry. ... . . 675 

Joliet,  steel  works. ... .'.'.."/.  .'.Y.Y.Y. '.'.'.. 664 

Jones  and  Laughlinsy blast  furnace: .;.... 60 


850  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Jones  mixer • 169 

Julian,  on  Bessemer  practice 158 

von  Juptner,  on  open  hearth  practice 218  et  seq. 

on  producer  work 241,  242 

Jurugua,  mine  in  Cuba 682 

Kennedy,  Julian,  on  blast  furnace 64 

on  Russia 772 

Kertsch,  ore  beds 778 

Killing,  crucible  steel 149 

Kirchhoff,  on  Cleveland  district 702  et  seq. 

on  Westphalia 727,  735 

Kladno 789 

blast  furnace 63 

open  hearth 315  et  seq. 

Knapp,  on  Lake  Superior  deposits 647 

Koerting  gas  engine 123 

Krivoi  Hog,  ore  beds 777 

ore  taken  to  Poland 783 

Krupp's  works 747 

Labor  in  Alabama. 674 

in  Belgium 800 

in  Cleveland  (England) 604 

Labor  organizations 604,  614 

Lahn,  iron  industry 760 

Lake  Champlain,  ore  deposits 689 

Lake  Erie,  iron  industry 686 

Lake  Superior  ore 49,  58,  83,  647 

statistics. . . 652 

Lake  transportation  of  ore 648 

Lanarkshire;  see  Scotland. 

Lancashire    hearth 805 

Lancashire,  iron  industry 717 

Langley,  on  carbon  determination 39 

Large  ingots,  homogeneity  of 346  et  seq. 

Latent  heat  of  fusion  of  steel 173 

Laudig,  on  carbon  deposition 68,  69 

Least  squares,  use  of  method .23,  487 

Lebanon,  blast  furnaces » 678 

LeChatelier  pyrometer 391,  416 

Ledebur,  on  furnace  slag 53 

Leicester,  iron  industry 724,  725 

Length,  influence  on  physical  properties 435  et  seq.,  445,  539 

Letombe,  gas  engines 120 

Lignite,  in  Germany 761 

Lime  in  basic  Bessemer 176,  178,  179 

in  basic  open  hearth 286,  287 

in  blast  furnaces 55,  83 

Limestone  in  basic  open  hearth 283 


INDEX.  851 

PAGE 

Limestone  in  blast  furnace 52,  73,  74,  98 

Limonite 49,  669 

Lincolnshire,  iron  industry 724,  725 

Linings,  absorption  of  iron  oxide 166 

Liquation  of  sulphide  of  manganese 294 

Liquid  interior  of  ingot 360 

Longitudinal  vs.  transverse  tests 422 

Longwy   district 766 

Lorraine;  see  Lothringen. 

Loss  from  carbon  in  ash 241 

of  heat,  combustion  of  blast  furnace  gas 107 

of  heat  in  blast  furnace 76  et  seq. 

Lothringen,  iron  industry 730 

Lukens  Iron  and  Steel  Co.;  plate  tests 424 

Luminosity  of  flame 240 

Lunge,  on  water  gas 247 

Lnrmann,  on  blast  furnace  gas 102 

Luxemburg  iron  industry 730 

Magnesia  in  basic  open  hearth 288 

Magnesite  for  basic  hearths 282 

Magnetic    concentration 50 

Magnetic  properties,  effect  of  heat 416 

Magnetite    50 

in  Cuba 682 

in  United  States 690 

Mahoning  Valley. 657 

Manganese,  allowable    content 463 

determination  of .40,  44 

effect  on  steel 22,  463,  483,  487  et  seq.,  513,  522,  527 

effect  on  welding 584,  589 

in  acid  Bessemer ' 162,   174 

in  acid  open  hearth 271 

in  basic   Bessemer 181 

in  basic  open  hearth 298 

in  blast    furnace 80 

in  castings    595 

in  crucible  steel 148 

in  pig  iron 80 

in  puddle  furnace 131 

in  wrought   iron 131 

loss  in  recarburization 280 

protective  power 271 

reduction  from  slag 294 

segregation 340  et  seq. 

use  in  removing  sulphur 340 

Manganese  ore  in  open  hearth 294 

Manganese  steel    467 

Markets  of  the  world . .  . .  609 


852  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Marquette;  see  Lake  Superior.. 

Martensite , 403  et  seq. 

Martin,  on  micro-metallography .410 

Maryland  Steel  Company;  see  Sparrows  Point. 

Bessemer  plant 155 

coal  consumption 250 

coke  ovens 259 

gas    engines 114 

miscroscopic  work 410 

rail   manufacture 412 

Mason,  on  German  statistics 821 

Medium  steel 545 

Menominee ;  see  Lake  Superior. 

Merchant  iron 130 

Mesabi;  see  Lake  Superior. 

carbon  deposition 68 

Mctcalf,  on  definition  of  steel 143 

Method  of  least  squares 23 

Method  of  manufacture,  influence  on  physical  properties.  14,  23,25, 29, 529,  534 

Metric  system 839 

Meurthe  et  Moselle 764 

Microscope,  use  on  steel  fractures .403  ct  .vn/. 

Middlesborough;   see  Cleveland 700 

Mill  cinder 135 

Milwaukee,  steel  works 664 

Minette  district 49,  731,  764,  797 

furnaces 103 

Mixer;  see  Receiver. 

Monell,  on  open  hearth  practice 205,  330 

on  Russia 772 

Moravia,  iron  industry 790 

Muck  bar 6,  130 

Natal,  statistics , 834 

Natural  gas 245,  660 

Necking  of  test  piece 439 

Neutral  joint. . . : 283 

Newfoundland,  ore 49,  818 

New  England,  iron  industry 689 

New  Jersey,  iron  industry 50,  690 

New  South  Wales,  statistics 834 

New  York,  iron  industry , 629 

ore 50 

Nickel,  effect  on  physical  properties 479 

effect  on  steel 23 

effect  on  welding 139,  584 

Nickel  steel,  homogeneity  of 359 

Wimot  de,  on  Belgium 796 

Nord,  coal  and  iron  industry 767 


INDEX.  853 

PAGE 

Northeast  Coast  of  England 700  et  seq. 

Northeastern  Steel  Company 700,  708 

Northamptonshire  iron  industry 724,  725 

North  Wales  iron  industry 723 

"Norway  iron,"  so  called 811 

Nottingham  iron  industry 725,  726 

Oberschlesien ;  see  Silesia. 

Odelstjcrna,  on  effect  of  aluminium 478 

on  effect  of  silicon 277 

Oechelhauser,  gas  engine 121 

Oil  as  fuel 271 

Oolite  , , , 49 

Open  hearth  furnace. 11,  186  et  seq. 

with  natural  gas 660 

process,  acid 12,  269 

basic 282 

metal,  for  rails 530 

for  tool  steel 151 

manufacture  in  United  States 302,  306,  635 

Ore  j  see  Statistics. 

cost  of  transportation 651 

imported  into  United  States 636 

in  acid  open  hearth  furnace 272,  274 

in  basic  open  hearth 284 

in  Bessemer  converter. 324 

in  open  hearth. , 13,  272,  274,  284,  311 

international  trade 825 

reduction,  absorption  of  heat 319 

supply  of  America. 649 

supply  of  the  world 827 

Osnabruck,  iron  industry 759 

Oswald,  on  Rombach  works 267,  740 

Otto  cycle,  gas  engines 118 

Otto  Hoffman,  coke  oven 259,  261,  262,  26$ 

Overheating;  see  heat  treatment. 

Oxidation  in  open  hearth 324  et  seq. 

Oxide  of  iron,  effect  on  physical  properties 480,  523 

Oxides  of  iron ;  reactions 65,  66,  67 

Oxychloride  of  lime 295,  296 

Oxygen  in  products  of  combustion 104,  105,  106 

in  steel .480,  523 

Park,  on  definition  of  steel 143 

Pas  de  Calais,  coal  and  iron  industry 767 

Pearlite  in  cast  iron 125 

Pearlite  in  steel 403  et  seq. 

Peine,  iron  industry 755 

Pencoyd  Iron  Works 310 

Pennsylvania;  see  Table  of  Contents. 


85 1  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Pennsylvania  Steel  Works;  see  Steelton;  see  also  all  tables  and  tests  where 
other  sources  of  information  are  not  mentioned; 

basic   Bessemer 180 

blast  furnace  construction 59 

gas    engines. 114 

low  phosphorus  acid  steel 304 

open  hearth  furnace 193 

slabbing  mill 367 

Petroleum 246 

Phase  doctrine 418 

Phases,  miscroscopic 403  et  seq. 

Phillips,  on  Alabama 668 

on  blast  furnace  slag 82 

on  dolomite 53 

Phosphorus,  allowable  content 469  et  seq. 

calorific  value 10 

combustion  of 8 

determination  of 40 

effect  on  steel 22,  469,  483,  487  et  seq.,  516,  523,  527,  531 

effect  on  welding 139,  584 

in  acid  open  hearth 278 

in  basic  converter 9,  177 

in  basic  open  hearth 15,  283,  286 

in  Bertrand-Thiel  process 316 

in  blast  furnace 4 

in  castings 595 

in  crucible  steel 748 

in  pig  iron 4 

in  puddle  furnace 132 

in  tool  steel 150 

in  wrought-iron 132 

segregation  of 340  et  seq. 

volatilization  of : ...  181 

Physical  properties;  see  chapters  XIV  and  XVI. 

Pig  and  ore  process  at  Steelton 208,  275,  278,  306  et  seq. 

Pig  iron;  see  Statistics. 

composition  and  physical  qualities 124 

international  trade. 825 

manufacture 3,  4,  5 

production  in  leading  nations 830,  832,  834,  835 

production,  per  capita 824 

Pinfjel,  on  statistics  of  France 762 

Pipes  in  castings 594 

Pittsburg,  blast  furnaces 76,  81 

iron    industry ; 657 

Plates,  allowances  for  over-weight 554 

from  ingots 18 

from  slabs .  .18 


INDEX.  855 


Plates,  physicial  properties 366,  377 

tests  on. 537 

Poland,  iron  industry 782 

Pomerania,  iron  industry 760 

Ports,  open  hearth  furnace 213 

Possession  works  in  Urals 781 

Pottstown  Iron  Company 44,  434 

Pourcel,  en  segregation '.39,  343,  344,  345,  347 

Preliminary  tests 426 

groups  of 486 

Producer,  ash  from 241 

operation  of 222,  227,  237  et  seq. 

temperature  of  gas 217,  218 

Products  of  combustion 104,  105,  234  et  seq. 

from  blast  furnace  gas 107,  108,  109,  110 

Production;  see  Table  of  Contents. 

Production  of  steel  in  Great  Britain 634 

in  United  States 631, 634 

Protective  power  of  elements 271 

Puddle  cinder 135 

Puddling  furnace 5,  129  et  seq. 

Pueblo,  steel  works 687 

Pulling  speed,  effect  on  physical  properties 452 

Pure  iron,  definition 522,  526 

Pyrometer,  LeChatelier 391,  392 

Quenching,  effect  of  manganese 464 

effect  on  steel 144 

Quench   test 540 

Radiation,  loss  from  in  open  hearth 224 

Railroads  in  Germany 736 

Rails,  method  of  rolling 411,  412 

of  open  hearth  steel 530 

sections    607 

specifications    564 

Railways,  miles  of 609 

Raw  coal  in  blast  furnace 51 

Recarburizer,  function  of 8,  463,  464 

in  acid  Bessemer 174 

in  basic  converter 184 

in   acid  open   hearth 279,  280 

in  basic  open  hearth 299 

Receiver 169,  170,  740 

Red  hematite 49 

Reduction  of  area,  errors  in  measuring 450 

Reduction  of  ore,  heat  absorption 319  et  seq. 

in  open  hearth  furnace 274,  275,  276,  313,  329 

Regenerative  furnaces 11,  186,  190,  250 

Removal  of  slag  from  open  hearth 297,  307 


'    856  INDEX. 

PAGE: 

Rephosphorization,  in  basic  Bessemer 184 

in  basic  open  hearth 299,  300 

Rest  after  rolling 448 

Reverberatory  furnaces 251 

Reversing  valves,  open  hearth  furnace 214 

Richards,  Prof.  J.  W.,  on  Bessemer  work  (acid) 165,  166  et  seq. 

on  open  hearth  practice 223,  226  et  seq. 

on  specific  heat 90 

on  zone  of  fusion 92,  95 

Richards,  Prof.  R.  H.,  on  blast  furnace  phenomena 70 

Riley,  on  effect  of  nickel 480 

on  effect  of  work  on  steel 365,  367 

on  gas  engines 113 

on  pig  iron  in  Scotland 711 

Rivet  steel 541,  542,  543 

Roberts,  Austin,  on  micrometallurgy 406 

Rombach,  steel  works 267 

Rounds,  influence  of  diameter 431 

Rounds  vs.  flats,  physical  properties 422,  427 

Royal  Prussian  Institute,  welding  tests 587 

Ruhr  district,  iron  industry 742, 

Russia,  distances 630,  775 

imports   77£ 

iron  industry 772  et  seq. 

labor   problem 774 

ore    ; 49 

production  of  fuel,  ore,  iron  and  steel 776- 

statistics 834  et  seq. 

works  owned  by  foreigners 773: 

Saar  district,  coke    52 

iron  industry 753 

Sandberg,  on  influence  of  silicon 462 

Saniter,  on  use  of  oxychloride  of  lime 295,  297 

Sauveur,  on  micrometallurgy 406 

Saxony,  iron   industry 756 

Schonwalder,  open  hearth  furnace 196 

Schrodter,  on  German  statistics '. 821 

on  Germany  727 

on  steel  output 748 

Scotland,    black  band 710- 

coal  711 

coal  in  blast  furnace 51 

iron  industry 710 

Scranton,  iron  industry 688 

Scrap  in  open  hearth 306 

Seebohm,  on  crucible  steel 148 

Segregation 17,  19,  39,  152,  340  et  seq. 

in  ingots  cast  in  iron  molds _, 345 


INDEX.  857 

PAGE 

Segregation  in  steel  cast  in  sand ; . . . .  344 

in  Swedish  steel 152 

Semet  Solvay  coke  ovens 226,  257,  260,  263 

Sensible  heat  in  producer  gas 242 

Shape  of  test  piece 19.  20,  25 

'Sharon,  open  hearth  furnace 193 

Sheffield;  see  South  Yorkshire. 

Shenango  Valley 658 

Shipbuilding  in  England 697 

Ship  steel  specifications 550 

Shock,  influence  on  physical  properties 465,  466 

Shoulders  on  test  piece 424 

Siegen,  iron  industry 757 

Silesia,  coal   deposits 790 

coke   52 

.  furnaces   103 

iron  industry,  Austrian   789 

German  750 

Silica  in  basic  slag 291 

in  open  hearth  furnace 327 

Silicon,  calorific  value  in  converter 8,  167 

in  open  hearth 321 

change  of  affinity  with  temperature 160 

determination  of 40 

effect  on  steel 22,  456,  487  et  seq.,  514,  527 

effect  on  welding 139,  584 

in  acid  converter 160,  171 

in  acid  open  hearth 271 

in  basic  converter   177 

in  basic  open  hearth 298 

in  blast  furnace 84 

in  castings 595 

in  crucible  steel 149 

in  foreign  steel 461 

in  pig  iron ; ,  480 

in  puddling   furnace 130 

in  recarburization    184 

in  wrought  iron 130 

protective  power  of 271 

reduced  in  blast  furnace 84 

reduced  in  crucible 149 

ISilico  spiegel,  composition  of 127 

Sink  heads . . .  . 27 

Sjdfjren,  on  Austri 785 

on  open   hearth   furnace 205 

Slabbing  Mill;  Carnegie  Steel  Co 367 

Illinois  Steel  Co 367 

Pennsylvania  Steel  Co 367 


$58  INDEX. 

PAGE: 

Slag,  acid,  phosphorus  in 159 

acid   Bessemer 163 

acid  open  hearth  furnace 273 

automatic  regulation 17 

basic  Bessemer 179 

basic  open  hearth 287  et  seq. 

blast  furnace. 82,  84,  85 

cupola    ; 170 

effect  on  welding 584 

open  hearth 12  et  seq. 

removal  in  open  hearth 307" 

Snelus,  on  influence  of  silicon 462: 

on  use  of  oxychloride  of  lime 296. 

Soaking  pits 249,  606 

Soft  coal;  see  Bituminous  coal. 

Soft    steel 544 

Soot  in  producer  gas 240 

Sorbite '.403  et  seq. 

South  African  Republic,  statistics 834 

South  Russia,  iron  industry 776 

South  Wales,  iron  industry , 714 

South  Yorkshire,  iron  industry 721 

Spain,  iron  industry 48,  812: 

statistics 636,  834  et  seq. 

Spanish  American,  mines  in  Cuba 682" 

Spanish  ore,  composition   707 

cost  of  in  England 707 

in  Germany    746- 

in  South  Wales 714 

Sparrow's  Point,  export  of  rails 684 

iron  industry. 679  et  seq* 

Spathic  ore 48 

Specific  heat  of  gases '. 90,  839 

of  steel 173' 

Specifications  on  steel 24,  532  et  seq. 

Specular  ore ' 48 

Speed  of  test,  influence 440 

Spiegel,  composition  of 127 

use  of .8,  463,  464 

Splice  bars,  specifications 567 

Stable  basic  slags 29S 

Stafford,  on  Chicago  industries 664 

on  open  hearth  ports 214 

Staffordshire,  iron  industry 722" 

Standard  specifications 548  et  seq. 

Standard  test  pieces 538 

Statistics 821  et  seq. 

errors  in. .  .  .692 


INDEX. 


859 


>AGB 

Stead,  on  composition  of  pig  iron. ..., 127 

on  effect  of  arsenic £V8 

on  micrometallography    413 

on  use  of  oxychloride  of  lime 296 

Steam  in  producer  gas 188 

Steel;  see  Statistics. 

definition 6,  140,  146 

production  in  leading  nations 831,  833,  834,  836 

Steel  castings 26 

Steelton,  blast  furnace  gas 100 

iron  industry 675 

weather  records 93 

Stoves,  blast  furnace 3,  78,  79,  103,  110,  122 

air  needed 122 

gas   needed 101 

Structural  work,  use  of  soft  steel 535 

Structure  of  steel,  theories 417 

Styffe,  on  tensile  tests 37 

Styria,  coke  from  Germany 788 

iron  industry 48,  788,  791 

Sub-carbide   theory 419 

Sulphur,  determination  of 40 

effect  on  steel 22,  467,  483,  487,  515,  523,  527 

elimination  in  open  hearth 277 

in  acid  open  hearth 278 

in  basic  Bessemer 180 

in  basic  open  hearth 283,  294  et  seq. 

in  blast  furnace 66,  50,  677 

in  Cornwall  ore 677 

in  crucible  steel 148 

in  pig  iron 4 

in  producer  gas 188 

in  puddle  furnace '. 132 

in  steel  castings 595 

in  Talbot  furnace 314 

in  tool  steel 151 

in  wrought  iron 132 

segregation  of 340  et  seq. 

volatilization  in  basic  Bessemer   181 

in  basic  open  hearth 294 

Sweden,  Bessemer  practice 160  et  seq.,  168 

coal 808 

crucible   steel 148 

iron  industry 803 

ore. 50,  808 

statistics 803,  8£i  Jt  seq. 

Swedish  ingots,  segregation 382 

Swedish  pig  iron  in  United  States 302 


860  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Tafna,  ore 49 

Talbot,  on  gain  from  ore 332 

Talbot  process 310,  326  et  seq.,  330 

Tar  in  producer  gas 240 

Tariff 623 

rates  on  coal,  ore,  iron  and  steel 838 

Temperature,  determination  of 392 

effect  on  combustion  of  silicon 160 

of  Bessemer  converter 168 

of  burning   carbon 91 

of  melted  steel 596 

of  puddle  furnace 133 

of  open  hearth  furnace 217,  593 

Test  ingots,  physical  properties 372 

Test  pieces,  from  castings 596 

method  of  taking 420 

Tests,  chemical  and  physical 548  et  seq. 

Thackray,  on  phosphorus 45 

Thickness,  effect  on  physical  properties 364,  538 

Thwaite,  on  gas  engines 113 

Tilting   furnace 205,   307 

Tires,    specifications 572 

Titanium  in  acid  open  hearth  furnace 271 

Traces,  persistence  of 160 

Transferred  steel 302  et  seq. 

Troostite 403  et  seq. 

Tropenas  process 26 

Tucker,  on  effect  of  arsenic ; 478 

Tunnel  head  gases 3,  87,  96  et  seq. 

•  in  gas  engines Ill 

Tungsten,  effect  on  physical  properties 480 

Turner,  on  influence  of  silicon 460 

Tuyeres,  reactions  at 74 

Two  inch  tests 425 

Union  Bridge  Co.,  eye  bars 440 

U.  S.  Govt.  specifications  on  plates 380 

United  States,  iron  industry 629 

production  of  rails 633,  634 

production  of  steel 631,  634 

statistics 832  et  seq. 

Unstable  basic  slags 293 

Urals,  iron  industry 49,  779 

possession  works 781 

Valves,  open  hearth  furnace 214 

Vauclain,  on  boiler  plate '. 44 

Vermilion;  see  Lake  Superior. 

Virginia,  iron  industry „ 629 

Virginia  ore,  copper  in 472 


INDEX. 

PAGE 

Volume  tunnel  head  gases 99 

Wages,  in   different  nations 826 

in    England. 604 

Walilberg,  on  segregation 40,   152,  362 

Wailes,  on  failures  of  steel . 529 

Wales,  North;  see  North  Wales. 
Wales,  South;  see  South  Wales. 

Washed  metal 302 

Washing  of  coal 263  et  seq. 

Waste  gases;  blast  furnace 3,  87,  96  et  seq. 

from  heating  furnaces • 253,  254 

heat  lost  in  open  hearth 224 

in  gas  engines Ill 

Water  gas 247 

Water  vapor  in  air 93 

in  blast  furnace 94  et  seq. 

Webster,  on  boiler    plate 44 

on  effect  of  sulphur 469 

on  elongation 440 

on  influence  of  metalloids 482  et  seq. 

on  physical  properties 45,  379 

Wedding,  on  basic  Bessemer 181 

on  German  statistics 821 

on  Germany 727 

on  recarburization 300,  301 

Weld  iron,   definition 141 

steel,   definition 141 

Wendel  works,  in  Germany 741 

Westphalia;  see  Ruhr  district. 

coke  industry 52,  258,  735 

iron  industry 735 

West  Coast  of  England 49,  717 

Welding 26,   138,   583 

Weld  iron 141 

Weld  steel 141 

Wellman,  charging  machine 211 

furnace. 205,  308,  310 

West  Virginia 657 

While,  on  West  Coast. 717 

White,  on  influence  of  method  of  manufacture  on  physical  properties 530 

Whiting,  on  blast  furnaces 99 

Whitwell,  on  Spanish  ore 707 

Width,  influence  on  physical  qualities. 434  et  seq.,  441 

Wingham,  on  copper  in  steel 474 

Woman  labor  in  Belgium 800 

Woodbridge,  on  Lake  Superior  ore  deposits. 650 

Work,  effect  on  steel 360,  409,  410 


862  INDEX. 

PAG  IS 

Wrought  iron,  definition 146 

manufacture 5,  129 

physical  qualities 135  et  seq. 

production  in  leading  nations 836 

specifications  579 

welding  of 138,  139,  583 

Yield  point;  see  Elastic  limit. 

Yorkshire,  South,  iron  industry 721 

Zone  of  fusion. 3,  91 


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